We’re Hiring — Director of Public Allies

We’re losing Mark Palmer, our outstanding director of Public Allies at the end of this year, which places us in the position of seeking a new leader and administrator to fill Mark’s incredibly large shoes.

As director of our successful Teacher Fellowship Program, Palmer’s successor will oversee a dozen individuals, providing them with a year’s worth of service and leadership development at our residential high school that specializes in reengaging and educating students who haven’t been all that successful in a traditional school setting. These 12 fellows will become members of a new generation of leaders in education reform.

The director is tasked with recruiting a diverse cohort of emerging educational reformers, then designing and delivering their yearlong professional development, supporting these fellows through their many intersecting roles at Eagle Rock School and its Professional Development Center.

But before we delve further into the details of the job, it’s probably best to list the qualifications required.

• A Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree in education is highly preferred.
• The applicant should also have garnered some experience with recruiting a diverse group of young adults for service positions, working with public high school reform, and working with adolescents.
• Strong organization, staff management and leadership skills are also required, as well as an ability to facilitate adult leaders through yearlong development.

Moving on to the responsibilities side of the equation, the new director will manage the operational and programmatic elements and reporting duties common to all Public Allies sites nationally, showing great attention to detail and a track record of providing reports and data to Public Allies National on a timely basis.

If you’re interested in working here, you must make a lifestyle choice to become a contributing member of a renowned independent boarding high school serving a diverse student body. This means performing advisory, evening and weekend duty; participating in community meetings; performing chores and service projects; and, being active in house team activities. And it wouldn’t hurt a bit if you also showed an eagerness to serve as a residential house parent should the need arise.

The director also serves on the Professional Development Center (PDC) team reporting to the director of Professional Development at Eagle Rock and to Public Allies’ Chief Operating Officer.

Other responsibilities include supervising and supporting the fellows through the myriad of intersecting roles in a residential high school setting, including serving as a leader, coach and mentor. This means coordinating the relationship between fellows and their supervisors — generally instructors — and being a sounding board for problems that can and will arise.

If any or all of this sounds appealing to you, we have some directions on how to apply for the position.

Start by creating and submitting a brief cover letter, a resume, a brief skills self-assessment that indicates results produced in each of the major areas of responsibility listed above, and give us three professional references (phone number and email address) — and send it all to us by email at info at eaglerockschool dot org.

Clarifying questions can be sent to our director of professional development, Michael Sogeuro (msoguero at eaglerockschool dot org). No phone calls please. We only accept electronic submissions.

Obviously, we have a big stake in selecting the perfect candidate, and while our timeline is tight, we’re pretty sure we can fill the position by our Feb. 9, 2015 deadline.

The application deadline is Dec. 9, with phone interviews to be conducted between Dec. 15 and 19. We will conduct three-day onsite interviews between Jan. 18 and 30, 2015.

Like most everything else at Eagle Rock, this timeline is not set in concrete. We teach flexibility to our students and it doesn’t bode well for our reputation if we don’t practice what we preach. We realize there might be circumstances where a top candidate might need to jiggle the interview schedule a bit, and that’s just fine as long as everybody communicates schedule conflicts and prior commitments.

The salary depends on the experience of the candidate, but the range is between $40,000 and $50,000 with a generous benefits package.