Dean of Students

Job Description

Job Description

Dean of StudentsDousman Campus | Lad Lake, Inc.

Full-Time | School-Year Schedule

Do you have a natural ability to connect with young people? Are you someone who can build trust, create positive experiences, and help a young person see possibilities when they may be struggling to see them for themselves?

Lad Lake is looking for a Dean of Students to join our Dousman Campus team.

The Dean of Students is a student-facing role focused on relationships, engagement, activities, enrichment, and student support . This person will spend much of their day interacting directly with students—helping them stay connected to school, navigate challenges, participate in activities, develop leadership and life skills, and experience success.

The Dean will be a consistent and positive presence for students and a collaborative partner to teachers, residential staff, clinicians, and other members of the team.

This is not an instructional leadership or teacher-supervision position. The Dean works alongside teachers and other staff, with the primary responsibility of supporting and engaging students.

What You'll DoConnect With Students

• Build authentic, trusting relationships with students.

• Maintain a visible, approachable presence throughout the school day.

• Check in with students who are struggling, disengaged, or having difficulty participating.

• Help students identify goals and develop strategies for overcoming barriers.

• Encourage students to recognize and build on their strengths.

• Celebrate student progress, accomplishments, positive choices, leadership, and perseverance.

Make School More Engaging

• Plan and coordinate activities, celebrations, competitions, clubs, recreational opportunities, special events, and incentive programs.

• Create opportunities for students to have a voice and participate in decisions and activities that affect their school experience.

• Develop student leadership opportunities and meaningful ways for students to contribute to the school community.

• Help create experiences that give students opportunities to succeed outside of the traditional classroom.

• Coordinate guest speakers, career exploration, service projects, community experiences, and other enrichment opportunities.

• Find creative ways to use the Dousman campus and its resources to engage students.

Help Students Develop Life Skills

• Help students build skills in communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution, self-advocacy, organization, and decision-making.

• Create opportunities for students to practice leadership and responsibility.

• Support activities related to employment readiness, interviewing, financial literacy, independent living, and future planning.

• Help students make connections between their current experiences and their goals for adulthood.

Support Students Through Challenges

• Provide direct support when students are experiencing behavioral, emotional, or interpersonal challenges.

• Use trauma-informed, restorative, relationship-based, and skill-building approaches.

• Help students recognize triggers, understand their responses, and develop healthier strategies for managing difficult situations.

• Facilitate restorative conversations following conflicts when appropriate.

• Help students successfully return to school after significant incidents or periods of disengagement.

• Provide a positive, purposeful alternative when a student is temporarily unable to participate in their regular classroom setting.

• Recognize that challenging behavior is often an opportunity to teach skills and strengthen relationships.

Be a Resource to Students and Staff

• Provide support to teachers and other staff when students are struggling.

• Assist staff with strategies for engaging students and responding to challenging situations.

• Model positive, respectful, relationship-based interactions with students.

• Share observations and information that may help the team better understand and support a student.

• Collaborate with staff without having responsibility for supervising or evaluating teachers.

Connect the Student Experience

Because Lad Lake students participate in both education and residential programming, the Dean helps create greater consistency in their experience.

• Build strong relationships with residential, education, clinical, and case management staff.

• Help communicate student strengths, successes, concerns, and effective strategies across teams.

• Participate in student meetings when appropriate.

• Help coordinate activities and opportunities that connect students across their school and residential experiences.

• Develop relationships with community organizations that can provide additional opportunities for students.

Provide Support During Difficult Situations

• Be available to provide hands-on support when significant student behavioral or safety concerns arise.

• Use effective de-escalation strategies.

• Help maintain safety while treating students with dignity and respect.

• Support responses to aggression, elopement, significant disruption, or other safety concerns.

• Participate in post-incident conversations focused on helping students learn from difficult experiences and reducing future incidents.

Crisis response is one component of the role—not the purpose of the position . The Dean's primary impact comes from relationships, engagement, prevention, activities, enrichment, and helping students experience success.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for someone who genuinely enjoys working with young people and knows how to build relationships with youth who may have difficulty trusting adults.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Education, or a related field .

• Experience working with youth in a residential and/or educational setting .

• Experience working with youth with emotional, behavioral, or other complex needs.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

• Ability to build positive relationships while maintaining appropriate boundaries.

• Ability to remain calm and supportive during challenging situations.

• Ability to use or learn trauma-informed, restorative, and de-escalation approaches.

• Ability to safely engage with active youth, including occasional lifting of up to 30 pounds and participation in crisis intervention when needed.

You Might Be a Great Fit If You:

• Naturally connect with teenagers.

• Are someone students want to talk to.

• Can build trust without lowering expectations.

• Are creative and enjoy coming up with things for students to do.

• Have a talent for getting disengaged young people interested in something again.

• Can be both compassionate and appropriately firm.

• Stay calm when things get difficult.

• Believe relationships are an important part of helping young people change.

• Enjoy being active and visible rather than sitting behind a desk all day.

• Can work effectively with a variety of professionals while keeping the focus on the young person.

Why Lad Lake?

At Lad Lake, we believe young people deserve opportunities to experience belonging, growth, success, and hope for their future .

Our work is grounded in trauma-informed care, strength-based youth development, equity, inclusion, accountability, and meaningful relationships.

As Dean of Students, you'll have the opportunity to make a difference in the everyday lives of young people by showing up, building relationships, creating opportunities, and helping students discover what they are capable of.

If you believe every young person deserves an adult who sees their potential and refuses to give up on them, we want to hear from you.

Join Lad Lake and help young people thrive.