RePublic Schools is a network of high-performing public charter schools based in Nashville, TN and Jackson, MS with a mission to reimagine public education in the South and prepare all of our scholars to graduate from college. In addition to providing a world-class traditional academic curriculum, we empower our students to be change-makers by teaching them to code – starting in the 5th grade.
Despite the fact that our scholars come from traditionally underserved communities (approximately 85% identify as low-income, and nearly 95% as students of color), we have seen them defy the odds to achieve outstanding results. RePublic’s schools have scored in the top 5% of all open-enrollment public schools across the state of Tennessee for both student growth and absolute achievement – making ours the first (and only) charter schools in state history to achieve this dual distinction.
At RePublic, we cultivate a cohesive community of families, staff, and scholars committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure our scholars succeed. We are looking for a Regional Director of Operations in Nashville for the 2024-25 school year. Candidates must share our unwavering belief that all children in Tennessee can achieve at high levels and change the world. Sound like you?
At RePublic, we believe that the people in front of our scholars each day are the key determinants of their ultimate success. Our school-based operations teams exist to ensure that staff can focus on what matters most each day - teaching and learning. The Regional Director of Operations (RDOO) serves as the second most Regional leader in each region and leads the vision for operations across our TN schools. The RDOO is charged with ensuring that our facilities, operational systems, and short and long term operations strategies live out our operations vision to intentionally build spaces and curate experiences that honor the brilliance of our scholars. Reporting to the Regional Executive Director for the respective region, the RDOO provides professional development to operations team members through “on the job training,” serves as liaison for regional vendors, oversees facilities management, and drives all regional compliance.
The Regional Director of Operations will directly report to the Regional Executive Director and will be a member of the regional executive team.
Operational Management
Serves as the second most Regional leader in the region, behind the Regional Executive Director.
Directly responsible for managing three regional leaders: the Regional Academic Operations Associate, Regional Compliance Associate, and Facilities Manager.
Creates and manages the regional operations scope and sequence calendar
Provides tailored training and professional development for school-based Assistant Principals of Operations based on current performance and school-level operations metrics
Assists the regional Regional Director of Schools in developing principals as managers of Assistant Principals of Operations.
Coaches each school-level team to operational excellence alongside the Assistant Principal of Operations by ensuring operational systems are implemented with fidelity by all staff members and by giving feedback to stakeholders when systems are not meeting the bar of excellence.
Ensures each school meets network-mandated performance goals around enrollment, facilities, finance, compliance, and Director of Operations leadership.
Audits and coaches school-based systems that are led by Assistant Principals of Operations and provide real time coaching and improvement plans, as needed.
Leads crisis and emergency management/response protocols within the region, including but not limited to health and safety protocols and severe weather decisions.
Collaborates with Regional Director of Schools to determine building closures due to external or internal threats (e.g., inclement weather, transportation issues, etc.)
Sets expectations for after-school and athletic programming within the region
Vendor Management
Establishes contracts for all regional shared vendor services including, but not limited to, janitorial, food service, and transportation.
Performance manages all shared services to ensure they are cost-effective, blocking and tackling for schools, and ultimately, enhancing instruction.
Performs as a functional bridge among vendors and school sites by establishing shared communication and escalation expectations.
Creates and executes training and support tools for effective vendor onboarding.
Facilities, Finance, and Asset Management
Directly manages the regional Facilities Manager who oversees facility maintenance
Manages facility procurement and relationship with Metro Nashville Public Schools as lessor of current school facilities
Ensures annual inspections are completed and findings are processed and met with the appropriate action for follow up
Work in tandem with school-based Assistant Principals of Operations to project plan and manage annual or one-off facilities projects
Sets goals with school operations teams to move the needle within our school buildings
Plans, approves, and oversees capital expenditures and improvement projects
Supports school-based leaders in setting and/or maintaining budget based on annual spending and projected enrollment
Collaborates with network Finance team to implement and manage to execution with deadlines
Sets expectations for both the physical setup and appearance of school spaces
Codifies and facilitates protocols and procedures for asset management, tracking, and ordering, including annual inventory and asset dispensation and replacement
Academic Operations
Directly manages the Regional Operations Associate who manages regional academic operations
Leads all school-based testing implementation including NWEA MAP, WIDA, quarterly interim testing, and state testing
Sets the expectations for and drives quarterly report card pickup conferences
Manages and audits student accounts, school schedules, learning management systems, and student information.
Regional Compliance
Ensures schools in the region are fully compliant with district, local, state, and national compliance requirements in the following areas:
Standardized testing across all contents and grade levels
Student data, student files, and student health
State reporting
School safety
School nutrition
Title programs
Special education
Attend required staff trainings and conferences, as needed, as a representative of RePublic in the region
Project manages, and completes as necessary, all compliance deliverables for state charter authorizer that are required of an LEA, to include, but not limited to, finance, special education, school health, student information, and state testing.
External Affairs
Serves as the primary liaison and RePublic representative to all external agencies including but not limited to state board of education, state department of education (and the departments within), legislators, charter authorizer board, and other local agencies.
Manages the relationship and work between RePublic and Metro Nashville Public Schools as the charter authorizer.
Our ideal Regional Director of Operations will have an unwavering belief that our students can achieve at an exceptionally high level. Beyond that, a successful candidate is:
Deeply committed to serving our kids. You have elected to work with historically underserved students, and do this work because you believe that all students, regardless of background, are capable of excellence - and that it’s on us as adults to get our kids there. You can speak knowledgeably about our mission, and demonstrate a commitment to our educational model. You understand that educational inequity is more pronounced in the South than anywhere else in the nation, and you want to work with RePublic in part because of our commitment to this region.
A proven school leader, operations nerd, and a driver of results. You've demonstrated the ability to drive results in the pursuit of an ambitious vision and strategy, and you combine your exceptional strategic, analytical, and critical-thinking skills with your penchant to use data to drive decision-making to achieve impressive outcomes. You’ve got a background in operational excellence, and leadership and have moved other leaders and school teams to results.
A people developer. You’ve led, directly managed, and coached teams and individuals to achieve wildly impressive results for scholars. You love and actively seek opportunities to develop others through ongoing coaching, clear expectations and accountability, strong inspirational and motivational skills, high leverage feedback, and targeted professional development.
...and a people leader. Let’s be real - managing people is hard. You’ve coached, directly managed, and demonstrably moved the effectiveness of other adults before taking this job. You build relationships across lines of difference, inspire and motivate others to buy into your vision, navigate challenging conversations with finesse, make tough calls, communicate effectively in all formats, give and receive feedback fluidly, and model/hold a high bar for adult excellence and exuberance.
A systems builder. You're comfortable with ambiguity, and thrive in situations where you get to build something out of nothing, or create order out of chaos. You choose start-up over bureaucracy any day.
A masterful executor. You appreciate the big picture, but you know it's all in the details. Your organizational systems ensure you get things done. You manage projects fluidly, fiercely prioritize, and track timelines, data, and information in an organized and systematic fashion. When you say you’ll follow up with someone, you do it – and you are known as someone who doesn’t drop balls.
A strong communicator. You’ve got a knack for speaking and writing clearly, succinctly and persuasively such that expectations are clear, timelines are delineated, and excellence is defined. People would describe you as someone who is able to build relationships across lines of difference that allow you to motivate and inspire from a place of authenticity.
A gritty problem-solver. You keep it cool when things are crazy, approach problems with viable solutions, and know when you need to roll up your sleeves to support your team.
Other qualifications:
3-4 years directly managing school-based operations in a K-12 environment, experience in high-performing public charter schools required
Familiarity/proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Office Suite highly preferred