POSITION: Assistant Director of Student Access, Attendance & Engagement, Office of Student Support Services
REPORTS TO: Executive Director of Student Support Services
POSITION SUMMARY: The Assistant Director of Student Access, Attendance and Engagement provides districtwide leadership for student attendance, enrollment access, re-engagement, educational stability, and family outreach. The Assistant Director develops and manages coordinated systems designed to ensure that every student is enrolled, connected to school, attending regularly, and meaningfully engaged in learning.
Grounded in equity, empathy, whole-child development, and relational practice, the Assistant Director leads district efforts to identify and remove barriers that interfere with student access and attendance. The position oversees attendance intervention systems, chronic absenteeism strategies, home-visit protocols, re-engagement services, McKinney-Vento compliance, educational continuity for justice-involved students, safety transfers, and other supports for students experiencing mobility, instability, or disconnection from school.
The Assistant Director works collaboratively with school leaders, families, district departments, community agencies, state partners, and service providers to strengthen attendance outcomes, protect student rights, and ensure that vulnerable students receive timely, coordinated, and legally compliant educational services.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategic Leadership and Districtwide Systems
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Develop, implement, and monitor a comprehensive districtwide strategy for student attendance, engagement, enrollment access, and re-engagement.
- Establish clear procedures, service standards, decision-making protocols, and accountability measures for attendance and access-related functions.
- Lead district efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and improve daily attendance, student retention, and school connectedness.
- Align attendance and engagement initiatives with the district’s strategic priorities, school improvement plans, student support framework, and equity commitments.
- Identify systemic barriers affecting student attendance, enrollment, and participation, and recommend policy, programmatic, operational, or resource-based solutions.
- Serve as the Executive Director’s designee, as assigned, for matters related to attendance, student access, educational stability, and re-engagement.
Attendance, Chronic Absenteeism, and Re-engagement
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Direct districtwide attendance intervention and re-engagement systems, including Attendance and Community Engagement teams, early-warning processes, attendance reviews, case management, and targeted outreach.
- Establish tiered attendance supports that promote prevention, early intervention, intensive case management, and sustained re-engagement.
- Oversee home-visit procedures, safety protocols, documentation standards, escalation processes, and follow-up expectations.
- Support schools in developing and implementing attendance improvement plans based on student-level and school-level data.
- Monitor students who are chronically absent, disengaged, withdrawn, missing from school, or at risk of dropping out.
- Coordinate re-entry and reintegration plans for students returning from prolonged absence, hospitalization, juvenile justice involvement, placement changes, or other disruptions.
- Promote relational, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed practices when engaging students and families.
Student Access and Enrollment Support
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Ensure equitable and timely access to enrollment, placement, transfer, and re-entry processes.
- Oversee complex enrollment matters, including students without traditional documentation, students experiencing housing instability, students in foster care, newly arrived students, and other students requiring individualized support.
- Coordinate safety transfer processes in collaboration with school leadership, Safety and Security, Student Support Services, Legal, Transportation, and other relevant departments.
- Identify and resolve barriers that delay enrollment, placement, transportation, records transfer, or access to educational services.
- Ensure continuity of instruction and support when students transition between schools, programs, placements, or jurisdictions.
McKinney-Vento and Educational Stability
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Provide districtwide leadership and oversight for compliance with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and related state and federal requirements.
- Ensure that students experiencing homelessness are identified, enrolled immediately, transported when eligible, and provided access to comparable educational and support services.
- Oversee eligibility determinations, dispute-resolution processes, documentation, records, transportation coordination, and required notifications.
- Develop and deliver training for school-based and central office staff regarding identification, enrollment rights, transportation, confidentiality, and educational stability.
- Collaborate with shelters, housing agencies, social service providers, community organizations, and families to reduce barriers to school participation.
- Monitor district data and service delivery for students experiencing homelessness and other forms of housing instability.
Justice-Involved and Court-Involved Youth
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Coordinate educational access and continuity for students involved with juvenile justice, probation, detention, court, or related systems.
- Serve as a district liaison to juvenile probation, court personnel, state agencies, legal partners, and community-based service providers.
- Ensure timely exchange of educational records, appropriate enrollment or re-enrollment, credit review, transition planning, and access to required services.
- Develop re-entry plans that support successful transitions from detention, placement, or court involvement back into district schools or programs.
- Monitor educational stability and outcomes for justice-involved students and address barriers to attendance, credit attainment, and graduation.
Family and Community Engagement
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Develop family-centered outreach systems that build trust, improve communication, and strengthen student connection to school.
- Establish protocols for family engagement in attendance intervention, re-engagement planning, and educational stability decisions.
- Build and maintain partnerships with community agencies, housing providers, transportation partners, behavioral health organizations, youth-serving agencies, faith-based organizations, and municipal departments.
- Coordinate access to community-based resources that address transportation, housing, health, safety, childcare, behavioral health, and other non-academic barriers.
- Represent the district at community, municipal, state, and interagency meetings related to student access and engagement.
Data, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement
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Develop and monitor dashboards, reports, and early-warning indicators related to attendance, chronic absenteeism, enrollment, withdrawal, mobility, re-engagement, and educational stability.
- Analyze district, school, student group, and individual student data to identify trends, inequities, bright spots, and areas requiring intervention.
- Establish data-quality standards and ensure timely, accurate, and consistent documentation across schools and programs.
- Monitor compliance with federal and state laws, Board policies, district procedures, reporting requirements, and student-record protections.
- Prepare reports and presentations for district leadership, the Board of Education, state agencies, and community stakeholders.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of programs, interventions, vendors, and partnerships, and recommend improvements based on outcomes.
- Develop corrective action plans when schools or departments are not meeting attendance, access, or compliance expectations.
Staff Leadership and Capacity Building
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Supervise, develop, support, and evaluate assigned personnel.
- Establish clear expectations for case management, family outreach, documentation, response times, student follow-up, and service quality.
- Design and provide professional learning for administrators, attendance staff, social workers, counselors, teachers, registrars, and other district personnel.
- Build school leaders’ capacity to interpret attendance data, identify root causes, engage families, and implement effective interventions.
- Promote consistent practices across schools while allowing for differentiated support based on student and community needs.
- Foster a collaborative, responsive, accountable, and service-oriented team culture.
Operational and Cross-Departmental Leadership
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Coordinate work across Student Support Services, Academics, Special Education, Multilingual Learner Services, Transportation, Safety and Security, Legal, Human Resources, Information Technology, and School Leadership.
- Develop procedures, guidance documents, forms, communication tools, and standard operating protocols.
- Support budget development, grant implementation, vendor management, contract monitoring, and resource allocation for assigned programs.
- Manage multiple high-priority projects, deadlines, student cases, and compliance matters simultaneously.
- Represent the Executive Director at meetings and on committees, as assigned.
- Perform other related duties as assigned by the Superintendent or designee.
Measures of Success
Success in this role will be demonstrated through:
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Measurable reductions in chronic absenteeism across schools and student groups.
- Improved daily attendance, student retention, and re-engagement rates.
- Increased successful return-to-school outcomes for chronically absent and disconnected students.
- Timely enrollment and uninterrupted educational access for students experiencing homelessness, mobility, court involvement, or placement changes.
- Stronger implementation of school-level attendance intervention systems.
- Accurate and timely compliance with McKinney-Vento, enrollment, reporting, and educational-stability requirements.
- Improved family engagement and interagency coordination.
- Reduced disparities in attendance and access outcomes among student populations.
High-quality case documentation, data integrity, and timely resolution of complex student matters.
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QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS/ABILITIES OF IDEAL CANDIDATE:
Required Qualifications:
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Master’s degree in educational leadership, social work, school counseling, public administration, human services, or a closely related field.
- Connecticut Intermediate Administration or Supervision Certification, Endorsement 092, or immediate eligibility for the endorsement.
- Minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in public education, student support services, school social work, attendance and engagement, alternative education, or a municipal or community youth-serving organization.
- Demonstrated experience leading attendance interventions, family outreach, home-visit programs, re-engagement initiatives, or related student-support systems.
- Knowledge of chronic absenteeism, student mobility, school avoidance, dropout prevention, enrollment access, and educational stability.
- Demonstrated knowledge of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and related federal and state requirements.
- Experience collaborating with interagency partners such as the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, juvenile probation, courts, housing authorities, shelters, transportation providers, and community-based organizations.
- Experience using student-level and system-level data to develop interventions, monitor performance, and improve outcomes.
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams, supervise staff, manage complex cases, and implement districtwide systems.
- Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills.
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment in sensitive student and family matters.
- Demonstrated commitment to equity, culturally responsive practice, and the success of students and families in an urban school district.
Preferred Qualifications:
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Connecticut certification in school social work, Endorsement 071; school counseling, Endorsement 068; or school psychology, Endorsement 070.
- Connecticut teaching certification.
- Licensed Clinical Social Worker or Licensed Professional Counselor credential.
- Experience leading districtwide attendance, enrollment, student engagement, or educational-stability functions.
- Experience with student information systems, attendance dashboards, case-management systems, and state reporting platforms.
- Experience with grant-funded programs, budget management, and community-based contracts.
- Knowledge of child welfare, juvenile justice, school discipline, transportation, and student-record requirements.
Working Conditions
The position requires regular travel among schools, district offices, community agencies, family residences, and partner locations. The Assistant Director must be available to respond to urgent student access or attendance matters and may be required to attend meetings or events outside the regular workday.
CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Connecticut Intermediate Administrative Certification (092) and Connecticut certification in special education are required. Additional certification or demonstrated experience in alternative education, student support services, or related programming is preferred.
SALARY AND TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT: This is a twelve-month position, and the salary is in accordance with the Hartford Principals' and Supervisors' Association 2026-2027 Schedule: Group 11: $137,101 - $146,249.
UNION AFFILIATION: Hartford Principals' Supervisors' Association (HPSA)
APPLICATION PROCEDURE: To be considered, all internal and external applicants must fully complete a Hartford Public Schools’ online application, which can be accessed through our Applicant Tracking System, Nimble, at https://app.hirenimble.com/jobs/hartford. Internal applicants should use a personal email address when applying. Please do not use your hartfordschools.org email. The code word for the internal application is hartford (lowercase “h”). Candidates’ application and supporting documents will be reviewed. Candidates who advance will be contacted directly by hiring managers for interviews.
