Liberty is recruiting for two positions that would start on or about August 1, 2024: a Head of School for its third school slated to open in August 2025, and a Leadership Fellow who would complete the fellowship year during the 2024-2025 school year and prepare to open Liberty’s fourth school during the 2025-2026 school year ahead of an August ‘26 opening. Candidates interested in either position should apply here. 

About Liberty:

Liberty Classical Schools is an Atlanta-based nonprofit operator of K-12 American classical charter schools. Liberty founded and supports Atlanta Classical Academy and Northwest Classical Academy (Kennesaw, GA), and each are “Member Schools” of Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter School Initiative. The Mission of Liberty’s schools is to develop students in mind and character through  a content-rich, American classical curriculum that emphasizes virtuous living, traditional learning, and civic responsibility. Atlanta Classical Academy, Liberty’s flagship school, is a two-time winner of the Salvatori Prize, a national award for excellence in teaching among K12 classical schools. The Charter School Growth Fund recently invited Liberty to join its network and is supporting Liberty’s growth.

Who should apply?

Liberty seeks accomplished professionals with a minimum of ten years of professional experience; candidates should be committed to at least ten years of service in a leadership capacity within an American classical charter school. Strong candidates may include accomplished teachers or school leaders who have succeeded in positions of increasing responsibility within a school, or other Mission-committed professionals with demonstrable success in organizational leadership like career military officers or nonprofit or corporate executives. Liberty will highly regard success within a classical school. Before assuming the Head of School role, candidates must either have a Master’s Degree  or be enrolled in a Master’s degree program.

Application requirements for Head of School and Leader Fellowship Program:

1. Cover letter describing the candidate’s interest in the role/program; 500 word maximum;
2. Statement of educational philosophy; 500 word maximum;
3. Three (3) letters of recommendation;
4. Undergraduate and graduate school transcripts;
5. If applicable, descriptions of plans to complete advanced degree to include the degree title, school, timing of the program, and outstanding cost to earn the degree;
6. Acknowledgement that the program requires the candidate to reside in the Metro Atlanta area; that much of the Fellowship would occur at Atlanta Classical and Northwest Classical (with travel to conferences, school visits, etc.), and that the ultimate location may require the Fellow to move again (reimbursable moving expenses are negotiable).

Fellowship Description:

The Leader Fellowship is a one-year program designed to prepare the future Head of School to launch an American classical charter school within the Liberty Classical Schools network. The 2025 Fellowship would start in Atlanta August 1, 2024 and end June 30, 2025. Liberty is actively petitioning for new schools in the Metro Atlanta area. Liberty plans to open three new schools over the next five years.

While training will be individually adapted according to the experience of the candidate, the Leader Fellowship will prioritize:

1. Instructional leadership in Hillsdale-affiliated, K12 American classical charter schools;
2. General organizational leadership within the Liberty Classical Schools network; and
3. Time and funding for the completion of an advanced degree in the liberal arts/sciences or educational leadership.

Over the course of a school year, the Fellow will complete a rotational program designed to optimize experience and exposure in these areas. In every phase, the Fellow will have a primary point of contact and clear learning objectives and accountability.

Instructional leadership training priorities include:

• Knowledge of the Hillsdale Program guide; resources available to Member Schools; roles and responsibilities of Hillsdale’s instructional support team; attendance at Hillsdale Summer, Leadership, and Governance conferences; special emphasis on phonics, mathematics, and writing programs;
• Practicum: establishing and maintaining discipline and school culture grounded in the Mission, excellence in teaching and learning, community and partnership, and the pursuit of school virtues: courage, courtesy, honesty, humility, perseverance, self-government, and service;
• Visits to schools in the Hillsdale and Charter Schools Growth Fund networks;
• Required reading and prescribed online coursework;
• Practicum in instructional leadership: teacher recruiting and selection, in-service training, teacher feedback, instructional coaching, interventions, and the use of data to improve instruction;
• Student information systems, enrollment, and scheduling; 
• Weekly/daily academic schedule and its impact to culture and learning; 
• Essentials of IDEA, special education, MTSS, RTI, EIP, 504, ESL programs; and
• Authorizer requirements: Georgia Comprehensive Performance Framework; Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSEs); standardized testing requirements and administration, and Georgia’s College and Career Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI).

Organizational leadership training priorities include:

• Governance, board policies and handbooks;
• Entrepreneurs Operating System (EOS): Integrator Course;
• Strategic planning and mission-centric leadership; 
• Liberty’s organizational structure, roles and responsibilities;
• School’s organizational structure, roles and responsibilities; 
• Communications seminar: from advancing the Mission as primary storyteller to managing emergency communications plans;
• Primer in advancement, development, and fundraising;
• School safety and emergency response;
• Operations management rotation;
• Systems overview, processes & procedures manual;
• Master calendar management;
• Rotation to support major school- and volunteer-led events of the school;
• School finance, budgeting, purchasing;
• Human resources: hiring and the employee lifecycle;
• Required reading and online courses.

Support for Master’s Degree or PhD:

Fellows actively enrolled in a Liberty-approved graduate or PhD program are eligible for partial tuition and books reimbursement and may allocate up to 20% of each work week for academic work. Fellows may take this benefit during the Fellowship year and/or Year 0 (the year immediately before the new school opens), though academic work may not impede the work of launching the school. Fellows are expected to reside in the Metro Atlanta area and complete the work of the fellowship in person. 

Head of School Description:

At a Liberty school, the Head of School and founding leadership team will be supported by Hillsdale College’s Office of K12 Education and Liberty Classical Schools’s central support staff which includes its CEO/Superintendent, New Schools Director, and department leaders in finance and accounting, human resources, advancement and communications, operations, data and compliance, and special education. Nonetheless, this is a start-up enterprise that will require an entrepreneurial spirit, the ability to lead employees and volunteers in a rapidly changing environment, and the energy and charisma to establish processes, programs, and culture that values excellence in teaching and learning where none yet exists.

Head of School Duties and Responsibilities:

The Head of School is the chief executive responsible for the performance of the school and all campus-level employees. The Head of School:

• Is the primary teacher, advocate, and steward of the Mission;
• Maintains a culture that upholds core organizational values: he or she leads according to the tenets of classical education, ensures excellence in teaching and learning, promotes a spirit of community and partnership, and encourages the pursuit of moral and ethical virtue;
• Ensures the school performs in accordance with the law, board policy, school handbooks, and prudence;
• Ensures the school meets academic, operational, and financial requirements required by law and the Charter Agreement;
• Ensures the school is compliant with federal requirements for students with disabilities;
• Is responsible for achieving school-level authorizer compliance requirements;
• Is responsible for leadership, management, and accountability of senior leadership team members including the lower and upper school principals, assistant principal, and other department heads; 
• Establishes a culture of academic excellence; is responsible for the selection and performance of instructional coaches and teachers; ensures systems of support promote constant improvement in teachers’ subject matter expertise and instruction;
• Is responsible for external affairs with constituents including but not limited to the public, business and civic organizations, donors and prospective donors, Hillsdale College, authorizers and other government officials and agencies, and accreditors;
• Contributes to and executes board-approved strategic plans which may include annual or capital fundraising campaigns;
• Ensures the school operates in accordance with board-approved budget;

Other Performance Expectations:

The Head of School shall:

• Lead academic leaders and teachers to create and sustain excellent student academic outcomes;
• Operate with the highest standards of integrity and moral and ethical character;
• Demonstrate enthusiasm for the school’s Mission; serve as the school’s primary storyteller; and promote American classical education as a speaker, writer, and teacher;
• Sustain a peaceful, orderly culture of learning that emphasizes intellectual and moral development and calls adults and students to seek goodness, truth, and beauty;
• Advance the school’s Mission through civic participation and involving the school appropriately in the surrounding community;
• Unify people of diverse backgrounds and constituents with competing agenda;
• Require the use of the Entrepreneurs Operating System® (EOS®) as a shared system of leadership and management.