Assistant Executive Director - Network Team

Liberty STEAM Charter, a tuition-free, open-enrollment public charter school, is located in Sumter, South Carolina. It served 192 scholars in the 2021-22 school year, its inaugural year, across kindergarten and first grade. The school is authorized by the SC Public Charter School District and will serve scholars in grades K-12 across four academies at its build-out.

In the 2022-23 school year, LSC completed its Primary Academy expansion by adding second grade and now serves 300 scholars across K-1 while it also opened its Elementary Academy in August 2023 to serve an additional 300 scholars in grades 2-3. It is scheduled to open its next site in the 2025-26 school year with 5th grade. Next year, LSC will serve 900 scholars across three campuses.

The vision and mission of the school is predicated upon a general theory of action that has been well-communicated by early supporters who believe if a school existed that emphasized a focus on STEAM career fields through project-based learning and personalized learning, seeking to provide scholars with a blend of rigorous & relevant academic and workplace learning experiences, then its graduates will leave with the competencies necessary to be successful in college or career.

The faculty & staff at LSC are champions who believe all scholars are capable of greatness and achievement far beyond what society has been conditioned to accept. You will be part of a powerful team that is all aligned around the same goals. Every day, your hard work will prepare scholars who will go on to become graduates who will be thoughtful and engaged citizens prepared to take on the leadership challenges of the 21st century.

This is a full-time position located in Sumter, South Carolina.

Sumter is a city near the geographic center of South Carolina. Nearly 108,000 people call Sumter their home. Sumter offers a highly diversified industrial structure and is famed for its lovely gardens and charming residential neighborhoods. Part of the well-known Santee-Cooper Lakes region, Sumter is renowned for hunting, fishing, water sports, and golf. Located between two great vacation centers, Sumter is 100 miles west of Myrtle Beach's Grand Strand and 175 miles east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Columbia, the state capital, lies 44 miles to the west, and the major port city of Charleston is 99 miles south. Sumter is proud to be the home of Shaw Air Force Base and the Third Army, which are integral parts of our community. Sumter has become increasingly known for textiles, manufacturing, biotech industries, a thriving retail environment, and the medical center of its region in addition to agricultural products, which makes it a hub for business in the east-central portion of South Carolina.

Sumter is not immune to the issue that has plagued rural communities of the Palmetto State and indeed the nation for the last several years the local public school system is not producing enough graduates prepared to enter a rapidly changing skills-based economy. The creation and establishment of LSC, a public charter school in Sumter (South Carolina) focused on STEAM career fields through project-based learning supported by industry is the way forward.

LSC will work to provide all scholars with equal access to a world-class K-12 education in an academically rigorous and scholar-centered learning environment, creating graduates who will be thoughtful and engaged citizens prepared to take on the leadership challenges of the 21st century. In partnership with our families and the community, our vision is to provide real-world interdisciplinary, personalized, and project-based learning experiences through a STEAM-based academic program where graduates become the next generation of leaders, employers, and employees who contribute to the economic well-being of their communities and families.

Multiple career pathways will be offered to scholars including industrial & engineering technology, health sciences, computer technology, and early college. The school holds a deep commitment to cultivating an inclusive & supportive community where everyone is focused on learning. The establishment of the charter school could be one part of a holistic approach to help lead a renaissance in the Sumter community and will encourage further growth, hope, and a sense of pride while being a launching pad for better education opportunities in our community. Thus, the charter school will essentially serve as a key lever for holistic neighborhood revitalization by helping to close the opportunity gap in building a strong, economically diverse Sumter community.

Our community leaders believe this will positively impact local education as a whole and also, more importantly, encourage further development throughout our community, improve the quality of life, and be a mechanism to recruit new families to Sumter while providing a world-class education system for those that already call Sumter home.

Reporting directly to the Executive Director (ED), the Assistant Executive Director (AED) serves as the second highest administrator at LSC. The ED& AED will work together to be held responsible for all aspects of organizational health, including but not limited to: enacting the school's vision/mission; overseeing the realization of the LSC's junior & senior academy's goals and outcomes; meeting the school's fundraising and other financial goals; maintaining SCDE accreditation; maintaining a tier I federal programs status with SCPCSD; guiding the school's professional culture; being accountable to the school's authorizer; and managing finances, development, and human resources. The ED and AED are ultimately responsible for the execution of all programs and procedures in alignment with the school's mission and vision, with input from a broad range of constituents.

Serving as the Assistant Executive Director is an ideal position for an experienced & licensed education administrator who possesses the necessary knowledge, skills, and mindsets to lead by influence that allows our academy directors to lead their respective teams to achieve off-the-charter results with their scholars. The ideal candidate is especially committed to serving low SES and minority scholars, self-reflective, data-driven, results-oriented, mission-focused, open to and actively seeks constructive feedback, and is tenacious about scholar college & career readiness. This organizational leader will be developed by the Executive Director to absorb all areas of LSC's ED Succession Plan with the goal of closing any gaps in the leader's skill set to eventually step into the Executive Director role.

The Assistant Executive Director role is for transformational school leaders who desire to change the educational landscape for thousands of children by harnessing their leadership efforts in leading two academy directors across their three teams - instructional, culture, and operations. They are believers and fighters committed to giving children - no matter their socioeconomic background, ethnicity, or neighborhood they reside in - the tools needed to reach their full potential.

Who We Are Looking For

• Experienced K-12 educational leaders who demonstrate...
• A belief that all students can go to and through college
• At least two years in a role where you spend some of your time focused on instructional leadership/management of adults
• A strong desire to launch and/or lead a school in one of our new or existing regions
• At least three years of K-12 teaching experience
• At least five years of K-12 leadership experience (principal/assistant principal)
• Demonstrated instructional leadership experience with proven results in the following areas:
• Budget (Specifically working with revenue-restricted funding streams)
• Development & Fundraising
• Federal Programs (Title I, II, III, IV)
• ADEPT & PADEPP Evaluation Coordinator
• Managing Others (The AED will directly manage LSC's Academy Directors)
• Operations
• A receptiveness and hunger for feedback

Key Outcomes

Responsibilities

• Focus on LSC's core purpose to get all students into college
• Hold high expectations for self and others to achieve and surpass intended goals
• Lead academy directors to improve their teaching quickly and measurably through daily observations, on-the-spot coaching, data conversations, and effective evaluations
• Coach and manage academy directors and/or school leaders to achieve measurable and ambitious results
• Leads a monthly instructional round
• Leads weekly instructional walks using the LEEA Guideposts for Excellent Teaching
• Attend trainings, coaching sessions, and school visits
• Synthesize, analyze, and prioritize data and opportunities to develop strategies that achieve quantifiable goals
• Proactively identify opportunities to improve and consistently reflect on past actions to guide future decisions
• Establish and maintain a cooperative working relationship with students and families based on trust, understanding, and respect for the communities in which they identify
• Effective facilitation