Deputy Chief of Staff (SY25-26)

REPORTS TO: Chief of Staff

Founded in 1647 Boston Public Schools (BPS) is the oldest public school district in the country. As the birthplace of Americas public education system BPS has a long rich tradition and commitment to education. We are a leader in urban education. BPS has been recognized nationally for programs and initiatives such as universal preschool early childhood education an equitable school-based funding formula and policy specifically focused on creating greater racial equity to name a few.

BPS is the largest school district in Massachusetts. We serve approximately 49000 students 74% of the school-age children who live in Boston. We are proud to beone of the most diverse school districts in the nation. Nearly one in every two students speaks a language other than English at home and our students come from 139 different countries. BPS has over 10000 employees (including 4500 teachers) and an annual budget of $1.3 billion.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

BPS seeks a talented and versatile leader to enhance the districts coherence culture and effectiveness by supporting the Superintendents Office to increase operational effectiveness and efficiency and strengthen the districts ability to support its employees schools and communities. The Deputy Chief of Staff assists the Chief of Staff with supervising and managing day to day operations and all aspects of the departments and employees of the Office of the Superintendent. Assists the Chief of Staff in setting and overseeing the administration of office goals policies and procedures. Develops and prepares agendas for staff meetings in the absence of the Chief of Staff. Collaborates with the executive management team in development of project goals and desired outcome.

The Deputy Chief of Staff also drives the effort of monitoring and improving the districts organizational health. The Deputy Chief of Staff will strengthen coherence across district departments and align structures processes and collaboration between schools and the central office. The Deputy Chief of Staff will facilitate the implementation and standardization of performance management practices within and across functional groups in the district monitor the culture and drive initiatives for constant improvement. This position is a leadership role within the Office of the Superintendent reporting directly to the Chief of Staff.The Deputy Chief of Staff will take a lead role in working with the Superintendents Executive Assistant in overseeing scheduling reviewing critical policies and procedures and handling school-based crises (e.g. student safety incidents) which require the Superintendents attention.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Organizational Management

• Oversee and manage the Executive Assistant (EA) to the Superintendent in handling the Superintendents scheduling ensuring the schedule matches the Superintendents priorities and supporting the EA in making any day-to-day adjustments as needed.
• Respond to routine inquiries on behalf of the Chief of Staff or Superintendent where appropriate and when necessary.
• Be the Superintendents eyes and ears on school-based crises and where necessary bring the crisis to resolution in a manner that leads to best outcomes for the student and the family.
• Manage a team responsible for supporting and evaluating the districts ability to continuously improve and meet each functional team goals aligned to the Superintendents priorities.
• Develop and implement strategies to promote and maintain a healthy BPS culture
• Develop and manage initiatives that align with the BPSs culture mission and values
• Monitor employee engagement and job satisfaction to identify areas of improvement and create a culture that attracts develop and retain talent within the organization
• Facilitate continuous improvement fundamentals such as visual management and controls standard leader work value mapping tiered meetings problem tracking root cause analysis etc.
• Serve as a partner and consultant on the implementation of key district initiatives intended to elevate customer experience and increase employee engagement including administering and responding to employee perception surveys adopting new roles or workflows for employee services and launching endeavors designed to bolster organizational culture.
• Advise on decisions regarding teaming within district office departments and divisions to increase efficiency and align activities with organizational objectives.
• Maintain confidentiality and exhibit discretion and professionalism in all activities.
• Identifies research to support strategic planning visioning and innovation for the organization.

Driving District-Wide Coherence

• Organize department and districts goals and monitor progress towards them
• Establish and strengthen coherence of each functional teams priorities and ensure alignment of the cross-functional priorities to the Superintendents vision & goals
• Enhance or develop coherence between the central office and schools collaborating with the regional support model
• Lead the collaboration efforts among the executive team to establish an effective tracking and progress monitoring system of the districts goals
• Leads and/or participates on executive level planning groups to improve operations coherence and business practices
• Gathers investigates researches analyzes and/or studies information affecting intradepartmental or interdepartmental operations; participates in institutional planning policy development and problem resolution as a member of senior staff.
• Facilitates consistent data-driven decision-making through data analysis creation of accessible data tools and evaluation of the impact of projects based out of the Office of the Superintendent

Division Responsibilities

• Manage and oversee the operations of the Office of the Chief of Staff
• Manages high-priority projects designed to achieve BPS mission and strategic vision; builds and maintains successful working relationships and coordinates with a wide range of offices staff and stakeholders internal and external to the district
• Ensures matters requiring the attention of executive leaders are thoroughly developed researched and evaluated; responds to routine inquiries and deputizes for the Chief of Staff where appropriate and when necessary.
• Coaches and guides direct reports in establishing effective timelines prioritizing tasks and setting goals in line with the priorities of the Chief of Staff and Superintendent
• Coordinates and/or oversees the scheduling of strategic events meetings and other requests to balance and address key institutional objectives.
• Researches writes edits and/or coordinates preparation of special reports briefings and presentations; conceives crafts and edits messages letters and other communications on behalf of executive leadership and the Chief of Staff.
• Collaborates with the Assistant Superintendent of Data Strategy Implementation Senior Advisor team and Chief of Communications to meet Cabinet-wide goals including providing updates on behalf of the Office of the Superintendent and their team to be used for external and internal communications and planning
• Performs such other tasks and responsibilities as may be assigned by the Chief of Staff and/or Superintendent

QUALIFICATIONS - REQUIRED:

• Bachelors Degree in education public policy business administration or a related field;
• Minimum of 3 years of supervisory experience
• Five or more years of experience driving continuous improvement systems organizational development and/or organization-wide equity work
• Display a demonstrated track record of attaining results through hands-on training coaching and implementing successful process improvement
• Quick learner who has demonstrated the ability to successfully manage a team manage complex projects and engage in data-driven decision-making
• Demonstrated success implementing systemic initiatives managing vertically and horizontally to impact change within a complex organization
• Ability to work collaboratively and cross-functionally but can also take bold independent initiative as a leader when needed.
• Proven ability to motivate staff contractors and partners to keep projects on time and within budget
• Excellent interpersonal skills exhibiting an ability to effectively communicate with multiple stakeholders across a complex ecosystem with an orientation toward multicultural and/or multilingual communication
• Excellent presentation skills coupled with experience presenting to senior management board-level staff and/or elected officials
• Excellent written skills with the ability to write and produce reports such as district-wide memos
• Experience with the Microsoft Office Suite and Google platforms; and
• Ability to work effectively with people at all levels across the organization including executive leadership and counterparts across the organization and city
• Current authorization to work in the United States
• An understanding of and commitment to gain a greater understanding of what is necessary for an urban school system to enjoy continuous improvement in an increasingly complex and competitive environment.
• A deeply held and unyielding belief in the overarching mission of public education.

QUALIFICATIONS - PREFERRED:

• Experience working in a large urban school district setting
• BPS strongly prefers linguistic diversity and we believe candidates who speak another language bring added value to the classroom school and district culture and diversity. BPS is particularly interested in candidates fluent in one of BPSs official languages: Spanish Creole (Cape Verdean) Creole (Haitian) Chinese Vietnamese Portuguese & Somali.
• Familiarity with Boston and Boston Public Schools

Terms: Managerial E92.

The Boston Public Schools in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies does not discriminate on the basis of race color age criminal record physical or mental disability pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions homelessness sex/gender gender identity religion national origin ancestry sexual orientation genetics natural or protective hairstyle military status immigration status English language proficiency or any other factor prohibited by law in its programs and activities. BPS does not tolerate any form of retaliation or bias-based intimidation threat or harassment that demeans individuals dignity or interferes with their ability to work or learn. If you require an accommodation pursuant to the ADA for the application process please contact the Accommodations Unit at .