Organization: Pacific Collegiate School
Job Title: Principal
Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Posted: 06/25/09

The School
Located in Santa Cruz, California, Pacific Collegiate School’s (PCS) mission is to provide exemplary, standards based college preparatory and fine arts education for public middle and high school students of Santa Cruz County and bordering areas. PCS’s vision is to offer any student the same quality of education offered by the most academically distinguished schools in California. With open access to all Advanced Placement (AP) courses, PCS graduates are prepared to enter and thrive at the world’s finest colleges and universities.

PCS emphasizes international, cross-cultural, and technological education in order to prepare graduates for life in the 21st Century. PCS students are introduced to the rich variety of world cultures and become fluent in at least one foreign language. Upon graduation they are proficient in the basic information technologies essential for cultural literacy in the 21st Century. In keeping with the school’s mission of academic rigor, all students are required to pass a minimum of five AP classes. Last year, PCS students took 342 AP exams with an average pass rate of 88%. Founded in 1999, PCS has a total staff of 40 serving 470 students in grades seven through twelve and a budget of $4M. It is a single site school district, with a charter authorized by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. The school is governed by Board of Directors that consists of thirteen voting
members, including one faculty representative, and two non-voting ex-officio members: the Principal and a student representative.

A National Blue Ribbon School, PCS has become one of the most respected public schools in the nation. Ranked #3 by US News and World Report’s 2008 list of top high schools, PCS was also honored by the College Board for building the nation’s best AP World History program. It is consistently ranked one of California’s top charter schools as well as the state’s top open-admission school of any kind. The Position Reporting to PCS’s Board of Directors (BOD), the Principal will be a strong, innovative leader with solid academic credentials who will lead the school to the next level of achievement. S/he will be politically savvy and champion the school’s vision to all constituencies. The Principal’s leadership will motivate and inspire faculty, students, and parents to fulfill the school’s goals of being an inclusive, small-school community focused on rigorous academic instruction that prepares students for global awareness and citizenship.

Responsibilities
The Principal will be responsible for leadership, supervision, evaluation, improvement, public relations, organization, accountability and contract administration for PCS. With a direct staff of five that includes:Business Manager, Faculty Dean, VP Dean of Students, Outreach Coordinator, and Administrative Assistant, the Principal will be responsible for:

Leadership
• Articulating a persuasive and appealing vision of PCS’s mission to all stakeholders.
• Overseeing the school’s management team.
• Partnering with the BOD in fulfilling the school’s mission and catalyzing change vis-à vis the BOD.
• Overseeing an assertive and successful fundraising, communications, diversity and community outreach program.
• Systematically assessing strengths and weaknesses of the school and providing innovative leadership and solutions to address the weaknesses while continuing to build on strengths.

Operations
• Developing and overseeing a budget that maximizes student learning and achieves PCS’s priorities.
• Overseeing Human Resources, making recommendations about all personnel issues, including compensation, disciplinary actions, and the hiring and firing of all faculty and staff.
• Acting as the final decision-maker for school discipline issues and consistently articulating high expectations for student behavior.
• Overseeing the acquisition and effective management of school facilities. Academic and Instructional Excellence
• Maintaining a school-wide culture of accountability that ensures high academic achievement and growth for every student.
• Providing inspiration, mentoring and instructional leadership to faculty and staff, and articulating educational issues to the school-wide community.
• With the Faculty Dean, creating a sustainable and transparent evaluation system for teachers.
• With the Dean of Students, developing measurable goals for student achievement.
Internal and External Relationship Management
• Serving as superintendent of the Pacific Collegiate school district, including outreach to the County Office of Education, compliance with state educational code and all other contractual obligations.
• Building and nurturing positive internal and external public relations, finding common ground to move people toward solutions and cultivating an environment where all stakeholders feel comfortable exchanging views.
• Working within the PCS community and within Santa Cruz County to achieve the goals of the PCS Diversity Plan.
• Working with the Parent Volunteer Association to inspire and facilitate PCS’s high level of parental involvement.

Qualifications
This is an extraordinary opportunity for an individual with:
• demonstrated success as a leader
• experience as an educator
• a commitment to the PCS mission

In addition to a Bachelor’s degree, ideal candidates will have some combination of the following:
• Post-graduate degree
• Experience managing a high-performing team
• Experience managing and negotiating complex political relationships
• Financial management—demonstrated by a deep understanding of solid fiscal practices and a commitment to fiscal transparency and accountability
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• An ability to inspire continuous improvement
• Entrepreneurial and willing to take risks
• Embraces “the buck stops here” as administrative credo
• Poised, confident and professional in diverse situations
• Humble, mindful and willing to continually improve
• Sense of humor, affability
• Creative and thoughtful
• Experience with diverse populations
• Comfortable with conflict, disagreement and uncertainty
• Demonstrated success developing and cultivating productive relationships with teachers, students, parents, staff and external stakeholders
• Holds self and other adults accountable for ensuring high standards
• Relates to both adults and students with empathy and understanding
• Relentless drive and determination to achieve outcomes and results
• Able and willing to engage in difficult conversations and make hard decisions

Compensation
Competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience

Location
Santa Cruz, California

To Apply
Please submit a cover letter, resume and salary history to the PCS Principal Search Committee in care of Judy Carey, Search Chair, judycare@cruzio.com.

PCS is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply for this position.

Open until filled.