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POSITION: Founding Head of School

DEPARTMENT: Great Hearts Lake Charles

LOCATION: Lake Charles, LA

REPORTS TO: Chief Academies Officer

FLSA STATUS: Exempt

START DATE: Fall 2026

Company Description

Great Hearts Academies is a growing network of 50 public, open-enrollment, tuition-free schools in Phoenix (AZ), Baton Rouge (LA), Dallas/Ft. Worth (TX), and San Antonio (TX). In addition to our brick/mortar schools we also operate online academies, with fully remote instruction. We provide over 30,000 K-12 students with access to a high quality, classical liberal arts education. We gladly prepare our graduates for success in the best universities in the nation, but our main purpose is the formation of the soul, heart, and mind.

Position Summary

The Founding Head of School is the primary instructional and cultural leader of the school as well as a leader in the broader Lake Charles community. As such, he/she must assemble and direct an effective leadership team to:

• Launch a new Great Hearts Academy, serving grades K-4 in the first year
• Meet ambitious goals for student achievement
• Build a unified, high-performing faculty culture to hire, retain and develop staff
• Actively engage families and the community

The ideal candidate will understand the distinctions and benefits of a liberal arts education, possess a strong understanding of academic rigor and effective instruction, be an outstanding strategic planner as well as a leader who invests in developing faculty and staff.

Year Zero Duties and Responsibilities

• Actively promoting school enrollment and community support through attending community events, networking with community leaders, providing tours at another academy, communicating with those on the interest list, and meeting with families.
• Leading the selection and procurement of curricula for all subjects as aligned with Great Hearts and including intervention program(s).
• Hiring mission-fit faculty and staff.
• Creating a clear and proactive plan for assessing students in reading and math, and for closing academic gaps.
• Designing a school schedule that provides time for interventions, time for grade level teams to meet and collaborate, and meets legislative requirements.
• Engaging with Great Hearts project management team to meet all milestones across multiple functions – construction, marketing, enrollment, IT, academics, professional development, talent acquisition, HR, etc.
• Aligning and guiding all Great Hearts policies as outlined in the Standard Schools Policy Guide, Employee Handbook, and Family Handbook.

Ongoing Duties & Responsibilities

• Setting both quantitative and qualitative goals in collaboration with the Executive Director(s) and the Superintendent.
• Planning, delegating, and executing to meet goals.
• Building a varied and capable leadership team that promotes the goals and culture of the school.
• Managing and evaluating the leadership team.
• Working through the Executive Director(s) with service departments of the central office to ensure the school is fully supported.
• Managing the school budget with foresight and discipline.
• Monitoring and managing the enrollment process.
• Establishing an environment of trust with students, parents, and colleagues.
• Ensuring that the school has a comprehensive discipline policy that is clearly communicated and which is administered with prudence and equity.
• Observing and coaching teachers in accordance with network expectations.
• With the assistance of central office personnel, managing and coaching members of the school staff.
• Interviewing and hiring faculty and staff in accordance with campus needs, hiring protocols, and budget realities.
• Overseeing the proper planning and execution of projects and events that fall under the purview of campus leadership.
• Creating a culture of instructional planning among teachers.
• Promoting a culture of achievement among students.
• Overseeing the required systems, practices, and cycles of assessment.
• Using specific, identified data sources to inform and evaluate instruction.
• Implementing professional development that is specific to the needs of teachers.
• Building a unified faculty and staff culture that embraces the liberal arts, aspires to excellence in instruction.
• Meeting regularly with parents.
• Ensuring that special needs students are properly identified and accommodated by all necessary staff and faculty.
• Implementing school-wide procedures and policies to ensure student safety.
• Building a student culture that is civil, respectful, hard-working, and community minded.
• Creating a culture of open communication with parents through both formal and informal means.
• As much as is possible, uniting the parent community into a supportive and informed group who understand the educational and cultural distinctions of the school and who support the personal efforts necessary for student success.

Qualifications, Competencies & Strengths

• A degree from an accredited university.
• A personal alignment with the educational philosophy, core values, and ethical standards of Great Hearts Academies.
• A dedication to life-long learning and an example of humility, hard work, and civil discourse.
• Demonstrated achievement of exceptional results with students and successful management of adults.
• Three to five years of instructional leadership experience, including two years in school administration, preferred.
• Good personal communication skills and the ability to build strong relationships with all stakeholders.
• A desire to work in a team-oriented environment and collaborate with colleagues.
• An ability to interpret student data.
• An ability to reflect on personal areas of strength and growth.
• An ability to receive frequent feedback with humility and a desire to grow and develop.
• A willingness to work in an ever-changing field and face challenges with a positive attitude.
• Professional integrity.
• Clarity and prudence in the management of people.
• A desire to develop team members and an ability to leverage a school’s existing leadership team.
• Exceptional skills in strategic planning, prioritization, and execution.
• A compelling builder of relationships and community who will actively engage families, staff, and students in the life of the school.
• Dedication to cultivating diverse school communities around common understandings of dignity and respect.
• Experience with students with a variety of special needs and from a variety of circumstantial challenges.
• Experience working in urban, or under-served communities.

Personal Qualities & Values

Passionately Committed

With humility and curiosity, we seek to know more about our core purpose; seek to share (with each other and with others externally as an advocate); seek to live the mission ourselves with relentless pursuit and intrinsic motivation; seek to understand our work and how it serves the mission…which should result in getting the right stuff done with measurable results because we love actualization – not just the theory.

Servant’s Heart

The foundational element of having a servant’s heart is the acknowledgement of inherent dignity in their fellow human. Someone with a servant’s heart believes that their work is to promote the development of those around them and make it possible for others to be successful in serving the mission of the organization.

Team Player

We believe our mission can only be accomplished through collaboration and receive true joy in being a part of something greater than ourselves; Each of us is one part of a whole, each with different roles, expertise and responsibilities; working together in synchronicity.

Additional Requirements

Must pass background check, which is completed by the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Investigation (LCBI), which includes fingerprinting and a signed statement authorizing the release of information from the LCBI to the school.

Physical functions: Requires but is not limited to standing, sitting, repetitious hand and body movements, bending, squatting, and reaching. May be required to move or position equipment up to 15 pounds approximately.

Travel required.

This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions, it does not exclude or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Great Hearts Academies is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal history background check and fingerprint clearance in accordance with state requirements.

Travel required: May need to travel locally for training and professional development opportunities.

This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions. It does not exclude or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

Great Hearts Academies is an Equal Opportunity Employer.