Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 330,000 students in 600 schools and employing nearly 36,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.
The Department of Innovation and Incubation (I&I) provides incubation, management, and oversight of charter, contract, and alternative schools as options for CPS students and families. As the designee for The Chicago Board of Education, I&I authorizes and manages a portfolio of 96 charter and contract schools serving approximately 60,000 students.This department also leads the district's Academic RFP process, which provides school communities across the city with access to highly demanded programs.
Job Summary:
Reporting to the Executive Director (ED) of I&I, the Campus Governance Manager is responsible for the strategy for co-location sites throughout Chicago Public Schools. The Campus Governance Manager will oversee the implementation of CPS' Shared Facility Policy (410.7) and empower school leaders to meet and collaborate around the shared school mission, vision, and opportunities for collaboration and school-related issues. In addition, The Campus Governance Manager will be responsible for mediating and resolving disagreements among schools and for ensuring that schools comply with their Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) and Sharing Agreements (SA). This role has the overall responsibility of managing CPS's strategic priorities related to school operations within authorization and innovative models, while also providing oversight, planning, and management for facility and school operations for new and existing charter and contract schools. This role will also engage and converge strategically with other CPS operation and academic departments (e.g. Safety & Security, Nutrition Support, Transportation, IT, and Teaching & Learning) regarding all facilities-related management, initiatives, and authorizing processes. The Campus Governance Manager will also manage the parent support process by ensuring that all parental and stakeholder calls/issues are resolved as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The Campus Governance Manager will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:
Authorization

• Oversee the review of new school applications and incubation, expansion, and replication of high-quality models, contractual amendments, and innovative programming.
• Collaborate with the Chicago Board of Education office to ensure board reports and briefing materials are accurate and complete.
• In collaboration with the CPS Law office, ensure the execution of leases for all charters, contracts, and options schools in CPS Facilities and the execution of school agreements with the Chicago Board of Education.
• Support charter facility winddown activities.

School and Program Incubation for District Managed, Charter, and Contract Schools

• Manage and oversee the development of an Incubation Program and Playbook to support the incubation of district-managed, contract, and charter schools Manage the expansion activities project for district schools via convergence with CPS operation departments.
• Ensure that new schools are appropriately created in CPS systems and staff are provisioned for CPS systems access (Aspen, ODA, etc.).
• Ensure that new schools are scheduled for CPS food nutrition services, technology, transportation, etc.
• Manage and converge with CPS Operations Departments to ensure facility readiness for CPS district-managed, charter and contract schools.
• Support community engagement in all incubation activities.

Collaboration Strategy for Shared Facilities

• Lead a steering committee and develop a recommendation for a co-location strategy that ensures parity across school leaders.
• Lead the development and implementation of the District's school collaboration strategy and best practice guide that fosters meaningful relationships for all co-locations.
• Manage the development of protocols and policies related to shared spaces to improve CPS strategy and policy, including district-wide policies, initiatives, and strategic analysis.
• Implement, administer and monitor best practices for co-located schools.
• Develop co-location resources and training to support school principals.
• Manage community engagement workstream for new school incubation.

Charter Facilities Support

• Drive knowledge convergence with CPS Facilities team regarding long-range facilities plan, capital project needs assessment, capital project allocation plan, and capital improvement plan in accordance with the District's policies and procedures for charters and collocated schools.
• Collaborate with CPS departments (e.g., Safety & Security, Foodservice, Transportation, IT) regarding all facilities-related management and initiatives.
• Establish a new Facility Sharing policy and oversee the co-sharing relationship between principals.
• Facilitate the execution of leases involving charters and contract schools operating in CPS-owned facilities.
• Work inter-departmentally to manage efficient support systems for school operations throughout the District, primarily with Facilities, Nutrition Services, ITS, and Operations.
• Serve as a liaison between City departments to establish policies that will ensure school compliance with city ordinances and codes.
• Provide performance feedback for the Authorization and School Operations team and supervisory staff and collaborate with their managers toward the attainment of staff goals and objectives.

Parent and Student Support

• Co-lead (with the ED and the Director of School Quality and Support) student transition plans for all students impacted by charter, contract, and option school closures.
• Implement and manage a strategic critical response system for charter and contract schools and maintain general oversight throughout the year.
• Develop and manage the alignment of I&I goals with parent and school-related issues.

Supervision: This position will manage two part-time parent support interns
In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Campus Governance Manager must possess the following qualifications:
Education Required:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university

Experience Required:

• Minimum of five (5) years of leadership and management experience experience working in an urban school district or operations project management
• Minimum of two (2) years of school operation experience at the school, network or district level.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Understanding of the school authorization process or innovative model development and dissemination
• Understanding of modern management practices (policy and procedures), methods, and techniques related to charter school operations, small businesses or non-profit organizations.
• Strong advocacy, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills
• Ability to meet and overcome unexpected challenges and ambiguous/uncertain situations
• Unrelenting attention to detail and follow-through
• Excellent communication skills (Verbal and written)
• Ability to think and analyze critically
• Familiarity with urban education reform, charter support activities and incubation
• Knowledge and understanding of the concerns and issues faced by charter and contract schools is preferred

Conditions of Employment
As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.
• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. "Up-to-date" on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.