Job Summary:
This position serves as a Center Director for the Head Start program. The Center Director serves as the operational lead for the center, ensuring compliance with all program policies/procedures and Head Start, licensing or other regulations.
The Center Director ensures integrated service delivery and improvement in the children’s literacy, numeracy, language, cognitive, fine / gross motor skills; promotes parental involvement and participation in Head Start classrooms and in training opportunities.
Essential Job Duties:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to carry out each essential duty in a satisfactory manner. The job specifications listed below are representative of the education and experience as well as the knowledge, skill, and/or ability (KSAs) required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Responsibilities:
- Ensure full implementation of all aspects of the Head Start program’s early learning system, policies/procedures, and tools with the goal of supporting all children to achieve School Readiness Goals.
- Coordinate with Family Advocates to ensure full implementation of family services and parent involvement.
- Supervise and manage the center staff to ensure completion of all human resources activities, and ensure compliance with relevant policies and procedures.
- Serve as operational lead for the center, ensuring compliance with all program policies/procedures and Head Start, licensing, or other regulations
- Authorizes purchases of instructional and teaching materials. Reviews and monitors facility budget.
- Implement all monitoring systems required by Family Development Services, Head Start, child care licensing CACFP, or other agencies, including daily visual checks of indoor & outdoor safety. Monthly or quarterly completion of health & safety monitoring tool
- Ensures that facilities, materials, and equipment are safe, appropriate, match the identified curriculum and are conducive to learning and reflect on the different ages and stages of development of each child, including children with disabilities.
- Conduct and/or supervise monthly safety checks of all facilities.
- Educational Quality:
- Ensure that teachers integrate goals from Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for children with disabilities (in consultation with the Special Needs Coordinator and/or Assistant Mental Health Coordinator).
- Ensure the completion of all required child screenings and assessments, including 30 and 90-day requirements for new children and quarterly progress assessments for all children.
- Oversee required training of new hires (in conjunction with education & HR leads)
- Support teachers in understanding child outcomes data and using it to improve practice.
- Responsible for recruitment of children/families for center capacity.
- Ensure parents are integrally involved in developing the program’s curriculum and approach to child development and education
- Assist teaching staff in developing a system offering parents opportunities for enhancing and increasing their child observation skills.
- Conducts daily, weekly, and monthly formal and informal observations in each classroom.
- Participate in team meetings, home visits, and community events as needed.
- Participate in annual program self-assessment
- Provide ongoing coaching and feedback to teaching staff to support them in successfully fulfilling all aspects of their role, including but not limited to effective practices in the following:
- CLASS™ Teacher-Child Interactions
- Learning Environments
- Curriculum
- Child Assessment
- Meeting All Children’s Needs
- Working with Families
- Professional Growth and Collaboration
- Work with teachers to implement program curriculum with fidelity.
- Work with teachers to implement child assessment systems reliably, including understanding child outcomes data and using them to plan and individualize.
- Communication & Service Coordination
- Actively Lead and participate in the Head Start community, including staff meetings, mandated training, committee meetings, and other program-wide functions as needed, including some evening activities.
- Ensure children’s individual health, nutrition, disabilities, or mental health needs are met, through the implementation of Family Development Services referral system, coordination with appropriate coordinators/specialists, and participation in case conferences as necessary.
- Develop a working knowledge of local community resources related to education and transition.
- Coordinate training and implementation of Family Development Services family engagement programs and for parents and community members wanting to volunteer in the classroom.
- Record Keeping & Reporting
- Review weekly MBI (managing by information) reports and ensure all concerns are addressed in a timely fashion.
- Review quarterly MBO (managing by outcomes) report and ensure all concerns are addressed in a timely fashion.
- Ensure complete and accurate implementation of all required systems for recordkeeping and reporting, including:
- Individual child/family files
- Education portfolios or other documentation of early childhood education services
- In-kind contributions from parents or community members
- Purchasing and tracking of supplies and equipment
- Employee timekeeping
- Employee paid time off
- Attendance and payments (as appropriate) for Full/Extended Day
- Child, family & program information in ChildPlus
- Child observations, assessment & planning information in CreativeCurriculum.net
- Monitor and review cognitive and social emotional screening, attendance, and referral system reports. Coordinate with the appropriate coordinators and participate in case conferences as necessary.
- Human Resources
- Plan and adjust work operations to meet changing or emergent program requirements within available resources and with minimum sacrifice to quantity or quality of work.
- Work with teachers to develop and support their individual development plan, including training plans for each teacher to obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher in Early Childhood Education or a related field. Individual development plans filed in the personnel folder and a training log.
- Submit annual performance evaluations in a timely manner.
- Implements, monitors, and administers disciplinary action when staff is in violation of
- Agencies’ policies, procedures, union and non-union employee handbook, as well as union contract as applicable.
- Understand the personnel policies and procedures and conduct regular personnel file audits to ensure compliance with Head Start Performance Standards, Child Care State Licensing, and Family Development Services regulations.
- Program Governance and Leadership
- Participate in annual and quarterly planning to set, plan for, and monitor program goals.
- Make decisions that support program quality and maintain program accountability.
- Establish a focus for the education service area and act to align the area’s goals with the strategic direction and needs of the center; ensure that employees in the area understand how their work relates to the center as a whole and the relevant regulations and performance standards.
- Improve quality and effectiveness of education service area and overall organization by initiating, sponsoring, and implementing organizational change and by helping others to successfully manage organizational change.
- Recognize that your job description is service area-specific but not limited to: confidentiality, child abuse reporting, attendance and dependability, appropriate dress, customer service and support to all families, prudent use of program resources, and promoting and maintaining a safe work environment.
Supervision:
- Supervises assigned department personnel. Includes the following responsibilities, but are not limited to hiring, training, scheduling, evaluating, and ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and the completion of all work performed by direct reports.
- Educates direct reports on all department and agency policies and procedures.
- Meets with assigned staff at least 2 times monthly to identify and resolve problems, manage and monitor projects, track goals, and review work processes and procedures.
- Represents the team and/or department at meetings, events, and training as required.
- Performs any and all other duties as assigned.
Education and/or Experience:
Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Early Childhood Education or an equivalent degree with 36 credit hours of ECE coursework is preferred, OR a bachelor’s degree with eighteen (15) credit hours in ECE with documented content relating to the needs, skills, development, or teaching methods of children age 0 to age 8 years of age. Other degrees considered with experience as Center Director in Preschool and/or Daycare.
- 3-5 years’ experience supervising/managing center-based preschool/infant toddler center as Center Director required
- Coaching experience preferred
- Experience with collaborations and community partnerships (if applicable)
- Physical exam and background checks are required for this position.
- Travel required locally or long-distance, up to 10% of the time for work-related meetings and functions.
- Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:
- Knowledge of the health and safety licensing requirements for schools and/or childcare centers.
- Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
- Ability to multitask, work independently, efficiently organize and communicate effectively with off-site supervisors
- Demonstrated computer literacy skills, using MS Office applications, other programmatic software and other basic data systems including internet navigation.
- Must be honest, dependable and able to meet deadlines.
- Self-motivated and able to work independently.
- Physical Requirements:
- Ability to obtain certification in CPR and First Aid
- Ability to understand and communicate proficiently verbally and in writing in English
- Ability to exert a minimum of 50 lbs. of force to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects unassisted.
- Ability to move quickly in the event of an emergency
- Ability to sit most of the time with some bending and reaching.
- Ability to stand, walk, and bend periodically.
- Ability to engage in repetitive movement of wrists, hands, and fingers – typing and/or writing.
- Ability to work frequently at close visual range (i.e. preparing and analyzing data and figures, accounting, transcription, computer terminal, extensive reading).
- Exposure to Work Hazards: loud noises, work closely and personally with public to complete job tasks; exposure to various cleaning and sanitizing agents
- Work Environment:
- Work is generally performed in an office environment.
- Noise level in the work environment is moderate to occasionally loud (examples: business office with computers and printers, light to moderate traffic, human voices).
- Standard office equipment generally used includes:
- Telephone
- Personal Computer (monitor, keyboard, and mouse) or Tablet
- Printer/Photocopy Machine
- Calculator
- Fax Machine
- May be required to operate a motor vehicle during the course of duties.
We are an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and healthy workplace.
