26-27 Middle School Dean of Students

POSITION DESCRIPTION

St. Catherine's School is an Episcopal day school in Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1890 enrolling roughly 950 girls ages 3 through grade 12.  Located on a 16-acre campus in the western part of the city, St. Catherine's core values include pursuing academic excellence, developing character, nurturing spiritual growth, celebrating individuals, and building community. 

St. Catherine's School provides a rigorous education that prepares girls with diverse perspectives for a lifetime of learning, leadership, and service in a global community.

POSITION OVERVIEW

St. Catherine’s School seeks a committed, full-time Middle School Dean of Students passionate about supporting middle school girls and faculty. As part of the Middle School team, the Dean of Students will work with faculty and students to realize our Middle School program, one designed around girls’ educational, emotional, and physical needs. The Dean of Students acts as a leader and liaison for both students and faculty, continually articulating the honor, conduct, and gratitude practices that shape the Middle School. This role requires thoughtful, student-centered policy and process implementation, all engineered to facilitate growth, learning, and reflection. The Dean of Students will also be an essential Administrative Team member. 

Supervisor: Head of Middle School

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

Position Status: Salaried, exempt, full-time, regular, 10-month schedule

Hours of Work: Standard work week

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Build and maintain a strong, healthy, positive community
• Manage all aspects of student discipline, ranging from daily behavioral redirections to large-scale infractions
• Educate and enforce policies to uphold the School’s honor, conduct, and dress code expectations
• Work closely with the school counselors and administration to support students
• Maintain a highly visible presence throughout the school day and at large out-of-school events 
• Work closely with students, families, teachers, and administrators, both proactively and reactively
• Regularly work with the student body during assemblies and class meetings to reinforce community standards, behavioral expectations, and safety protocols
• Work closely with teachers to support classroom management strategies
• Serve as administrative liaison between the Middle School and after school activities such as Theater and Athletics
• Collaborate with US Dean of Students, as well as MS Dean of Student Life
• Assist in supervision during all-school gatherings

• Collaborate with Middle School faculty to promote student growth, well-being, and belonging
• Implement and uphold the School’s access, equity, and belonging initiatives
• Support and design programming regarding health and wellness, parenting, and developmentally appropriate resources for the school community
• Teaching a class to be determined by the Middle School Head
• Serve on Middle School Grade Level Teams and Middle School Student Support Team along with other key members of the Middle School faculty and staff
• Serve on School life committees as requested 
• Undertake other projects as assigned by the Head of the Middle School 

Note: This position description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work to be performed by employees within this classification.  This position description should not be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities required or assigned to an employee in this position.  Nothing contained in this position description restricts St. Catherine’s School’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this position at any time.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is required to sit; stand; walk; use hands to grasp, handle and feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch and crawl; talk and hear; engage in moderately strenuous physical activity both indoors and out; and smell. The employee may occasionally lift or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.  Ability to become CPR and First Aid Certified.

TRAVEL

Travel is not a requirement for this role

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

St. Catherine’s School does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its hiring practices. St. Catherine’s School is committed to providing an inclusive educational environment. We actively engage students, families, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Our School community respects the differences in ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. Consistent with the School’s mission, St. Catherine’s fosters in our students, and experts from all others, respect for the dignity and wholeness of every person. For more information about the school’s Access, Equity and Belonging please follow this link https://www.st.catherines.org/about/access-equity-and-belonging.

CONDITIONAL OFFERS

An offer of employment for this position is contingent upon the applicant’s right to work in the United States, authorization for and completion of successful background checks as may be requested by the school or required by law.

BENEFITS

St. Catherine’s School offers a highly competitive compensation package for this full-time position with benefits to include excellent health plan options, retirement benefits, exhaustive professional development and networking opportunities as well as state-of-the art facilities.

Requirements

REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree; advanced degree preferred
• 5+ years of experience in education and proven success as part of an administrative team
• Experience in working with middle-school-aged girls

• History of building strong relationships with children, families, and colleagues
• Ability to work as a team member in providing student support
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written, in engaging with students, parents, and colleagues
• Familiarity with and a history of strong implementation of programming focused on student health and wellness
• Interpersonal skills for communicating effectively with and supporting all members of the school community
• Outstanding organizational skills
• Dedicated to being a student advocate
• Demonstrated success as a confident problem solver
• Proven track record as an independent and goal-oriented team member
• Maintain confidentiality

PREFERRED

• Interest in extra-curricular activities such as theater, athletics, etc.