Carmen Schools of Science & Technology

Carmen Schools of Science and Technology is seeking a Principal for the 2025-2026 school year!

Salary Range: $110,00 - $140,000

BACKGROUND

Founded in 2007, Carmen Schools of Science & Technology is a public charter school network serving students and families in the South and Northwest communities of Milwaukee. Carmen students thrive in a supportive and challenging environment that emphasizes both academic achievement and personal growth. Our curriculum is designed to prepare students for college and beyond. With a strong commitment to student-centered learning and individualized attention, Carmen Schools foster a culture of excellence where every child can reach their full potential.

POSITION SUMMARY

Carmen Schools of Science & Technology is hiring an experienced school leader to become our founding Principal of the largest public charter high school in Wisconsin, serving up to 1,100 students. We are looking for someone who is excited to share our mission of academic excellence and developing students who are college bound, career ready and community engaged.

At the heart of the founding Principal role is to lead our staff to live our core values of empathy, growth and belief. Outside the traditional responsibilities one would expect of a principal, success in this role requires a high level of self-reflection, candor, authenticity, and vulnerability.

KEY EXPERIENCES& QUALIFICATIONS

At Carmen, we believe our diversity makes us strong and we are committed to building a team of educators with diverse experiences, backgrounds, and expertise. We actively seek applications from people of all backgrounds to strengthen our community and encourage you to apply if you:

    • Have at least three years of experience in coaching instructional coaches, setting an academic and/or culture vision for a school, organization, or network, and coaching teachers
    • Have a Wisconsin administrative license (or the ability to transfer license to WI), Bachelor’s in Education or subject area of interest (master’s degree preferred but not required)
    • Have a proven track record of success in previous school leadership
    • Have a proven track record of high achievement in a high school classroom or in previous leadership positions
    • Broad knowledge of the principles and practices of school administration, current educational research, trends in curriculum and instruction and highly effective people management
    • Have a relentless drive to develop your leadership practice and to sharpen your skills as a leader in education
    • Are self-aware and reflective with a strong desire to continuously grow professionally and personally
    • Have a growth mindset and are quick to incorporate feedback into your daily practice
    • Have the ability to set and reach ambitious goals, and can handle the intensity required to thrive in a high-performing school environment
    • Thrive on data. You can analyze qualitative and quantitative data to inform instructional decisions
    • Have the passion and commitment to serve a diverse student body
    • Value and enjoy cultivating deep relationships with students, families, and staff to create a positive school environment
    • Value the importance of modeling and reinforcing the school’s core values, norms, and policies

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The criteria indicated below are intended to describe various responsibilities performed. The exclusion of specific responsibilities does not prohibit them if the work is similar, related, or a logical task of the position.

Core Role Responsibilities:

As Carmen launches this new campus, the founding Principal role is crucial to our long-term success and will continue to evolve over time, requiring a school leader with an entrepreneurial mindset and flexibility. Below is a list of responsibilities that provides an overview of the responsibilities of this role:

School Leadership

  • Set ambitious school-wide vision and goals consistent with the mission and values of Carmen
  • Serve as the overall leader of the school
  • Be a visible, present, hands-on leader responsible for all academic and cultural systems and all student outcomes
  • Collaborate and partner with Carmen’s organizational leaders (CEO, Chief Schools Officer, Chief of Staff, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Talent Officer, Managing Director of Culture, Managing Director of ,and Chief College & Career Officer) to fully integrate Carmen’s mission and organizational values into this new campus.
  • Be the main point of contact for student interactions/responsibilities and with primary caregivers.
  • Act as hiring manager for all positions at our new campus
  • Oversee strategy around budget and its intersection with staffing, schedules, duties, etc.

Coaching and Management of the School Leadership Team

  • Coach and lead the school’s leadership team
  • Manage school leadership team members to drive academic and culture results
  • Oversee leaders who manage attendance intervention plans
  • Serve as a primary planner and leader in Carmen's summer professional development for campus staff
  • Work with school leadership team members to create and manage employee support plans
  • Coach a small cohort of teachers to improve their practice through individualized coaching, professional development series, modeling, and collaborative planning
  • Develop an internal pipeline of future school leaders, establishing a deep leadership bench, sustaining the success of the school for the next generation
  • Collaborate and support specific grade level or content team leaders
  • When needed, create and implement teacher development plans to support teachers with targeted growth and improvement areas

Academic Vision Setting

  • Lead and manage the high school’s academic program
  • Collaborate with the high school’s operations leaders on matters related to academic operations (i.e. benchmark testing, testing schedules and coordination, ACT prep, etc)
  • Support school culture and academic data analysis alongside the school leadership team to identify gaps in data and effectively problem solve
  • Design and lead ongoing network and school-based professional development sessions for teachers, instructional coaches, and other school-based instructional staff
  • Partner with Carmen's Chief Schools Officer, school leaders, and instructional coaches in the development and implementation of strong high school curriculum grades 9-12
  • Keep current with standards, benchmarks, and indicators; develop standards-based instructional planning tools and resources
  • Partner with network Teaching & Learning team to create and revise network vertical and horizontal alignment maps for standards, skills, content, assessment types, writing and research, and student support
  • Provide teachers and instructional coaches with support in intellectual preparation of their subject areas as well as high-quality, actionable data analysis

Culture Systems Vision Setting

  • Lead staff, students, and their families as a model of our community’s norms and core values, as well as have clear and kind conversations to hold all stakeholders, including oneself, accountable when they aren’t yet living out those norms
  • Partner with community organizations to provide resources and services that support student success beyond school and foster a true community school environment
  • Lead the campus leadership team to implement strong systems and routines in order to create a safe, productive, and joyful school environment, utilizing data systems for a data-driven response
  • Manage and oversee all student, family, and faculty culture outcomes via stakeholder survey input and campus-wide culture dashboards. This includes, yet is not limited to, annual family surveys and bi-annual student and staff surveys, positivity ratio, attendance data, discipline incidents, common picture observations (transitions, arrival, dismissal, lunch, cell phones, uniforms, assemblies).
  • Maintain active and strong relationships with students and families to support students in meeting academic goals or provide social-emotional support
  • Support teachers and culture leaders to internalize and implement an advisory curriculum
  • Support a strong college and career readiness culture for all students

Family Engagement

  • Lead efforts to build strong relationships with families, ensuring a deep understanding of their unique needs and the needs of the students they serve
  • With the support of the founding leadership team, create and publish a calendar of family engagement events for the school year
  • Regularly attend family engagement events
  • Build authentic partnership with families, fostering an inclusive and Carmen values aligned community
  • Identify strategic opportunities to draw families to campus and feel at home at school

College and Career Readiness & Postsecondary Success

  • Support the College and Career team to ensure that every student is prepared for success beyond graduation from Carmen
  • Collaborate with school-based and network leaders on school and network-wide initiatives, while addressing the short and long term goals within the College and Career program
  • Track student progress towards meeting graduation requirements and advise course selection accordingly, with support from College and Career team
  • Support the college and career team in successful engagement of family and community stakeholders to support strong student post-secondary transition and alumni success

School-Based Duties

  • Lead weekly all staff professional learning and update staff on key progress towards priorities and metrics
  • Manage communications to faculty and families via a weekly memo and principal update
  • Enforce, uphold, and live Carmen's core values, student management policies, and culture
  • Support with school duties such as arrival, lunch, visible prep and/or dismissal
  • Attend family meetings, orientation, and other school events


INTERVIEW PROCESS

  1. Resume + Cover Letter Review
  2. Phone Interview
  3. Virtual Performance Task + Portfolio Submission
  4. Interview with Leaders (1st Round: Virtual Interview, 2nd Round: Onsite Interview, 3rd round may be added)
  5. Reference and background checks

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

  • We offer comprehensive health (medical, dental, and vision) and retirement benefits
  • We have a fully-paid parental leave policy
  • We offer retention bonuses
  • We offer 10 days of PTO on top of all school holidays (up to 15 after 5 years of employment)
  • We provide employee laptops and all necessary supplies

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Carmen is committed to equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, gender, disability, genetic information, marital status, age, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.

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