Assistant Director of School Engagement and Community Partnerships

The responsibility of the assistant director of school engagement and community partnerships is to work as a collaborative leader for the Office and provide team support in collaboration with the executive director.  In addition to supporting the leadership of the executive director and the department strategic plan and goals, the assistant director of school engagement and community partnerships is tasked to develop and implement all public information and outreach efforts and to support the overall vision, mission and strategic initiatives of the office, the Department of School and Community Relations and the division. They will provide a range of communications support including ensuring effective communications strategy and execution, managing our internal communications review process, developing communications materials and marketing collateral, implementing organizational culture initiatives, ensuring access to services and information for families, partners, and community members of all cultural and language backgrounds, and event support.  The assistant director is also responsible for collaborative leadership of the family engagement staff with the executive director of the office and FACE leadership. The assistant director of school engagement and community partnerships reports to the executive director of the Office of Community Partnerships and Engagement. 

Qualifications

Education:  Bachelor’s degree in community development, communications, sociology, public relations or a related field required. Masters preferred.

Certificates & Licenses:

• Driver's License

Experience

• Demonstrated expertise in managing projects aligned with a school division educational ecosystem. Previous experience working in K-12 school outreach preferred, with the ability to oversee, coordinate and provide support for community, family and out-of-school time outreach initiatives.  The ability to prioritize, work collaboratively and solve problems is a must.  This includes:

1. Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
2. Exceptional internal and external customer service skills.
3. Demonstrated commitment to racial equity initiatives.
4. Demonstrated ability to implement differentiated communications with varied audiences, especially families who have been traditionally underserved.
5. Proficient in working collaboratively across departments.
6. Ability to supervise work of other staff, support senior leadership and serve as a liaison to vendors and the team.

• Proven record of effective project management for at least five years of increasingly more responsible work leading hands-on, community outreach initiatives and engagement and managing staff.
• Experience with supervising/mentoring/coaching staff and working collaboratively with the team.
• Advanced experience with data management, online outreach apps and portals and various social media platforms.
• Strong experience working with culturally diverse and multilingual communities.

Key Competencies

Leadership & Collaboration: Excellent customer service and interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with team members, department leaders, school leaders and families. Support executive director of school and community partnerships and engagement and chief of school and community relations. Serve as a co-leader to the community outreach and family engagement staff to support effective message delivery to all stakeholders, including hard-to-reach families.

Project Management: Oversee aligned office projects and facilitate meetings from inception to conclusion to meet deadlines and goals. Demonstrated skills in time management, planning, implementing, evaluating and budgeting. Manage yearly outreach calendar and work with the team to develop and implement outreach and FACE activities that highlight division-wide and school-specific information.

Innovative Outreach: Extensive knowledge of outreach strategies and communications strategies proven to be effective in reaching diverse communities and providing information to ACPS staff and families, including those who are part of traditionally underserved communities.

Mass Communication Systems & Digital Media Expertise: Manage division-wide use of unified communications platform. Provide support on communications needs related to web and digital media, and help ensure consistency of messaging across platforms.

Effective Communications Support: Strong oral and written communications skills. Assist in the development of communications products, including providing best practices for creating multilingual video production, scripts, informational material, etc.

Supervision & Performance Management: Supervise assigned personnel to ensure the department and individual performance objectives are met.

Strategic Planning and Equity: Demonstrate strong organizational and planning skills to advance the overall goals and objectives of the department and division's strategic plans, with a proven commitment to racial equity and the mission of ACPS.

Essential Functions

• Support executive director of community partnerships and engagement (CPE), Office of Communications leadership and department chief to develop and implement the strategic communications and community engagement plan
• Assist in budgeting process, developing community outreach program budget in collaboration with executive director
• Supervise, coach and evaluate community engagement team including the community outreach specialist and external relations specialist
• Coordinate implementation of two-way channels to help ACPS better communicate with and understand the needs of traditionally underrepresented communities
• Administer customer relationship management and mass communications systems to help ensure that the ACPS community has clear and accurate information about division-wide issues ranging from instruction to policy, capital planning, transportation, health and safety measures and more
• Collaborate with the Office of Communications to ensure effective external communications aligned with family engagement best practices
• Lead division-wide customer service initiatives
• Identify and implement strategies to provide a streamlined set of digital tools to support real-time communication with students, staff, families and community stakeholders
• Manage division-wide helpline and outreach call center
• Recruit and train independent contractors, temps and/or casual staff for difficult conversations, communicating with linguistically diverse callers, etc.
• Increase staff capacity to conduct effective outreach and create welcoming, inviting environments and engage families
• Develop tools for staff to promote family engagement and two-way communication in their buildings

• Provide communications support (messaging, graphic design, etc.) as requested to other departments to ensure communication is strategic, clear, accurate and accessible for our diverse families. 

• Provide coaching and professional learning for team members and departments on effective outreach strategies and tactics

• Lead traditional and “high-tech” outreach that empowers parents to be actively engaged in their children's education

• Succinctly and effectively communicate CPE and division concepts to diverse stakeholders through a variety of print and digital media

• Oversee data collection and analyze impact of outreach activities to ensure family participation expectations are met consistently through appropriate outreach methods ( for example- multilingual fliers, calls, SMS and email campaigns, direct mail, face-to-face, etc.) 

• Manage and/or support special community initiatives and division-wide events, including Annual Back to School Supply Drive, Superintendent’s Town Halls, etc.

• Assist with emergency/crisis communications as needed.

   

• Some evening and weekend work required.

• May perform other additional duties or tasks as designated by the supervisor.

Clearances

• Criminal Justice Fingerprint/Background Clearance.
• Tuberculosis Skin Test.

Public Health Compliance

• Proof of COVID vaccination. Exemptions for religious/medical will be reviewed.
• Must follow safety and health protocols.