Chief Schools Officer

Chief Schools Officer Founded in 1998, Aspire Public Schools has served scholars and communities across California for nearly three decades. Following Aspire Los Angeles's transition into an independent organization, Aspire's Bay Area and Central Valley regions will come together to form Aspire NorCal. Aspire NorCal will operate 22 schools serving approximately 10,000 scholars across Northern California, with schools located in Oakland, Richmond, East Palo Alto, Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, and Ceres. This evolution comes at an important moment for Aspire. Changes in California's funding, policy, enrollment, and operating environment have created an opportunity to rethink how the organization supports its schools and scholars in its next chapter. The formation of Aspire NorCal creates an opportunity to strengthen support for schools across teams previously organized by geography, improve the consistency and effectiveness of school support, and create clear accountability systems for organizational and scholar outcomes. The new model will require the organization to balance greater coherence across Aspire NorCal with responsiveness to the different communities and contexts of its schools. Aspire NorCal enters this transition with a long-standing mission focused on post-secondary success and a deep commitment to educational equity, along with decades of institutional knowledge across its schools and teams. Preserving those strengths while building Aspire NorCal as a unified region will be central to the work ahead. The Chief Schools Officer is the senior instructional leader for every Aspire NorCal classroom. Reporting to the CEO and serving on the Executive team, this leader is accountable to the CEO for scholar outcomes across Aspire NorCal and has ultimate responsibility for the supervision of all educators and administrators who implement Aspire NorCal's instructional program across all its schools. This role includes both supervision of the superintendents, as well as leadership in curriculum and instruction. Through the superintendents, the Chief Schools Officer leads the implementation of the academic program through Aspire NorCal's principals and school leadership teams. This individual is also an enterprise leader who drives Aspire NorCal's strategy and resource decisions and partners closely with the President and other senior leaders to ensure the organization effectively serves its scholars and schools. This leader holds Aspire NorCal to one demanding ultimate outcome: every scholar performing at grade level or above and poised for success in their post-secondary college and career aspirations.

Hold every manager to Aspire's "excellent management" standard: managers set the conditions for success and hold teammates accountable for results. This means documented check-ins at least twice a month (more often for new and junior staff), clear goals, regular feedback, development conversations, prompt course correction, and no surprises if a role changes or terminates. Build consistent systems and expectations across sites while adapting support to the needs of each school. Set the standard for the examination, selection, in-service training, mentoring and assignment of principals, and build a durable pipeline of future principals and system leaders. Oversee and strengthen Aspire NorCal's annual leadership development for superintendents, principals and assistant principals, building on what works and refining it based on results. Cultivate a culture of high expectations, candor and continuous improvement, where leaders reflect on data, share what works and adjust quickly. School culture, Bienestar (well-being) and student services Set the vision for safe, joyful, affirming schools grounded in the Aspire Core Values. Oversee student services, including special education, MTSS, mental health and family engagement, ensuring compliance and equitable outcomes for the scholar groups who need the most support. Ensure advisory, enrichment and co-curricular experiences reinforce academic priorities.