Portland Public Schools (PPS) is seeking talented people from diverse backgrounds and experiences to lead change and inspire PPS students. At PPS, every employee, despite having different roles, is an educator. We hope to attract talented educators who model the core PPS Educator Essentials. With the District’s focus on eliminating systemic racism and its adverse impact on student learning, we seek to hire individuals who bring to our district a deep commitment to racial equity and social justice.
The District is committed to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in all its educational and employment activities. The District prohibits discrimination based on perceived or actual race; national or ethnic origin; color; sex; religion; age; sexual orientation; gender expression or identity; pregnancy; marital status; veteran’s status; familial status; economic status or source of income; mental or physical disability or perceived disability; or military service.
504 Coordinator: Katie Loewen, [email protected], 503-916-3337 x63337
ADA Coordinator: Jey Buno, [email protected], 503-916-3360
Director of Civil Rights: Dr. Bobby Cruz, [email protected], 503-839-3660
Accessibility Statement
BASIC FUNCTION
Under administrative direction, lead the district’s Enrollment, Transfer, and School Assignment function and manage the operational systems, staff, procedures, timelines, and family-facing services that support student enrollment, school transfers, and lottery processes across Portland Public Schools.
The Senior Program Manager oversees a complex districtwide enrollment, transfer, and school assignment program serving more than 80 schools and programs. The position is responsible for maintaining and implementing detailed enrollment, transfer, lottery, and assignment rules; ensuring consistent and accurate application of district procedures; supporting families in multiple languages; supervising enrollment, transfer, and school assignment staff; and coordinating with schools and central office departments to resolve complex enrollment and transfer matters.
The position serves as a subject matter expert on enrollment, transfer, lottery, school assignment, and boundary-related data for districtwide planning efforts contributing critical enrollment and school assignment expertise to those efforts in partnership with multiple district teams.
REPRESENTATIVE DUTIES
This description does not describe all duties performed. This summary provides examples of typical tasks performed.
Enrollment, Transfer, Lottery, School Assignment, and Family-Centered Case Management
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Lead districtwide enrollment, transfer, and school assignment operations ensuring enrollment support, transfers, lottery processes, waitlists, hardship transfer workflows, and school assignment decisions are managed through a responsive, culturally sustaining, and family-centered service model. “E”
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Manage the annual transfer and lottery cycle, including timelines, applications, system preparation, rule validation, staff training, family communication, lottery processing, placement notifications, waitlist movement, and post-lottery adjustments. “E”
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Maintain and implement complex enrollment, transfer, lottery, and school assignment rules, including attendance-area assignments, focus option and program placement, sibling priority, transfer eligibility, program-specific requirements, waitlist rules, and capacity-related constraints. “E”
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Ensure families receive clear, accurate, timely, and accessible information through phone, email, in-person support, web resources, translated materials, and interpretation services. “E”
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Ensure enrollment, transfer, lottery, hardship transfer, and school assignment processes are implemented accurately and consistently by developing and maintaining standard operating procedures, decision tools, internal guidance, workflows, timelines, and training materials aligned with Board policy, district procedures, administrative direction, and applicable legal requirements. “E”
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Monitor application volume, placement outcomes, waitlists, transfer trends, service timelines, system issues, and family experience; recommend and implement improvements to strengthen accuracy, transparency, timeliness, and access. “E”
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Apply an equity lens to enrollment, transfer, lottery, hardship review, and school assignment processes; use disaggregated data to identify disparities in access, application completion, transfer approvals, program participation, waitlist movement, and family service outcomes. “E”
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Recommend and implement process improvements that reduce barriers for families, including multilingual families, families new to PPS, families experiencing housing instability, families navigating disability-related services, and families facing other access barriers. “E”
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Partner with Language Access Services, Communications, schools, and community-facing teams to ensure enrollment and school assignment information is understandable and available in multiple languages. “E”
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Manage hardship transfer reviews and complex student assignment cases, ensuring requests are reviewed consistently, compassionately, confidentially, and in alignment with district procedures and documentation expectations. “E”
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Coordinate with Special Education, Student Success and Health, Multilingual Learning, School Leadership, Transportation, Legal, and other departments to support appropriate review and resolution of complex enrollment, transfer, and assignment matters. “E”
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Resolve sensitive or escalated family concerns related to enrollment, transfer, lottery outcomes, hardship requests, school assignment, documentation, or process timelines. “E”
Data, Systems, and Cross-Functional Collaboration
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Collaborate with Technology, system vendors, Research, Assessment and Accountability, Facilities, and other operational teams to maintain enrollment and assignment platforms and provide enrollment, transfer, waitlist, mobility, demographic, and school assignment data to support operational decisions and district planning. “E”
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Prepare reports, dashboards, presentations, FAQs, briefing materials, and public-facing information related to enrollment, transfer, lottery, hardship review, and school assignment processes. “E”
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Ensure enrollment and transfer data are accurate, timely, secure, and usable for school staffing, budget planning, student assignment, program planning, communications, transportation planning, and districtwide decision-making. “E”
Enrollment & School Assignment Planning Initiatives
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Serve as a subject matter expert on enrollment, transfer, lottery, school assignment, and boundary-related data for districtwide planning efforts. “E”
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Contribute enrollment and school assignment expertise to district projects involving boundary review, school capacity, program placement, school rightsizing, grade configuration, and school redesign, while operating as a contributor rather than the project lead. “E”
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Analyze and explain how proposed boundary, program, school configuration, or capacity changes may affect enrollment patterns, transfer demand, waitlists, family experience, and school assignment processes. “E”
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Help translate complex enrollment and school assignment information into clear summaries, maps, talking points, FAQs, presentations, and recommendations for district leaders, school administrators, families, and community engagement processes. “E”
Team Supervision and Operational Leadership
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Supervise the performance of assigned personnel; interview and select employees and recommend transfers, reassignment, termination and disciplinary actions. “E”
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Develop, recommend, approve and implement department budgets; manage budget allocations to ensure appropriate use of resources. “E”
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Establish team expectations, service standards, workflows, roles, timelines, staffing coverage, and accountability systems to support district priorities and responsive family-centered service, including during high-volume enrollment and transfer periods. “E”
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Build staff capacity to apply complex enrollment, transfer, lottery, and school assignment rules accurately, communicate clearly with families, maintain confidentiality, and respond effectively to sensitive or escalated situations. “E”
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Demonstrate a commitment to Portland Public Schools’ Racial Equity and Social Justice work by modeling inclusive leadership, participating in professional learning, and recommending improvements to district practices with awareness of their impact in a racially and culturally diverse community.
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Maintain confidentiality of student, family, personnel, and district information; attend evening or weekend meetings as needed; serve on district committees or workgroups. “E”
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Perform related duties as assigned.
Note: See the Classification Specification which identifies essential duties required. This is strictly for use in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES
The following knowledge and abilities are in addition to those outlined in the classification.
Knowledge of:
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Student enrollment, school assignment, transfer, lottery, waitlist, and hardship transfer systems.
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K–12 school district operations, school choice, school capacity, program placement, and boundary-related processes.
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Family-centered customer service practices in a diverse public-sector environment.
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Equity-centered process design and strategies for reducing barriers to access.
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Enrollment data, student information systems, application platforms, and reporting tools.
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Methods for analyzing enrollment trends, student mobility, transfer patterns, waitlists, and program demand.
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Policies, procedures, laws, and regulations related to public school enrollment, student records, confidentiality, residency, and student assignment.
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Hardship transfer review practices and documentation standards.
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Project management, process improvement, workflow design, and standard operating procedure development.
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Principles of supervision, training, coaching, team development, and performance management.
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Communication practices for explaining complex or sensitive district processes to families, staff, and community members.
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Cross-functional collaboration with research, accountability, technology, facilities, transportation, student services, communications, language access, and school leadership teams.
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Applicable technology, databases, spreadsheets, dashboards, presentation tools, and reporting systems.
Ability to:
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Lead a complex districtwide enrollment and school assignment program with accuracy, consistency, and responsiveness.
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Interpret and apply complex rules, policies, priorities, timelines, and procedures.
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Supervise, train, coach, evaluate, and support staff in a high-volume, family-facing service environment.
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Manage multiple deadlines, peak operational cycles, and sensitive issues with sound judgment and composure.
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Analyze data, identify trends, prepare reports, and translate complex information into clear summaries and recommendations.
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Support district planning efforts by contributing enrollment, transfer, lottery, and school assignment expertise.
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Collaborate effectively with Research, Assessment and Accountability; Technology; Facilities; school leaders; and other central office teams.
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Design and improve workflows, SOPs, tools, and systems that improve accuracy, transparency, and family experience.
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Communicate clearly and respectfully with families, students, school staff, principals, district leaders, community partners, and Board-facing audiences.
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Resolve complex or escalated concerns using empathy, confidentiality, policy alignment, and operational judgment.
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Identify inequitable patterns in access or outcomes and recommend practical system improvements.
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Prepare presentations, memos, FAQs, guidance documents, and public-facing materials.
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Maintain confidentiality and exercise discretion in sensitive student, family, and district matters.
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Work effectively in a racially, culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse community.
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Advocate, model, and implement Portland Public Schools’ racial equity and social justice commitments.
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Use a variety of technologies and software programs, such as Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite, PeopleSoft, district payroll systems and other software programs.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in education, public administration, business administration, urban planning, data analytics, public policy, social sciences, or a related field is required.
Experience: Five years of progressively responsible experience in K–12 enrollment, student assignment, school operations, program management, public administration, family-facing services, data-informed planning, or a related field is required, including experience leading complex systems, projects, or operational processes.
Two years of supervisory, lead, or project leadership experience is required.
Experience in a large urban school district or similarly complex public-sector organization is preferred.
Experience with enrollment systems, school choice/lottery systems, student information systems, boundary-related analysis, school capacity data, multilingual family services, or student transfer processes is highly preferred.
A master’s degree in a related field may substitute for up to two years of the required experience, but may not substitute for supervisory, lead, or project leadership experience.
Experience managing or supporting a centralized K–12 enrollment, transfer, lottery, or school assignment office.
Any other combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities may be considered.
Special Requirements:
Work hours may include on- and off-campus evening and weekend activities and meetings and district, school and student functions. Travel between district sites will be required.
WORKING CONDITIONS
The working conditions are outlined in the job classification for the position and are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Persons with certain disabilities may be capable of performing the essential duties of this class with or without reasonable accommodation, depending on the nature of the disability.
Remote Work Eligibility: ad-hoc.
SALARY RANGE: $110,741.00 - $132,230.00
FTE: 1.0
WORK YEAR: 260
FLSA: Exempt
