Assistant Principal, Secondary Counseling Services -Santee Education Complex

 Application Deadline: Friday, January 31, 2025 by 5:00 pm 
 

ABOUT PARTNERSHIP FOR LOS ANGELES SCHOOLS

Launched in 2007, the Partnership is a nonprofit organization that serves over 13,500 students across 20 LA Unified schools in Watts, Boyle Heights, and South Los Angeles. The Partnership is one of the largest, in-district public school transformation organizations in the U.S., and is not a charter organization. Our priorities are supporting great school leadership, developing highly effective teaching, and engaging families and community partners. The Partnership works hard to close opportunity and achievement gaps in our 20 schools and in all LA Unified schools. We also advocate for educational equity and resource equity for high-need schools in Los Angeles and beyond. Over the past decade, our high schools have seen their graduation rate skyrocket from 36% to 92% in 2024. Learn more about us at https://partnershipla.org/. 
 

ABOUT SANTEE EDUCATION COMPLEX

Home of the Falcons, Santee Education Complex is located in South Los Angeles and is led by Principal Violeta Ruiz. Santee opened in 2005 on the site of a former dairy facility south of Downtown Los Angeles to create a high-performing school for the area’s 9th through 12th grade students. Santee's strong academic program includes the GATE School for Advanced Studies, AVID support classes, City Year, and a wide array of Advanced Placement classes. Santee also provides strong athletic teams, a swimming pool, construction program, networking, drama, and culinary arts instruction. Santee is a GATE school, school for advanced studies partnering with Ed Equity and local community colleges. Learn more at https://www.santeefalcons.org/.
 

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL FOR SECONDARY COUNSELING SERVICES POSITION

Santee Education Complex is seeking a highly effective, transformational Assistant Principal for Secondary Counseling Services to drive change and dramatically improve the academic culture and student achievement. This individual will provide leadership in the counseling and guidance program, as well as support development of the school’s master schedule. The selected candidate will have a proven track record of increasing and accelerating student achievement as evidenced by performance data, and will be prepared to lead the students, staff, and community toward dramatic academic improvement and success.

Reporting to the school principal, the successful candidate will be a committed and entrepreneurial school leader who is excited by the challenge of turning around a struggling school and making a real difference in the lives and future college and career choices of Latinx and African-American students. They will have previously worked in similar schools and will be prepared to accept the complexities and challenges of working with all stakeholders to understand, nurture, and educate students in our community.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Assistant Principal for Secondary Counseling Services will have these essential duties:

• Plan and provide leadership for the counseling and guidance program of the school; plan and organize allocated personnel services time to provide for individual and group counseling of students in the areas of educational, personal, and career needs; may supervise attendance accounting and reporting.
• Assess instructional needs of the school; suggest curriculum changes, implement culmination requirements, and share responsibility for providing instructional leadership in curriculum development and implementation.
• Collaborate with District and community service providers to develop resources within the school to meet the needs of individual students; assist in making referrals and contacts.
• Coordinate the identification, placement, and reporting of students eligible for Special Education, Gifted and Talented Education, and Master Plan Program for English Learners as assigned.
• Evaluate the performance of subordinate personnel as assigned or delegated by the principal.

In addition, all Assistant Principals will be responsible for assisting the principal in the following key areas of the LAUSD School Leadership Framework:

1. Leadership and Professional Growth
   1. Models learning-centered leadership behaviors
       
2. Change Management
   1. Leads and manages change
   2. Develops a shared vision around high expectations for student learning
   3. Creates a culture of continuous improvement

3. Instruction
   1. Provides support for teachers to improve instruction and build leadership capacity
   2. Promotes quality teaching and learning
   3. Assesses the performance of all staff

4. Culture of Learning and Positive Behavior
   1. Creates and maintains a culture conducive to educator growth
   2. Creates and maintains a culture conducive to student growth

5. Family and Community Engagement
   1. Engages families and community members as partners
   2. Communicates with families and community members

6. Systems and Operations
   1. Manages people, time and resources
   2. Creates and maintains a productive school environment
   3. Demonstrates legal and policy compliance

QUALIFICATIONS                    

The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following qualities and qualifications:

• Demonstrated personal commitment to dramatically increasing academic and social-emotional outcomes for all students; an unwavering belief that all students can reach high levels of achievement with support from adults inside and outside the school
• Extensive knowledge of counseling services, master scheduling, and the role of the counseling office in a high school
• Knowledge of effective classroom instruction, pedagogy, and instructional best practices; strong understanding of the appropriate standards and assessments
• Evidence of experience leading students and adults to increasingly high levels of student academic achievement and growth
• Experience with mentoring, coaching and/or professional development for adults
• Well-developed understanding of the Teaching & Learning Framework as the common language for teacher development; certified as an observer with LAUSD (or comparable) preferred
• Ability to evaluate, monitor and support classroom instruction; Ability to provide objective, thoughtful and effective feedback to teachers through observation cycles
• Experience leading opportunities for family and community engagement that empower parents as partners in their child’s academic achievement
• Trustworthy leader who builds strong working relationships with students, teachers, classified staff, parents and other community members
• Ability to model an open and honest dialogue with all stakeholders; someone who is able to have difficult conversations in order to create the best working environment for students and other adults
• Capacity to work independently while meeting commitments and providing detailed updates on progress; demonstrates strong planning and organizational skills
• Reflective, self-aware, and open to new ideas and opinions
• Ability to interpret data to inform decisions and plans
• Spanish fluency a plus

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE (must be in a public school setting):

• Five years of successful full-time public school certificated service
• A minimum of three years of experience as a teacher in a K-12 program
• No fewer than two years of successful experience in a middle/senior high school counseling office
• One year of experience in an out of classroom position is preferred

• A valid California Administrative Services Credential
• A valid California Pupil Personnel Services Credential
• Master’s degree from an accredited college or university
• Multicultural coursework*
• District Master Plan Requirements*

For all school based administrative positions, it is preferred that candidates be in the appropriate LAUSD eligible pool for the position or that they are currently serving in the class for which they are applying. In order to be placed in the eligible pool, candidates must successfully complete the appropriate LAUSD Aspiring Administrator Program.  Qualified applicants not in an eligible pool from within or outside LAUSD may be considered if fewer than five applicants from the eligible pool apply for the position.
 

COMPENSATION:

41G – B Basis ($119,477 – $149,036) – 221 paid days

• For an annualized employee who is changing basis during the year, this change may result in an annualized “settlement” (i.e., the process by which the District resolves an under or overpayment)
• Selected individual may be subject to displacement due to budget limitations
• For employees who change basis during the school year, this basis change may prevent them from earning a full year of service credit

TO APPLY:

Applicants must submit a recent resume and cover letter tailored to this position.  

For more information or technical assistance, contact Manasa Prabhakar-DiLapo at [email protected].