Roots Elementary is a young charter school in Denver, Colorado that has created an education model based on best practices from around the country with a focus on creating custom learning experiences for our scholars.

At Roots we firmly believe that public education can build the skills children will need to succeed in the 21^st century, and that these skills include academic capabilities as well as social and emotional tools.

We are doing school differently at Roots. Many high-performing charter schools in low-income communities are able to achieve strong academic results, but often at the expense of “off-script” exploration. At Roots, we encourage our scholars to explore their world!

As a successor to the founder, the incoming Executive Director will have a strong foundation from which to build and will have the opportunity to take the organization’s work to the next level.  With a strong school leader already in place, the Executive Director will provide leadership beyond the daily oversight of school activities.

Specific duties of the Executive Director include the following:

1. Strategic Leadership

• Partner with the Board of Directors to ensure that the organization has a long-range strategy and that it achieves annual goals that align with its broader vision.
• Work closely with the Board of Directors to define policy and direction for the organization.
• Lead and manage activities to implement strategic plans, goals and operating priorities; measure and report goal achievement; evaluate results and revise strategies as necessary.

• Manage relationships with funders, school authorizer, and other key stakeholders.
• Lead political advocacy at the community, district, and state levels.
• Lead on financial strategy including setting the annual budget, ensuring ongoing financial health, and managing the annual audit process.

2. Resource Generation & Community Leadership

• Establish clear revenue generation strategies, annual goals, and detailed enrollment and fundraising plans.
• Participate actively in developing and implementing fundraising strategies and tactics and support the involvement of board members in active fundraising.
• Engage personally with donors; cultivate strong relationships with foundations, major donors, and other funding partners.

• Manage diverse philanthropic relationships to set the organization up for long term success.
• Build and manage strategic partnerships that support the programming of the school.
• Build and manage the Roots brand including broadly managing press relations, social media strategies, and effective internal communications.
• Represent the Roots community outside the school community, locally and nationally, and drive achievement of increased enrollment goals.

3. Team and Operations Leadership

• Steward the GROW values and organizational culture.
• Create clarity across the team around what is most important to the organization and how it achieves its goals.
• Hire, manage, and evaluate senior leadership.
• Oversee execution on key organizational priorities and ensure senior leaders accomplish their top line goals including academics, enrollment, and school culture.
• Oversee leadership development for senior and emerging leaders in organization; provide direct, honest, and kind feedback on informal and formal basis.
• Maintain a climate that attracts, keeps, and motivates a diverse staff of top quality people.
• Participate in the hiring process of all new staff to ensure organizational fit and alignment.
• Ensure effective financial, security, and facilities management policies are in place and consistently observed.
• Honor all local, state, and federal laws, rules and regulations. Manage effectively any infractions.

4. Programmatic Leadership

• Oversee effective delivery of classroom instruction using data and other assessment tools regularly to track status and progress.
• Support the instructional team in achieving proficiency goals for scholars.
• Lead the model design process and codify core practices.
• Ensure classroom staff receive effective skill development and timely feedback from the instructional team.

5. Board Governance

• Develop and implement strategies to ensure that Roots attracts, motivates and retains members of its board of directors who effectively fulfill their governance responsibilities and are committed to achieve the organization’s mission.
• Understand and support the role of the board; ensure on-going development of the board to improve the effectiveness of members continuously.
• Provide strong staff support and regular operational and financial data to the board.
• Use the time and talents of board members effectively to advance the mission of the organization.
• Support the board members in developing their fundraising capabilities.

OTHER DUTIES AS REQUESTED BY THE BOARD AND REQUIRED FOR EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION OPERATIONS.