The San Francisco Schoolhouse is excited to launch a search for its first full-time Head of School.

About the San Francisco Schoolhouse

The San Francisco Schoolhouse is a small, progressive, independent school located in the Richmond District that currently serves grades kindergarten through fifth grade, with plans to expand to eighth grade over the next several years. Founded in 2011 by two teachers and two parents with two students, the Schoolhouse currently serves 43 students and fully enrolled will serve 150 students.

Our vision: At the San Francisco Schoolhouse, we cultivate enthusiastic, engaged learning in a warm community of children, teachers and families. A meaningful progressive curriculum, small class sizes and exceptional teachers combine to support, challenge and guide children as active creative learners.

Why we value progressive education: We believe progressive education allows students to dig deep into materials from many perspectives, and hone both their critical thinking skills and their abilities to learn, relate, and understand. Our goal is to provide a dynamic progressive education that supports and develops a child’s natural love of learning, creativity and problem solving through a project-based, hands-on curriculum that is differentiated for each child.

Our curriculum is engaging and multidisciplinary, building a deeper understanding of not only academic skills, but the complex world around us. Children develop a thoughtful responsibility for their community, allowing for their natural empathy to help guide decisions and their sense of what is right. They feel challenged, supported, included, and safe, while learning to respect differences and explore varied perspectives.

About the Head of School Position:

The Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Schoolhouse is conducting a search for its first full-time Head of School. Here are the strengths and challenges of the Schoolhouse along with the qualities and traits sought in the Head of School:

Why is the San Francisco Schoolhouse a strong, attractive opportunity for a Head of School?

• Mission: The Schoolhouse is committed to its mission. There is a deeply profound respect for both the children and the teachers. Every component of the Schoolhouse, from the teachers to the students to the families, creates a genuine and loving community. There is a passion to the Schoolhouse that is tangible inside and outside of the school.
• Teachers and staff: The teachers, teaching assistants and staff at the Schoolhouse have a tremendous amount of experience in progressive education. They have diverse backgrounds. Every one of them puts children first. As a team, they are kind, knowledgeable, spirited and collaborative. And finally, they are truly committed to the future of the Schoolhouse.
• Families: The Schoolhouse was built with an active parent participation model. The strong parent community makes for a vibrant school where teachers and staff feel supported and heard and students are loved both at school and at home.
• Academics: The Schoolhouse has a tremendously creative progressive curriculum that challenges students at all levels. With small student to teacher ratios, all students can be challenged and nurtured. Teachers are free to teach within the framework of a scope and sequence that allows creativity and new thought.
• New school: As the Schoolhouse is almost five years old, there is the opportunity to mold and design a school within the framework that has been built to date. It is ripe for a vibrant and daring leader in progressive education.

What challenges and opportunities exist for the San Francisco Schoolhouse’s Head of School?

• Marketing and branding: With limited existing platforms to “get the word out”, skillful communication is needed both inside and outside the school community regarding what distinguishes the Schoolhouse. Bringing new ideas and/or expanding current ideas about branding and vision are key to the Schoolhouse.
• Middle school: The Schoolhouse requires a leader with middle school experience who can build on the current K-5 progressive curriculum and values to develop the middle school. The opportunity to rethink middle school in a progressive framework is truly exciting.
• Fundraising: As a new school and a small school, creativity is needed for fundraising and development. There are many areas of development that have yet to be explored.
• Facilities: The facilities at the Schoolhouse are simple by design. It takes resourcefulness to make everything work. A new location will be needed for middle school which will also take ingenuity in the San Francisco real estate market.
• New school: As a school with less than 5 years of history, there is much more to be shaped than to be replicated. The next leader of the Schoolhouse should define and develop the Head of School role to add the best value as this person will not be not inheriting a fixed and defined role.

What kind of leader and person does the San Francisco Schoolhouse seek in it Head of School?

• An academic leader with strong management skills: The Head of School will provide supportive leadership in current progressive curriculum and faculty development; develop and maintain a strong working relationship with the Board of Trustees; inspire and mentor teachers and staff utilizing leadership and collaboration.
• A “child-centered” educator who enjoys working with young children and the adults who teach them: The Head of School will be a leader who is passionate and articulate about K-8 progressive education; one who relates well and connects easily to students; teachers and parents; one who values kindness as much as achievement.
• A natural communicator: The Head of School will be a leader who has a visible and accessible presence; one who inspires inside and outside of the Schoolhouse; one who engages proactively with parents; a leader who is able to engage an audience appropriately, tailoring messages that are clear and persuasive.
• An ambassador for the Schoolhouse within the broader community: The Head of School will be a leader who develops strong relationships with preschools and high schools in order to drive admissions and the high school placement process.
• A skilled strategic planner and project manager: The Head of School will be a dynamic and versatile leader who can balance a focus on big picture priorities while not losing sight of the details.

In conclusion, the ideal candidate to be the next Head of the San Francisco Schoolhouse will be a school leader who has a passion for K-8 progressive education and who finds joy in working with children, their teachers and their parents. The candidate will ideally bring to the job skills in building strong teams and competence in overseeing advancement and business functions of the school. The next Head will be a compelling communicator with a noticeable presence inside and outside the school, and will lead in ways that are engaging, perceptive and inspiring.

Details about the position: Full-time position, minimum 5-7 years’ experience as a teacher and/or administrator in a progressive education environment(s), a master’s degree is a plus.

How to Apply

Please submit a resume, cover letter and two letters of recommendation to the Hiring Committee at hr@sfschoolhouse.org. For additional questions or more information, feel free to contact Erin Cooney, Interim Director, at erin.cooney@sfschoolhouse.org

To find out more about the Schoolhouse, please visit www.sfschoolhouse.org

The Schoolhouse seeks a faculty/staff reflecting the broad range of diversity of the San Francisco Bay area. We actively support equal opportunity for all people and encourage people of color and LGBT candidates to apply.