DC Prep

Director of Communications & Student Recruitment

Start Date: Immediate 

Role Type: Full-Time, 12 month

Location: Washington, DC

FLSA Status: Exempt

WHO WE ARE

DC Prep is a high performing network of public charter schools serving over 2,100 preschool through 8th-grade students across six campuses in Wards 5, 7, and 8. We’re proud of the high bar we set for ourselves to achieve results–our students deserve our best! We recognize that how we support our students to be successful is just as important as the results we achieve, which pushes us to reflect on questions such as: 

• How can we facilitate our students’ academic, social, and emotional development? 
• How can we support our team members’ professional growth and personal ability to do this work long-term? 
• How can we engage our students’ families as our own? 

While this work is hard, it’s worth it – we believe in the transformative power of education, the can-do-itness of our students and staff, and the joy that comes from engaging in meaningful work with people we care about and trust! 

Here’s how we drive results: 

• Rigorous academic focus. Our Preppies receive the highest level of academic preparation through standards-based instruction, daily targeted interventions, and meaningful assessments.
• Social-emotional learning. We have always had a dual mission of academic and social-emotional skill development. Our research-based SEL curriculum is integrated into daily instruction, helping students leverage their personal values to strengthen their self-awareness, social awareness, and responsible decision-making skills and create a school-wide culture of empathy and reflection.
• Commitment to reflection and refinement. Our results tell us that we are moving in the right direction, but there’s further to go to ensure that every student receives a transformative education. As a team, we regularly reflect on our programmatic model to see what’s working and where we can get better. 

Are you interested in learning more about the DC Prep Way? If so, check out our website to find out more about what we’re working towards and how we’re doing it.

WORKING AT DC PREP

DC Prep's faculty and staff are passionate, talented, and uncompromising with a mission to make sure all students succeed at a high level. Every aspect of our organization and program is designed – and continually refined – to ensure that goal. DC Prep students spend approximately 25% more time in school than other DC public school students. DC Prep’s supportive, stimulating, and professionally rewarding learning environment continuously develops and motivates high-performing educators. DC Prep's staff and school leadership promote meaningful relationships between faculty and students, enable excellent teaching, and foster professional collaboration. The end result: great outcomes for students.

THE POSITION

The Director of Communications & Student Recruitment leads the team that is responsible for student recruitment, marketing, and external communications. In service of the goal of fully enrolling our schools, the director, along with their team, is responsible for generating leads, educating prospective families about DC Prep, and helping them through the enrollment process. They are also responsible for shaping how DC Prep communicates with external audiences through marketing and advertising, with a focus on prospective families. The director also ensures that DC Prep has a cohesive brand and provides consulting support on communications to other DC Prep teams.

This role reports to the Chief of External Affairs and directly supervises the Associate Director of Student Recruitment and Communications Associate. A full-time, 12-month role, the nature of this role requires travel throughout the Washington, D.C., area, and a willingness to attend events and meetings in the evening and on weekends. This is an exempt role (i.e., not eligible for overtime).

WHO YOU ARE

You are a storyteller and branding expert. You have a keen understanding of the unique work DC Prep is doing to serve the students of Washington, D.C. and know how to highlight our achievements, mission, and values in a way that is compelling to a variety of audiences. You derive joy from helping families see how DC Prep can support their children along a path to success in competitive high schools and colleges and have the branding expertise to ensure that message is consistent among all of DC Prep’s communication channels. 

You are a data-driven systems thinker and planner. With a sharp focus on data, you enable your team to engage in real-time problem-solving and course correction to consistently meet benchmarks you’ve set toward achieving ambitious student recruitment and marketing goals. Your strength in strategic thinking and planning ensures that your team has a clear understanding of the projects they need to tackle, the outcomes they need to produce, and the goals they need to achieve to ensure our schools are fully enrolled.

You see possibility everywhere. You have a deep curiosity for why things are the way they are, and what it would take to make them better. You ask questions, seek advice, then create a plan to act on what you’ve learned. You approach problems with optimism and curiosity.

You are a people whisperer. You enjoy meeting new people. You pride yourself on being a good listener– and that matters to you because you care about making people feel understood. You invest in the people around you and believe in their ability to change and be change agents. 

You are mission-driven. You believe deeply that all students deserve an excellent education, and that too few receive that today. You’re open to feedback, eager to grow, and bring your best to everything you do. You are willing to dive into any situation, work on any challenge, and explore all opportunities to ensure our students and families are best served. 

THE DAY-TO-DAY

Responsibilities of the Director of Communications & Student Recruitment will include but are not limited to: 

Functional Leadership

• Develops annual plan for student recruitment and communication function, including marketing and engagement targets aligned to organizational enrollment goals.
• Supervises and supports the Associate Director of Student Recruitment, Student Recruitment Associate and Communications Associate to ensure we meet our annual goals.
• Creates and manages tools and systems to track and measure impact of the team’s work, including student recruitment data and marketing data. 
• Ensures compliance with all governmental requirements related to communications and student recruitment, including the annual enrollment audit.
• Collaborates across teams to support enrollment and communications work organizationally.

Communications

• Leads work to define DC Prep’s organizational branding and messaging 
• Collaborates with teams to incorporate messaging into external-facing campaigns, including talent recruitment and donor communications
• Coordinates across the organization to review materials for brand alignment
• Manages social media strategy and channels, and oversees editorial calendar
• Designs special publications

Marketing & Advertising

• Recommends DC Prep’s marketing strategy, in collaboration with external marketing vendor
• Manages execution of marketing strategy through oversight of marketing and advertising vendors
• Approves and monitors advertising spend
• Evaluates the effectiveness of marketing and advertising strategies

Student Recruitment

• Manages plan and execution of in-person student recruitment canvassing activities
• Owns relationships with other LEAs and key partners related to student recruitment
• Coordinates with Operations Team on enrollment paperwork collection & auditing

QUALIFICATIONS

Educational background and work experience

• Bachelor's degree required
• 5+ years of recruitment, communications, or marketing experience -AND/OR- project and relationship management experience required
• Knowledge of graphic design, desktop publishing software, and/or video editing software is preferred
• School-based work experience, teaching, leading or in other roles is an asset

Required Skills and characteristics

• Unwavering commitment to DC Prep’s Vision, Mission, and Values
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 
• Hyper-organized; able to convert many moving pieces into a plan that is clear, simple, and accessible
• Extraordinary attention to detail, both in planning and execution
• Exceptional strategic thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to disaggregate problems and structure and implement solutions to complex, cross functional challenges
• Savvy, honest and effective communicator with demonstrated track record of creating alignment around and implementing shared goals and solutions
• Intellectual depth and emotional maturity to work with colleagues and stakeholders across the entire organization
• Proven track record of coaching, mentoring and effective collaboration with direct reports, peers, and senior leaders
• Outstanding judgment; demonstrated ability to operate with a high degree of independence
• Emotional resilience and constancy coupled with strong leadership presence and passion to motivate, support and sustain teams in challenging and critically important work

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Report in person to any of DC Prep’s physical campuses, as needed.
• Required travel throughout the Washington, D.C., area, and a willingness to attend events and meetings in the evening and on weekends. 
• Additional responsibilities may arise during the school year. This could include: promoting DC Prep at on or offsite events, providing classroom support at critical times of the year, or supporting school operations at a DC Prep campus, as needed. 
• This list is not exhaustive. DC Prep will communicate mandatory events outside of school hours with ample notice.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands and environmental conditions described below are representative, but not exhaustive, of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the role. All of these physical requirements must be able to be performed with clarity, coherence and connectedness to DC Prep’s vision. A reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals who have an ADA qualifying disability to perform these essential functions which include:

• Must be able to sit and work at a desk/computer for extended periods of time
• Must be able to spend the majority of the day standing or mobile throughout the classroom, as well as talk, hear, grasp, reach and lift up to 30lbs with or without accommodations
• Ability to concentrate in active and noisy environments such as cafeterias, gymnasiums, stairs and playgrounds, classrooms and large group professional settings
• Must be able to walk, stand and monitor crowded hallways, gymnasiums, cafeterias, stairs and playgrounds.
• Must be able to climb stairs throughout the day and escort students to and from class
• Must be able to have repetitive wrist/hand/finger movement to work on computer and/or related office equipment
• Ability to handle potential high stress conditions

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

• Highly competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, short- and long-term disability insurance; maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; and a 403b retirement plan

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. They may change, or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

JOIN US

Do you believe that Learning Has No Limits? Are you eager to join a supportive, innovative, and collaborative community of educators? Are you committed to growing your strengths as an educator through individualized professional development and coaching? Apply today!

We’re an equal opportunity employer and hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability. 

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