Director of Family & Community Engagement
Director of Family & Community Engagement
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Job Description
Position: Director of Family & Community Engagement
Department: Office of Equity Inclusion & Belonging
Reports to: Chief Equity Officer
Cambridge is a vibrant diverse city as well as a central hub and driver of the nations innovative economy. Home of the renowned educational institutions of Harvard and MIT Cambridge is also the center of an impressive array of biotechnology science and information technology companies.
Educating about 7000 students JK-12 the Cambridge Public Schools consists of diverse and dedicated faculty cutting edge technology and innovative programs. While each of our public schools is unique they are joined in a shared vision of rigorous joyful and culturally responsive learning. Over 30% of CPS students speak a language other than English at home and over 70 languages are spoken by our families. Among the most common are Spanish Haitian Creole Amharic Arabic Bengali and Chinese. Our schools proudly embrace this diversity.
The Role:
The Director of Family & Community Engagement leads the implementation of a comprehensive district-wide strategy to meaningfully engage families as partners in student success. This position is central to building reciprocal affirming and aligned relationships with families caregivers and community partners that support academic achievement student well-being and a sense of belonging across all schools.
The Director works collaboratively with school leaders and district departments to ensure consistent equity-driven engagement practices that are responsive to community needs. They provide direct coaching and support to school leaders and their teamsparticularly around chronic absenteeism communication challenges and family trust-buildingand help embed engagement strategies that promote student attendance connectedness and achievement.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Leadership & Alignment
- Design and implement a coherent district-wide family and community engagement strategy that strengthens trust collaboration and consistency across all schools.
- Develop and implement targeted strategies to address chronic absenteeism by building family-school partnerships that increase student attendance and re-engagement.
- Serve as a connector between departments ensuring alignment of engagement efforts with district priorities and eliminating silos that hinder effective collaboration.
- Build affirmative partnerships with families that connect district initiatives to community assets and voices.
- Champion a whole-organization approach that views family and community engagement as everyones responsibility.
Support to Schools & Coaching Capacity
- Provide direct coaching and consultation to school leaders and their teams to strengthen site-based engagement practices build staff capacity and troubleshoot family-facing challenges.
- Work closely with principals and school liaisons to develop family engagement plans that reflect local school needs and promote a welcoming and inclusive school culture.
- Support school-based efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism by partnering with student support teams to analyze attendance trends and develop responsive family outreach strategies.
- Acknowledge and navigate the complexities of dotted line reporting structures with empathy clarity and consistency.
Team Management & Capacity Building
- Hire supervise and coach a team of district-level liaisons who support school-based family engagement staff.
- Set clear performance expectations and foster a culture of accountability collaboration and continuous improvement.
- Lead professional development for family liaisons school leaders educators and front-office staff to elevate engagement practices inclusive communication and customer service.
Community Partnerships & Volunteer Coordination
- Cultivate and sustain partnerships with community-based organizations advocacy groups and parent/caregiver associations that advance district engagement priorities.
- Coordinate a district-wide volunteer initiative including recruitment screening training and alignment with school needs.
- Ensure the district has a visible meaningful presence in community events and forums.
Communication & Feedback Loops
- Collaborate closely with the Communications Office to build a two-way communication model that emphasizes reciprocal dialogue with families.
- Establish systems that improve communication and information-sharing between central office departments and schools.
- Present regularly to caregiver groups and community stakeholders both to inform and to listen.
- Design and maintain structured feedback loops that gather ongoing input from families and inform iterative improvements to engagement practices.
Organizational Support & Administration
- Support budgeting grants management and resource allocation for engagement initiatives.
- Serve as a liaison to The Village/Parent/Family University and other leadership/learning networks.
- Participate in district- and community-level committees and represent CPS in relevant external partnerships and forums.
- Stay abreast of research and innovation in family engagement and its role in student outcomes.
Your Skill Set:
- Bachelors degree required; advanced degree preferred.
- Minimum ten (10) years of experience in a K-12 educational setting with at least three (3) years in a leadership role.
- Demonstrated leadership in family caregiver or community engagement.
- Proven ability to manage teams coach staff and build cross-functional alignment.
- Experience designing and implementing engagement strategies to support student attendance and academic outcomes.
- Strong project management and organizational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal written and verbal communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and productively across lines of difference.
- A creative problem-solver with a commitment to equity inclusion and belonging.
Terms of Employment: This is a full-time 12-month exempt position. Evening and weekend work required to fulfill the responsibilities of the role. As an exempt employee this position is not eligible for overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Compensation: Salary is commensurate with experience.
How to Join Our Team:
Please upload a resume and thoughtful cover letter outlining how your skills experience and commitment to equity in education meet the qualifications of the position as well as stating how you heard about this opportunity.
At the Cambridge Public Schools we are committed to cultivating an environment where diverse perspectives and backgrounds are embraced acknowledging that a team reflecting diversity of race color ancestry national origin religion age gender marital/domestic partner status sexual orientation gender identity disability status and veteran status allows us to serve our communities better. To that end we welcome and encourage applicants to bring their authentic selves when considering employment opportunities within our school district.
Required Experience:
Director
Employment Type
Full-Time
