About Montessori Center School
Founded in 1965, Montessori Center School of Santa Barbara (MCS) is an independent school and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The school boasts sixty years rich in a history of nurturing a lifelong love for learning among children ages 18 months through 6th grade - grounded in the Montessori method. An American Montessori Society Member School, MCS fosters independent, self-motivated, confident, life-long learners, who will become positive forces to care for and transform our world. The school is located on a beautiful garden campus in Goleta, California.
About the Opportunity
MCS seeks an experienced and dynamic operational leader to transform the school's operational systems and procedures. This is an opportunity to work with our wildly talented and committed staffulty and wonderful students and families to ensure that day to day operations support a safe, high quality and positive learning experience for children, smooth and engaging communication with families, and an outstanding employee experience. Overseeing three direct reports on the school operations team and working in a highly collaborative manner with the whole staffulty and school community, a successful leader in this role will be an excellent communicator who brings strong systems thinking, depth in human resources management, a high bar for the aesthetics of facilities and physical space, and prior experience working in high performing schools.
Roles & Responsibilities
Roles & Responsibilities
Operational Change Management
- Oversee the adoption and successful implementation of fit-for-purpose operational systems, processes and procedures as the school scales and modernizes, including: implementation of a new PEO and HRIS, staffulty intranet, ordering and procurement system, facilities maintenance and repair request system, student information system (SIS), donor CRM, etc.
- Gather and analyze data to help inform decisions across the organization to manage process and quality improvements.
- Design and lead engaging and effective communication and training for staffulty members in order to ensure that each team member responsible for performing our operational systems and procedures has a strong understanding of each protocol's purpose, the role they play in its success, and how to successfully perform their role.
- Establish a strong reputation for operational back-office support among staffulty; be known for being highly communicative, responsive, helpful, accessible and great at coming up with appropriate solutions.
- Manage the school's operations performance dashboard and system of periodic QA checklists, using these to keep tabs and report out to the Head of School and board on the school's operational progress and performance.
Daily Administrative & Operational Leadership
- Oversee daily non-academic operations to ensure smooth school functioning.
- Develop and implement operational policies and procedures.
- Oversee compliance with local, state, and federal regulations including the school's compliance with DSS licensing requirements.
Human Resources & Staffing
- Champion of the school's efforts to deliver an outstanding employee experience.
- Support hiring, onboarding, and training of non-teaching staff.
- Manage payroll, benefits, and HR compliance in coordination with the school's PEO and ensure that the school is fully utilizing the capabilities of the PEO to the extent relevant for the organization.
- Oversee staffulty scheduling and manage the school's callout system. Track staffulty member attendance and manage communication and follow-up regarding staffulty absences.
Data, Information, Technology & Infrastructure
- Liaise with IT services, ensuring robust technology infrastructure.
- Implement data management and security protocols.
- Partner with the Head of School to launch the school's Intranet platform for staffulty and board.
- Oversee integration of technology in school operations including the school's student information system (SIS), tuition billing, and parent communication systems.
Facilities & Safety Management
- Manage school facilities, ensuring a safe and well-maintained environment that aligns with Montessori aesthetic values of order, simplicity, nature and beauty and that reflects MCS' unique school mission, brand identity and market positioning.
- Ensure building security, emergency preparedness, and safety compliance in alignment with 21st century standards.
- Coordinate maintenance, repairs, and campus improvements and oversee the school's groundskeeper.
- Develop and oversee student and staffulty health and safety protocols, including attendance tracking protocols and emergency management.
- In partnership with program leaders on the school's administrative team, design training modules and sessions for staffulty and parent volunteers, automating these to the extent feasible, in order to ensure that team members and stakeholders are appropriately trained and prepared to implement student safety measures.
Student & Family Services
- Oversee food services and other student support systems.
- Oversee the school's Office Manager & Registrar, who manages enrollment operations and student record-keeping.
- Support communication between school administration and families.
Events & Procurement Logistics Management
- Coordinate logistics for school events, meetings, and activities.
- Oversee scheduling of school facilities and space utilization.
- Manage supply chain and inventory and asset management for school needs ensuring that teachers always have access to the resources and materials they need to teach.
Learning & Development
- Exhibit the habits and behaviors of an eager and active lifelong learner: Seek out and share out opportunities for peer feedback; embrace and pursue opportunities for ongoing learning, training and professional development to keep abreast of best practices in whole-child progressive elementary education and to strengthen and stretch your educator viewpoint and repertoire of skills as an educator, leader of people and manager of programs.
- Serve as a formal coach, mentor and direct manager to the school's Office Manager & Registrar, Groundskeeper and Bookkeeper.
Teamwork
- Embody MCS's core values in your daily interactions with children, families and staffulty.
- Seek out and embrace opportunities for collaboration with colleagues across the school.
- Manage change effectively: Approach your work knowing that we must go as fast as we can and as slow as we must in order to help MCS realize its full potential on behalf of students and staffulty - in sustainable ways that foster strong communication and organizational stability.
- Be an active participant on the school's SLT (School Leadership Team) bringing challenges and opportunities/proposed solutions to the group in service of helping the staffulty collaborate and communicate better and better month over month.
- Participate in the life of the MCS community by supporting annual events including occasional weekend commitments (eg Back-to-School Night, the fall harvest picnic, elementary info night, the annual gala and benefit auction, etc.).
Qualifications
Successful candidates for this role will evidence the following qualifications:
Experience & Professional Qualifications
- A bachelor's degree from an accredited four-year college or university
- Five+ years of experience overseeing HR for a small- to medium-sized organization (SHRM-CP strongly preferred)
- Five+ years of experience overseeing at least two direct reports
- Prior experience working in a leadership or administrative role in a school (3+ years strongly preferred)
- Prior experience leading a successful technology implementation for a team of 25+ and seeing projects through to fruition and impact
- A strong understanding of K-12 school and/or nonprofit budgeting practices and financial reporting tools and fluency with financial statements
- A track record of planning, communicating with teams and executing with great follow-through and attention to detail and in a manner that fosters trust, confidence, stability and a culture of impact and results.
- Excellent English language skills (written and oral) required
- Excellent Spanish language skills (written and oral) a plus
Mindsets
- Commitment to MCS' mission, vision and core values
- Demonstrated capacity to collaborate effectively as a member of a results-oriented, high-performing team
- Strong client service orientation - ability to recognize the role a school operations team must play in blocking and tackling for teachers so that teachers can, in turn, focus or teach the children in their classrooms
- Commitment to living out principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging
- Sound professional judgment and decision-making skills
- Capacity to share and receive and implement feedback with openness, grace and agility
- High level of emotional intelligence, integrity and humor
- High level of personal organization, planning and follow-through