Principal

TITLE: PRINCIPAL (All levels: Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle, High, and Alternative School)


TYPE: Individual Contract


SALARY: Per Individual Contract


REPORTS TO: Superintendent of Schools

OBJECTIVE: The Principal shall be the educational leader and manager of the school and shall supervise the operation and management of the school and the school property, subject to the supervision and direction of the Superintendent and school district policies. The Principal shall be responsible, consistent with district policies and budgetary restrictions and subject to the approval of the Superintendent, for hiring and supervision of all personnel assigned to the school. The Principal shall work with the Central Office Administration, Staff, families and students, to develop the distinctive educational mission and instructional leadership of the school, including the school's educational organization, staffing pattern, and community involvement.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Principal shall perform such duties and responsibilities as called for by:
* Regulations and requirements of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education;
* Policies of the Chicopee School Committee;
* Directives of the Superintendent of Schools or his/her designees; and
* Regulations and requirements of grants, special or mandated programs.

• Instructional Leadership: The education leader promotes the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staff by cultivating a shared vision that makes powerful teaching and learning the central focus of schooling.
• Ensures that all teachers design effective and rigorous standards-based units of instruction consisting of well-structured lessons with measurable outcomes.
• Ensures that instructional practices in all settings reflect high expectations regarding content and quality of effort and work, engage all students, and are personalized to accommodate diverse learning styles, needs, interests, and levels of readiness
• Instructs daily substitutes and observes and evaluates their work.
• Ensures that all teachers use a variety of formal and informal methods and assessments to measure student learning, growth, and understanding, and also make necessary adjustments to their practice when students are not learning.
• Provides effective and timely supervision and evaluation in alignment with state regulations and contract provisions.
• Uses multiple sources of evidence to student learning, including state, district, and school assessment results and growth data, to inform school and district goals and improve organizational performance, educator effectiveness, and student learning.
• In consultation with the School Council, develops and submits to the Superintendent of Schools a plan for improving student performance on a annual basis.
• Demonstrates expected impact on student learning based on multiple measures of student learning, growth, and achievement, including student progress on common assessments and statewide student growth measures where available
• Promotes the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staff by ensuring a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment, using resources to implement appropriate curriculum, staffing, and scheduling.
• Develops and executes effective plans, procedures, routines, and operational systems to address a full range of safety, health, and emotional and social needs of students.
• Attends and facilitates supervision for athletic events, evening school functions, and school-related community events.
• Implements a cohesive approach to recruitment, hiring, induction, development, and career growth that promotes high-quality and effective practice.
• Meets regularly with staff whose work is deficient and work closely with them to correct deficiencies, implements discipline and termination procedures.
• Uses systems to ensure optimal use of time for teaching, learning, and collaboration.
• Understands and complies with state and federal laws and mandates, school committee policies, collective bargaining agreements, and ethical guidelines
• Assumes overall responsibility for student discipline within the school in accordance with MGL c.71 &37H, 37H1/2, and 37H3/4
• The Middle and High School Principals assume direct responsibility for the operation of all Student Activity Accounts and ensure that the statue, School Committee policies, and administrative procedures are fully adhered to.
• Prepares all information as necessary for local, state, and national reports.
• Develops a budget that supports the district's vision, mission, and goals; allocates and manages expenditures consistent with district/school-level goals and available resources
• Promotes the learning and growth of all students and the success of all staff through effective partnerships with families, community organizations, and other stakeholders that support the mission of the school and district.
• Engagement Welcomes and encourages every family to become active participants in the classroom and school community.
• Continuously collaborates with families to support student learning and development both at home and at school.
• Engages in regular, two-way, culturally proficient communication with families about student learning and performance.
• Addresses family concerns in an equitable, effective, and efficient manner.
• Promotes success for all students by nurturing and sustaining a school culture of reflective practice, high expectations, and continuous learning for staff.
• Fosters a shared commitment to high standards of teaching and learning with high expectations for achievement for all.
• Works collaboratively with the Director of Special Education, Director of Career and Technical Education, Coordinator of Athletics, and other district administrators to create and maintain an inclusive school environment for all.
• The Early Childhood School Principal coordinates early childhood practices on a district-level and works with other building principals in developing site-based preschool programs.
• Ensures that policies and practices enable staff members and students to interact effectively in a culturally diverse environment in which students' backgrounds, identities, strengths, and challenges are respected.
• Demonstrates strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Develops and nurtures a culture in which staff members are reflective about their practice and use student data, current research, best practices and theory to continuously adapt instruction and achieve improved results. Models these behaviors in the administrator's own practice.
• High School Principals form and work closely with the Steering Committee to oversee all aspects of the accreditation process.
• Continuously engages all stakeholders in the creation of a shared educational vision in which every student is prepared to succeed in postsecondary education and become responsible citizens and community contributors.
• Employs strategies for responding to disagreement and dissent, constructively resolving conflict, and building consensus throughout a district/school community.

REQUIRED MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Appropriate certification as a school principal.
2. A master's degree from an accredited university with evidence of successful completion of a major program of related courses in the field of school administration.
3. Valid teacher certification.
4. At least seven years successfully teaching, or other relevant educational experience.
5. Must be trained, or willing to be trained, in the de-escalation and physical restraint techniques utilized by the District.

ADA and Minimum Qualifications to Perform Essential Job Functions:
*Physical Requirements: Must be physically able to operate a variety of equipment including computers, copiers, adding machines, etc. Must be able to exert up to 35 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to lift, carry, push, and pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Must be able to stand, crouch, squat and bend over for a long period of time at intervals throughout the day.
*Data Conception: Requires the ability to compare and/or judge the readily observable, functional, structural or composite characteristics (whether similar or divergent from obvious standards) of data, people or things.
*Interpersonal Communication: Requires the ability to speak and/or signal people to convey or exchange information. Includes giving instructions, assignments or directions to subordinates or assistants.
*Language Ability: Requires the ability to read a variety of correspondence, reports, forms, newsletters, schedules, manuals, invoices, requisitions, menus, recipes, journals, etc. Requires the ability to prepare correspondence, reports, forms, evaluations, procedures, charts, surveys, articles, bid specifications, brochures, news releases, handbooks, budgets, etc., using prescribed formats and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style. Requires the ability to speak before groups of people with poise, voice control and confidence.
*Intelligence: Requires the ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions; to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagrammatic form; and to deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
*Verbal Aptitude: Requires the ability to record and deliver information, to explain procedures, to follow oral and written instructions. Must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in a variety of technical or professional languages including medical, legal, accounting and marketing terminology.
*Numerical Aptitude: Requires the ability to utilize mathematical formulas; to add and subtract; multiply and divide; utilize decimals and percentages; and to apply the principles of algebra and geometry.
*Form/Spatial Aptitude: Requires the ability to inspect items for proper length, width and shape.
*Motor Coordination: Requires the ability to coordinate hands and eyes rapidly and accurately in using office equipment.
*Manual Dexterity: Requires the ability to handle a variety of items such as office equipment and hand tools. Must have minimal levels of eye/hand/foot coordination.
*Interpersonal: Requires the ability to deal with people beyond giving and receiving instructions. Must be adaptable to performing under stress and when confronted with emergency situations.
*Physical Communication: Requires the ability to talk (expressing or exchanging ideas by means of spoken words) and hear (perceiving nature of sounds by ear). Must be able to communicate via telephone or radio.