Urban Prairie Waldorf School on Chicago’s Near West side seeks a Director of Curriculum and Instruction (DoCI) for the 2021-22 school year, with the possibility to transition during the 2020-21 school year for the right candidate. Candidates should send a letter of interest, resume, and three references to jobs@urbanprairie.org. Starting salary is competitive and takes into consideration years of experience. Urban Prairie is an equal opportunity employer.

Now in our 11th year, UPWS seeks a strong and charismatic leader to lead our faculty as we transition from our pioneering stage into the next phase of development during these complex times of Covid-19 and social justice awakening. We seek an innovative thinker who is disciplined in both thought and action, is both collaborative and decisive and will bring form and direction to our pedagogical goals and priorities. The school is in the second year of a new governance structure, and the DoCI position is core to our leadership team, which also includes a Director of Administration and Faculty Level Chairs.

We have a dynamic teaching staff and are excited to be bringing Waldorf into the next century in regards to how we integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into the curriculum, as well as our urban farm curriculum (including goats!) and walking expeditions that embrace city-as-classroom in the upper grades. Our core strength is relationships.

We welcome persons of color to apply. We are a diverse community of families, 40% non-white, the largest minority of which are our heritage Spanish-speaking Latinx families. The diversity of our faculty and staff also is growing (~25%) and would like very much for our leadership and administration to reflect the diversity of our city and of our current and future students.

UPWS offers a solid compensation package, including a competitive salary structure, medical, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401K benefits, and annual professional development.

Responsibilities
- Works collaboratively with the faculty, administration, and the Board to support the mission and vision of the school
- Holds and advances the strategic vision of the pedagogical arm of the school, including creating annual pedagogical/programmatic plans
- Has a strong relationship with anthroposophy, which informs the pedagogical “big picture”
- Oversees curriculum development and curricular standards, including managing “Scope and Sequence” of curriculum
- Actively recruits dynamic and diverse faculty; makes faculty hiring and firing decisions; coordinates support, assessment, and mentorship of faculty; and oversees HR policies with regard to faculty
- Ensures the faculty upholds integrity in serving the children and follows Waldorf methodology and any UPWS specific agreements and protocols
- Works with the faculty to deepen knowledge and understanding of anthroposophy, pedagogy, curriculum, and child development
- Oversees faculty leadership
- Mediates/facilitates parent-teacher and teacher-teacher relations where necessary
- Has a widely visible presence throughout the school
- Is available to answer questions and concerns about the curriculum from parents and the greater community
- Represents the school to the parent body and public
- Serves as a voting member of the Board of Trustees, attends monthly meetings, serves on strategic initiatives as needed
- May teach in the classroom on a limited basis

Candidate Qualities and Capacities
- Strong communicator
- Solid leadership and human resources capacities (hiring, mentoring, assessing)
- Full of energy, passionate yet measured and realistic, punctual, thorough, and dedicated
- Open-minded, patient, and relates well to all kinds of people
- Forward thinking, strategic, and able to learn and adapt to successes and failures to strengthen our organization
- Enthusiastic for delivering a Waldorf education that is relevant to the 21st century child and develops social and environmental stewardship
- Committed to understanding diversity in our school community and our surrounding neighborhood community, and able to foster a teaching culture that brings this as part of our students’ education