Job Description:   Principal

Reports to:  Executive Director

FLSA Status:  Exempt

Main Purpose: East Wake Academy fulfills its mission of maintaining a safe, challenging and creative learning environment. This environment strives to develop character and self-esteem while equipping students with the skills needed for a rigorous curriculum and to thrive in a college preparatory atmosphere producing academic excellence. We are dedicated to instilling the values of academic citizenship by creating relationships with parents, businesses and civic partners. East Wake Academy is committed to building a strong foundation of learning while providing our students the competitive edge to win in tomorrow's world.

Core Accountabilities: Oversees the daily activities and operations within a school. Main duties include disciplining or advising students, approving Teachers' curriculums and ensuring the school environment is safe for all students and staff members.

Key Outputs/Results:

School Vision

• Collaboratively develops, articulates, implements, and stewards a shared vision of learning.
• Collects and uses data. Identifies or determines school goals, assesses organizational effectiveness, and implements plans to achieve school goals.
• Promotes continual and sustainable school improvement.
• Promotes the effective use of technology in establishing, implementing, evaluating, and improving a shared vision of learning.

School Culture

• Fosters the ideals outlined in the East Wake Academy mission in collaboration with school leaders, staff, students and families. MISSION: East Wake Academy will equip students from all backgrounds to succeed in the college and career of their choice by driving academic excellence, developing strong character, and instilling an entrepreneurial mindset.
• Maintains an environment built on safety, responsibility and respect. Commitment to conflict resolution and restitution practices ensures kindness, safety and respectfulness that guide community behavior.
• Sustains a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning through collaboration, trust and a personalized learning environment with high expectations for students

School Management of Organization, Operation, and Resources

• Monitors and evaluates teacher instruction, school management and operational systems.
• Maintain a positive working relationship with academy authorizers, including attending required meetings and facilitating consistent communication.
• Efficiently utilizes personnel, fiscal and technological resources to manage school operations and ensures compliance with applicable regulatory standards and requirements. Coordinate the identification and procurement of resources for academic programs.
• Report to the Superintendent and the school’s Board of Directors relevant academic data, reports and information to effectively manage the school.
• Create and implement a professional development program to increase the knowledge, skills and practices needed to implement a high quality-learning model.
• Act as a role model by demonstrating leadership, management and instructional skills.
• Promotes school-based policies and procedures that protect the welfare and safety of students and staff within the school.
• Works collaboratively within shared leadership roles.
• Ensures teacher and organizational time focuses on supporting high-quality school instruction and student learning.
• Ensures effective hiring practices of qualified staff in appropriate certification areas. Fosters, develops, and supervises the instructional and leadership capacity of school staff.
• Promotes the most effective and appropriate technologies to support teaching and learning in a school environment.

School Collaboration with Faculty, Community Members, and Families

• Collaborates with faculty and community members by collecting and analyzing information pertinent to the improvement of the school’s educational environment.
• Represent the school and communicate the school’s vision to all stakeholders including the staff, students, parents, board, community members and school networking endeavors.
• Work with the parent organization to ensure that all stakeholders work together effectively to identify program needs and to create programs and policies to meet those needs.
• Mobilizes community resources by promoting an understanding, appreciation, and use of diverse cultural, social, and intellectual resources within the school community.
• Responds to community interests and needs by building and sustaining positive school relationships with families and caregivers.
• Responds to community interests and needs by building and sustaining productive school relationships with community partners.
• Promotes the effective use of technology in collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.

School Ethics, Integrity, Fairness, Practice

• Acts with integrity and fairness to ensure a school system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success.
• Models principles of self-awareness, reflective practice, transparency and ethical behavior as related to various roles within the school.
• Safeguards the values of democracy, equity and diversity within the school.
• Evaluates the potential ethical and legal consequences of decision-making in the school.
• Promotes social justice within the school to ensure that individual students need to inform all aspects of schooling.

Ensuring school success by understanding, responding to, advocating for student learning

• Advocates for students, families and caregivers.
• Oversees state and local assessment processes.
• Acts to influence local, district, state and national decisions affecting student learning in a school environment.
• Anticipates and assesses emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt school-based leadership strategies.

Creates and evaluates a comprehensive, rigorous and coherent curricular and instructional school program

Essential Knowledge:

• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of curriculum development and program evaluation, child growth and development, effective instructional strategies, classroom management, learning assessment, diagnosis and research related to learning.
• Prior experience as an elementary or middle school principal or administrator preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to provide strong instructional leadership.
• Ability to evaluate teacher performance and program effectiveness.
• Advanced knowledge and experience in curriculum and assessment.
• Commitment and skill in developing continued growth of all staff members.
• Visionary with excellent delegation, organizational and analytical skills.
• Knowledge and understanding of best practice and research proven instructional strategies.
• Strong, conceptual understanding of teacher effectiveness research.
• Demonstrated skill in monitoring and evaluating student growth and achievement.
• Knowledge and experience in administering state and federal programs preferred.
• Knowledge of federal, state and local Special Education laws and requirements.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, written skills and computer skills.
• Ability to support and function in a highly collaborative administrative team environment.
• Ability to structure, implement and manage a wide range of school and business projects.

• Physical Requirements:
• Office Position - Sedentary
• See Attached

The physical activity of this position.

• Maintaining body equilibrium to prevent falling and walking, standing or crouching on narrow, slippery, or erratically moving surfaces. This factor is important if the amount of balancing exceeds that needed for ordinary locomotion and maintenance of body equilibrium.
• Bending body downward and forward by bending spine at the waist. This factor is important if it occurs to a considerable degree and requires full motion of the lower extremities and back muscles.
• Bending legs at knee to come to a rest on knee or knees.
• Bending the body downward and forward by bending leg and spine.
• Moving about on hands and knees or hands and feet.
• Extending hand(s) and arm(s) in any direction.
• Particularly for sustained periods of time. Approximate Duration 8 hours
• Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another.
• Using upper extremities to press against something with steady force in order to thrust forward, downward or outward.
• Using upper extremities to exert force in order to draw, haul or tug objects in a sustained motion.
• Raising objects from a lower to a higher position or moving objects horizontally from position-to-position. Maximum Weight 50lbs Average Weight 20lbs.
• Picking, pinching, typing or otherwise working, primarily with fingers rather than with the whole hand as in handling.
• Applying pressure to an object with the fingers and palm.
• Perceiving attributes of objects, such as size, shape, temperature or texture by touching with skin, particularly that of fingertips.
• Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word. Those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.
• Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound.
• Repetitive motion. Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers
• The worker is required to have visual acuity to operate motor vehicles and or heavy equipment.

Physical exertion of the position. (Please check only one):

• Sedentary work. Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body.
• Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.
• Light work. Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects. If the use of arm and/or leg controls requires exertion of forces greater than that for sedentary work and the worker sits most of the time, the job is rated for light work.

The visual acuity requirements including color, depth perception, and field vision. (Please check only one)

• The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; visual inspection involving small defects, small parts, and/or operation of machines (including inspection); using measurement devices; and/or assembly or fabrication parts at distances close to the eyes.
• The worker is required to have visual acuity to determine the accuracy, neatness, and thoroughness of the work assigned (i.e., custodial, food services, general laborer, etc.) or to make general observations of facilities or structures (i.e., security guard, inspection, etc.)

The conditions the worker will be subject to in this position. (Please check all that apply).

• The worker is required to function in narrow aisles or passageways.