What are the responsibilities and job description for the Modern Languages Department Head position at Trinity School?
Trinity School, a co-educational, K-12 institution located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, seeks candidates to lead its Modern Languages Department beginning September 1, 2026.
Trinity’s Modern Languages Department offers instruction in Spanish, French, and Mandarin. Mandatory Spanish instruction begins in kindergarten and continues through fourth grade. In fifth grade, students can choose to continue with Spanish or change to French. In ninth grade, students can continue with the language studied in Middle School, or they can begin a new foreign language, including Mandarin. Separate from the Modern Languages Department, the school’s Classics Department offers instruction in Latin and Greek, including mandatory Latin in grades 6‐8.
In brief, the Modern Languages Department Head is responsible for developing and implementing departmental curriculum, instructional practices, professional development opportunities as well as departmental programs, policies, and procedures that will best fulfill the school’s mission. Specifically, the Department Head will (1) oversee K-12 departmental curriculum, working with the school’s Lower School Modern Language Coordinator, ensuring appropriate consistency, continuity, and coherence in coursework within and across grade‐levels and divisions; (2) foster excellence in instruction throughout the department; (3) oversee department members' professional growth, including scheduled formal evaluation of department members as well on‐going discussion of professional growth and performance; (4) recruit, hire, and mentor new teachers; (5) articulate departmental philosophy, policies, processes, curriculum, and program to internal and external audiences; (6) supervise departmental staffing, student placement decisions where appropriate, budget, book orders, substitute teaching arrangements, and other departmental policies and procedures.
In addition, the Department Head is expected to facilitate support among department members for divisional and school‐wide commitments. In performing these duties, especially in the areas of curriculum, evaluation, and staffing, a Department Head will often need to collaborate with Principals and other administrators, including the Assistant Head of School, the Director of Equity and Inclusion, the Head of School, and other Department Heads. In addition, the school seeks candidates eager and able to foster robust professional conversation about teaching and learning, attentive to students with differing learning needs, and informed by relevant research as well as effective professional practice. The Modern Languages Department Head is directly supervised by the Assistant Head of School.
The ideal candidate will be an exemplary language teacher knowledgeable and passionate about curriculum as well as pedagogy; a skilled administrator attentive to the needs of the department and its members as well as to the needs of the School; an approachable, supportive, trusted colleague who possesses intellectual curiosity, an openness to others’ ideas, flexibility in approaches to teaching, and a sense of humor. Proficiency in more than one of the languages taught in the department is preferred, but not required.
An Equal Opportunity Employer, Trinity School seeks candidates who will add to the diversity of its school community.
Interested candidates should post a resume as well as a cover letter outlining their readiness for this position.
Salary range: $72,200 - $171,200 (salary based upon experience)
Salary : $72,200 - $171,200