School climate is not a byproduct of good instruction. Decades of evidence establish it as a
precondition for it, students attend more, learn more, and are excluded less where
belonging, predictability, and repair are engineered into the system rather than left to
chance. LAIRP partners with schools to build those conditions deliberately. The Senior
Director of Schools and Partnerships leads that work in the field: diagnosing need against
validated instruments, designing multi-tiered systems of support, embedding restorative
practice with fidelity, coaching site leadership teams through implementation, and holding
every partnership to outcomes we can measure and defend.
THE ROLE
This is a hands-on leadership position, not an advisory one. You will be the face of LAIRP inside the schools we serve: in the building, in the data meeting, in the circle, in the hard conversation with a team that is stretched thin. You will assess what a school actually needs, prescribe interventions the research supports, build the systems that make those interventions stick, and measure whether they worked.
You will also set the pace. Climate and culture work stalls when no one carries the momentum, this role carries it, for multiple partner sites at once, in environments where the pressure is real and the timelines are not negotiable.
This is a hybrid role. When you are not at a partner school, you work from home and manage your own schedule. That autonomy is real, and so is what it demands: you are trusted to be where you said you would be, to represent LAIRP without supervision in front of principals, families, and district leaders, and to handle sensitive student and staff information with absolute discretion. We are hiring for judgment and integrity as much as for expertise.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Lead and coach partner school teams
- Serve as the primary LAIRP lead for assigned school partnerships, meeting regularly with
administrators and climate teams to ensure every partnership objective is met on time and at quality.
- Coach principals, assistant principals, deans, counselors, and teacher leaders through modeling, co-
facilitation, observation, and direct feedback.
- Push, motivate, and hold teams accountable, sustaining momentum when implementation gets
difficult and adoption slows.
- Build the school's internal capacity so the practices outlive the engagement.
Build tiered systems and restorative practice
- PBIS: establish school-wide expectations, acknowledgement systems, and consistent Tier 1 practice;
design Tier 2 targeted supports and Tier 3 intensive, individualized interventions.
- Restorative practices: implement community-building circles, restorative conferences, harm-repair
processes, and structured re-entry after removal.
- Attendance: develop tiered attendance systems, including chronic-absenteeism monitoring, attendance
teams, root-cause conferencing, and family outreach protocols.
- Discipline: partner with schools to reduce reliance on exclusionary discipline and replace it with practices that keep students in class and connected.
Assess, prescribe, and measure
- Conduct needs assessments using validated climate and culture instruments; diagnose root causes rather
than symptoms.
- Prescribe evidence-based interventions matched to the diagnosis, and name the theory of action behind
each one.
- Build measurement plans up front, including indicators, baselines, progress-monitoring cadence, and
fidelity-of-implementation checks.
- Analyze discipline, attendance, survey, and academic data; facilitate data reviews with school teams and
adjust course based on what the data show.
- Translate current research and theory into usable practice, and contribute to LAIRP's frameworks, tools,
and evaluation reporting.
Develop the field
- Design and deliver professional development for certificated and classified staff, site leaders, and district partners.
- Represent LAIRP with district leadership, families, community partners, and at professional convenings.
Advance equity
- Center anti-racism and equity in every system you build, and use disaggregated data to surface and close disproportionality in discipline, attendance, and access to support.
- Ensure student and family voice shapes the climate work, not just reviews it.
WHO YOU ARE
- A researcher and a practitioner. You read the literature and you can run the circle. You can defend an
intervention on the evidence and then implement it Monday.
- Steady under pressure. You lead well in high-stress environments with competing priorities, urgent
incidents, and skeptical rooms, without losing the relationship or the plan.
- A driver. You push teams and you motivate them; people move faster because you are in the building,
and they stay bought in after you leave it.
- Unimpeachably ethical. You work largely unsupervised, inside schools, around confidential student
and personnel information. You hold the line on confidentiality, boundaries, mandated reporting, and
honest representation of LAIRP, every time, without being asked.
- Self-directed. You manage your own calendar across multiple sites and deliver on commitments
without anyone tracking your hours.
- Data-honest. You are as willing to report what didn't work as what did, and you change course
accordingly.
- Deeply collaborative. You build trust quickly with school staff, families, and district leadership, and
you coach without condescension.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required
- Master's degree in education, educational leadership, school psychology, counseling, social work, or a
closely related field.
- Valid California Administrative Services Credential.
- 7+ years of progressive leadership experience in schools, districts, or education-serving organizations.
- Demonstrated implementation of PBIS, MTSS, and restorative practices at the site or system level.
- Strong research background, able to assess, prescribe, and measure using evidence-based frameworks
and theory.
- Proven skill designing and facilitating professional development for adults.
- Demonstrated commitment to anti-racism and educational equity.
- Residence in Southern California, with a valid driver's license and the ability to travel regularly to
partner school sites
Preferred
- Doctorate (Ed.D. or Ph.D.) in education, psychology, or a related field.
- Experience leading climate and culture work across multiple sites or at the district level.
- Published or presented work on school climate, discipline, restorative practice, or attendance.
- Fluency in Spanish or another language spoken by our partner communities.
- Working familiarity with all of the following climate survey and student data platforms: California
- Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), Panorama, SWIS, Aeries, and PowerSchool.
COMPENSATION
The annual salary range for this position is $85,000 to $175,000. Placement within the range depends on
education and credentials, years and scope of leadership experience, and the size of the partnership
portfolio assigned.
HOW TO APPLY
Email your resume, curriculum vitae, and portfolio to Ilana Mayayo at [email protected], with "Senior Director of Schools and Partnerships" in the subject line. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
LAIRP is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, pregnancy, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We actively encourage applications from candidates whose backgrounds reflect the communities we serve.
Pay: $85,000.00 - $175,000.00 per year
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Los Angeles, CA 90041
