Jobs with Grove

Position Summary

The Grove Elementary School’s board seeks a Founding Principal to lead and grow our new project-based elementary school. The founding principal will join our team as a thought-partner, collaborator, and visionary in the time prior to opening and who will lead Grove Elementary in growth and development toward a successful, exciting opening and beyond.

Job Details

Salary
$97,000-$120,000, Full time

Hours
The position will be part time (with a possibility of full time) in year 0 and transition into a full time Principal position with the opening of the school.

Location
Grove Elementary School is located in Broomfield, Colorado (18 miles north of Denver, Colorado)

Job Responsibilities

• Build school culture with a feeling of community, trust, and belonging.

• Cultivate and protect the school’s culture of collaboration amongst all learners: staff, students, and families.

• Exemplify, promote, and operationalize mission, vision, guiding values and principles.

• Ensure a program where students can belong, grow, and thrive - a program that values Success Beyond Standards, Heart-Centered Social-Emotional Learning, and a Hands-on/Curiosity-Led approach.

• Recruit, select, hire, evaluate, supervise, and renew and dismiss all Grove school staff.

• Responsibly lead the daily operational and administrative functions of the school.

• Oversee student discipline in collaboration with students, staff, parents, and advisors.

• Oversee charter school finances to ensure financial stability.

• Responsibly manage all internal operations to include academic programs.

• Advance the school’s commitment to diversity to reflect district demographics and Grove goals and objectives. Grove Elementary is committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and diverse environment where all voices are valued.

• Ensure compliance with all applicable district, state, and federal laws.

• Responsibly manage all external operations to include partnership development, school operational systems, external fundraising, and creating private and public partnerships.

• Liaise with Grove Elementary School authorizer.

• Report to the Board of Directors and attend monthly board meetings.

Requirements

Who we are looking for
The ideal candidate must have a reverence for the child. In addition, ideal candidates must be trustworthy, innately-driven collaborators, have integrity, grit, conviction, a thirst for learning, a love for humanity, and a desire to share a mutual respect with students and staff. Ideal candidates model open-heartedness, healthy relationships, and healthy risk-taking. The ideal candidate has great ideas, knows how to get stuff done, and has a desire to get dirty and build a school. Ultimately, the ideal candidate is looking for a long-term position as an educational visionary, new school developer, strategic partnership convener, and most importantly, a new school’s leader.

Ideal Candidate Credentials:

• Master’s degree or higher in education or a related field

• Experience working with students with disabilities and neurodivergent populations

• Experiences with 504s and IEPs

Preferred Candidate Credentials:

• Minimum of three years of experience in a leadership position in a charter or a district school

• Minimum of two years of experience in Project Based Learning and Workshop Model

• Experience implementing and growing a new program

• Special Education Director or Administrator License

• Principal or School Administrator License with Special Education Focus

• Special Education Teacher License or Endorsement

• Experience as a School Leader

Candidate Credentials that are a Plus:

• Charter School Experience

• Bilingual

Requirements

• At Grove, we seek passionate individuals who are intentional about creating equitable learning experiences. The ideal candidate excels in collaboration with our community of students, families, educators, and staff from all backgrounds, identities, and forms of expression. We believe our differences strengthen our community and inspire innovation in education. Join us in sharing a culture reflective of our diverse world.

• Prolonged periods of movement between environments (indoors and outdoors)

• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.

• Must receive Department of Justice clearance.

Benefits

• Benefits include paid time off, insurance, enrollment priority for employee's dependents, and retirement (beginning in Year 1)

About Grove

Who We Are

• The Grove School is
  A public, independent, 5-day, charter school located in Broomfield, CO (Boulder Valley School District) centered on a relationship-based, project-based educational model that integrates neuroscience and child development research to create a nurturing, inclusive environment that supports both academic growth and holistic well-being.

• A problem-driven, project-based curricular model committed to a competency-based personalized learning philosophy.

• A small school with BIG vision. Small class sizes with BIG ideas. Small on “schooling,” BIG on “learning.”

• Our core mission is to cultivate both minds and hearts, ensuring all learners—children, families, and staff—belong, grow, and thrive.

• Our guiding principles are love and compassion, a commitment to curiosity-driven learning, and a foundation of trust and respect.

This is why you will want to stay at Grove

An environment where well-being is centered and supported, and where passions, dreams, and goals are honored. A place with strong roots and open arms, where diverse people are seen and valued for who they are. A community that is exceptional together, where the strengths each person brings to their work are celebrated. A place where connection, trust, integrity, and joy aren’t a premium – they’re the norm. A place where curiosity and a humble appreciation for growth drive everything we do. Where your colleagues, community, and purposeful work uplift you. Where you’ll want to stay for a long, long time because it isn’t just what you want for work – it is what you want for the world.

How to Apply

Deadline

Applications are now being accepted. This is a first-come, first-conversation, process that opens on January 6th and closes when The Grove School is being led by an amazing Founding Leader. The interview process will begin on January 6, 2025, with an anticipated Year 0 start date in March, 2025. Applications MUST be directly sent to
info@groveelementaryschool.org

How and Where to Apply
The Grove Founding Principal Application consists of three parts sent to
info@groveelementaryschool.org

1. Your resume

2. A written statement

3. A project

Details are below:

1. Your resume

   a. As you would imagine

2. A written statement

   a. Please provide a written statement that includes both your educational philosophy and your leadership philosophy

3. A project

   a. As a project-based learning environment that seeks to inspire a community of leaders to be creative and find meaning in their work, we invite you to take the first step in the hiring process by creating a project that you can share with our board.

Your project driving questions (choose one or both):

• Who are you as a person, a learner, leader, and an educator that gets below the surface of your resume? (Although we want to see that too!)

• What would the application of your educational philosophy look like from the perspective of a student or parent experience?

Your project guidelines and parameters:
This is up to you. Answer the question(s) in any way you see fit, that you feel helps you communicate in the most authentic way who you truly are. You could choose to tell us your story, what brings you to your work, your pet peeves, what makes you tired, what makes you want to work until midnight, things you love to do for fun, a funny story of something that happened at school, something great you observed, what you are still learning about, what brought you to start this process, and/or how your students would describe you. You could share a day-in-the-life in your ideal learning environment from the perspective of a student and/or parent. You could share your idea through some form of creativity (timeline, video, comic strip, etc.) You can be as creative as you wish and your response can be in whatever form you feel is suitable (written, video, slide show, script, sculpture, phone conversation, etc). The only requirements are that you share who you are and why you are interested in The Grove School. This doesn’t have to be more polished or stressful than it is authentically you.

Applications will be complete when they are received at

info@groveelementaryschool.org

EEO/ADA

We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination/harassment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

DEI

Grove Elementary is committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive, and diverse environment where all voices are valued. We believe our differences strengthen our community and inspire innovation in education.