Jeffco Public Schools (Jeffco) is located in Jefferson County, Colorado. It is the second largest school district in Colorado serving 69,000 students across 155 schools. With 14,000 employees, the district is the largest employer in Jefferson County and has provided educational excellence for more than 70 years.

Jeffco embraces the spirit of the West and the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountain region with the county spanning more than 770 square miles running the length of the western edge of the Denver metropolitan area. The district is diverse in both population and geography, from urban to rural, including the mountain communities in the foothills west of Denver.

Overall, Jeffco has 31% of students that qualify for free and reduced lunch, an indicator of poverty, and 34% minority (25% Hispanic) student population. The district is implementing a new strategic plan, Jeffco Thrives 2025 that is focused on providing a world-class education that prepares all Jeffco students for bright and successful futures as local and global citizens. Come join us!

Jeffco Public Schools is a Single-State Employer. All candidates hired by Jeffco Public Schools must reside within the state of Colorado.

Mission:

The Open School provides a dynamic environment that fosters the development of the unique potential in each individual by nurturing and challenging the whole person. There is an emphasis on self-direction, learning through experience, shared responsibility, and the development of life long-skills.

Goals:
Students will be able to:

• Rediscover the joy of learning
• Seek meaning in life
• Adapt to the world as it is
• Prepare for the world that might be
• Create the world as it ought to be

To be considered for this position, please submit a resume, a philosophy statement, and a cover letter of interest that conveys the candidate's educational and philosophical alignment with the Open School.

Leadership: The school leader demonstrates skills that provide purpose and direction for schools.

The school leader

• Uses a variety of processes to analyze problems and to make decisions. Strong skills in guiding “process” to resolution, while maintaining the staff’s sense of credibility.
• Commitment to fostering our vision. Leads vision building and renewal processes to keep us on the cutting edge. Keeps us looking forward.
• Implements planning processes and leads the resulting change efforts.
• Motivates classified and certificated employees to perform with excellence.
• Delegates, with trust, appropriately and monitors the progress of projects.
• Speaks and writes with skill and power. Models learning and listening.
• Models continuous professional growth and reflects on personal performance.
• Participates as a member of the school community and as a member of the district leadership team.
• Watches trends and predicts their effect on the school. Predicts and is proactive about trends and their effect on the school.
• Willingness to participate in a community based peer and self-evaluation process.
• Commitment to fostering our vision; maintaining who we are while navigating laws and rules.
• Collegial style; believes in democratic processes.
• Acts as an advocate for alternative schools.
• Understands policy and is a strong voice for our interests (ex: applies for waivers when appropriate).
• Experience with, and an understanding of learners of all ages.
• UNITE US!! Build and helps create a real PreK-12 school environment. Bring all areas of the school together – a facilitator who supports each area of the school – a good communicator who helps us communicate well – here for the whole school PreK-12 who pays attention to all areas of the school.
• Grant writing expertise.
• Able to develop a strong level of trust; being a presence in classrooms, observing teaching styles and content, without a threat to teachers or students.
• Pedagogical leader.
• Staff development – bringing new ideas to staff; willing to challenge the staff to grow.
• Help us design a leadership model that honors all parts of the school and their unique needs.
• Push us to higher standards, including aesthetics and student behavior.
• Sense of humor.
• Have experience as a teacher and an administrator.
• Deal fairly with discipline issues, supporting students and staff.
• Risk taking – willing to support educationally sound, philosophically true, but with perceived “high risk” activities like archery, dead trees on the playground, brightly painted doors.

Community Building: The school leader guides the development of a caring community that includes all stakeholders in the school.

The school leader

• Helps to facilitate identification of shared beliefs (“sacred scroll” keeper with entire community).
• Ensures that community members are involved through a collaborative decision making process and that decisions are made at the appropriate level.
• Manages conflict with honesty and tact.
• Treats all members of the community fairly, equitably and with integrity, and works respectfully with ethnic, gender, and cultural diversity.
• Recognizes the signs and patterns of discrimination and works to eliminate discriminatory behavior in the school community.
• Demonstrates empathy and sensitivity in dealing with members of the community.
• Encourages individual achievement, teamwork, self-management, and continuous improvement.
• Empowers teachers, support staff, parents, and students to be leaders in the school community.
• Creates partnerships between the school and community agencies.
• Practices and values a democratic model of shared decision-making.
• Understands developmentally the needs of learners of all ages, and supports the community to best address those needs.
• Advocates for community.
• Attends student meetings at all levels whenever possible.
• A daily presence in classrooms.

Instructional Leadership: The school leader focuses on student learning and student success.

The school leader

• Leads the community in the development of challenging performance standards for students and in the development of fair and accurate assessment methods.
• Help us continue to demonstrate our strengths – portfolios, celebrations of learning and uses data to analyze the current state of student learning and serves as a catalyst for and manager of needed change.
• Understands the processes of curriculum development in relationship to human development and learning theory.
• Understands effective models of instruction and coaches effective classroom instructional practices, including but not limited to staff support groups.
• Manages an instructional program that fosters success for all students regardless of gender, race, or disability, recognizing the contributions of diverse groups in society and infuses multi-cultural learning.
• Leads the development of varied supervisory and evaluation processes.
• Ensures the development of a staff development program using staff support groups, peer-self evaluations and inservices, that recognizes the principles of adult learning and focuses on student success.
• Expects the use of technology in instruction when appropriate.
• Committed to being an alternative education activist and a scholar.
• Understands the value of authentic assessment and encourages the use of a variety of assessment tools.
• Well versed in educational philosophy.
• Participates in the program as a learner and a teacher, advisor (of last resort), as well as an administrator.
• Committed to the values of multi-disciplinary instruction and experiential learning, including instruction.
• Understands the characteristics and special developmental needs of a PreK-12 community of learners.
• Understands how our philosophy of experiential education relates to standards, and is able to articulate how we align with the standards.

Management: The school leader manages the human and financial resources to ensure an orderly learning and work environment.

The school leader:

• Manages financial resources with efficiency, fairness, and involvement of the staff and community.
• Manage financial resources such as vans and transportation to keep our field experience options open.
• Upholds and applies state laws, contractual obligations, and district policies while ensuring due process.
• Manages personnel practices including selection and evaluation with fairness and legal defensibility.
• Maintains a safe and orderly environment for student behavior that promotes respect for the individual, a good learning environment, and a sense of personal responsibility and community.
• Uses and supports technology in the management of the school. Actively seek to keep the technology equipment as current as possible.
• Supportive of our work with pre-service teachers and our continued growth as a professional development school.
• Utilizes multiple sources of data to support an on-going peer and self- evaluation process for staff.
• Comfortable and experienced with shared leadership and delegation of tasks when appropriate.
• Will be a teacher advocate.
• Manage financial resources such as vans and transportation to keep our field experience options open.

Principal Senior (225)
Annual Position
FLSA: Exempt
FTE: 1.00000 , Hours/Day: 8.000 , Days/Year: 225
Salary Plan, Grade, Step: JCA - Administrator - 225 days , P12, 1
Min-Mid Annual Salary Range: $118,134.00 - $139,570.50 Effective as of: 08-16-2022

**Annual salary noted above is based on an 8 hour day and full days worked calendar. Any position that is less than a full FTE/8 hours per day or late start will be prorated accordingly.

Certain Education Support Professional (ESP) jobs may include the value of holiday pay into the hourly rate. Review the Holiday in Rate column of the Education Support Professional Job Title, Wage Plan, Grade document.

The successful new hire or rehired candidate will be responsible to complete and incur the fingerprinting and processing fee of $54.50 through an appropriate fingerprinting vendor and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, within 48 hours of offer acceptance.

SUMMARY As outlined in the Jefferson County Public Schools' School Leadership profile, an individual in this position serves as the school leader by providing leadership, community building, instructional leadership, and human and financial resources management.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

Following is a general summary of the essential duties and responsibilities for this position as outlined in the School Leadership Profile.

LEADERSHIP: Provide a purpose and direction for the school.

COMMUNITY BUILDING: Guide the development of a caring community that includes stakeholders in the school.

INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP: Focus on student learning and student success.

MANAGEMENT: Manage the human and financial resources to ensure an orderly work and learning environment..

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EXPERIENCE Minimum of three years' of licensed experience in a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school, and a minimum of two years' educational administrative and/or comparable administrative leadership.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING Bachelor's degree, plus additional course work required for certification or licensure.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS Colorado Principal License issued or in process.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, & EQUIPMENT Demonstrated conflict management, problem solving, resource allocation, prioritization, data analysis, collaborative decision making, relationship building, group facilitation, writing, and speaking skills. Demonstrated knowledge and use of District policies, procedures, employee contracts, and legal requirements. Computer and technology skills which include Human Resources; Financial Systems; and communications technology including software, E-mail, and voice mail are a condition of employment and must be obtained within one year after hire.

DECISION MAKING Ability to determine staffing levels and budget requirements; develop alternatives and make decisions in crises situations; utilize collaborative decision making skills; and apply good judgment to ensure student safety and carry out student discipline. Errors could lead to legal ramifications and compromise student safety and the learning environment, resulting in substantial embarrassment or cost to the District. Final decisions at the school site are the responsibility of this position.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS Daily contact with parents, students, and law enforcement officials to exchange information and resolve issues. Regular contact with vendors, media, legislatures, and government entities to exchange information; with higher education, partnerships, and businesses to exchange information, develop and maintain programs, maintain relationships, and foster program participation; with government agencies, community individuals and groups, transportation officials, and community colleges to exchange information and resolve issues; and with district attorneys to exchange information regarding legal matters.

SPAN OF CONTROL Directly supervise assistant principals, counselors, teachers, school resource officers, coaches, club sponsors, classified employees, and special education personnel. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

EDUCATIONAL DELIVERY Support the instructional programs of the District by supervising and evaluating teachers and administrators and by developing and implementing school instructional programs. Understand the philosophy of standards based education, the processes of curriculum development and effective models of instruction, and lead their implementation in the schools. Manage the development of curriculum and instructional programs that recognize the contributions of diverse groups and foster success for all students regardless of gender, race, or disability. Lead the community in the development of challenging performance standards for students and the development of varied supervisory and evaluation processes. Insure the development of a staff development program that recognizes the principles of adult learning and focuses on student success. Use data to analyze the current state of student learning and serve as a catalyst for and manager of needed change. Understand and lead the use of technology in instruction. The majority of the time is spent at the school site.

COMPLEXITY OF WORK Requires analytical skills, independent thinking, considerable judgment, and the ability to assess crises and make sound decisions quickly with little time or input from others. Must manage personnel, curriculum, student success and discipline, and physical plant. Must have a strong understanding of student behavior, District culture and policies and be able to quickly analyze the impact of decisions on the student, school, District, and community. Final decisions at the school are the responsibility of this position. Generally, work is complicated by the volume of students at the school site, large budget management responsibilities, and the diversity and severity of student issues and crises.

The physical demands, work environment factors, and mental functions described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, talk or hear, and taste or smell. The employee frequently is required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to sit; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, or crouch The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 100 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

MENTAL FUNCTIONS While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly is required to compare, analyze, communicate, evaluate, use interpersonal skills, compile, and negotiate. The employee frequently is required to copy, instruct, compute, and synthesize.

WORK ENVIRONMENT While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Jeffco Salary Schedules

Jeffco Benefits

The Jefferson County School District does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, pregnancy, or gender.