Chief Operating Officer (COO) Position Description

Louisiana Key Academy: Louisiana’s Premier School for Children with Dyslexia 

THE OPPORTUNITY 

Louisiana Key Academy (LKA) is a growing network of public charter schools that utilizes an innovative, evidence-based model to serve students with dyslexia. Founded by two parents of dyslexic students, we are passionate about our vision of all children having the tools they need to thrive. We believe that dyslexics should be identified early and given the education necessary to reach their full potential. LKA is a champion for dyslexics as they engage in an excellent and accessible education.

LKA was founded in Baton Rouge, LA in 2013, opened a second site in Covington, LA in 2022, and opened a third site in Shreveport, LA in 2023, while also beginning to add high school grades at the flagship site in Baton Rouge. We are in the process of opening other campuses around the state in 2025 and 2026. Our campuses serve varied student populations that represent the communities where they are located, and we focus on meeting the needs of all of our students regardless of learning styles, race, and socioeconomic status. LKA plans to continue expansion across Louisiana and potentially into other states in the years ahead.

LOCATION

Our CMO central office is located in Baton Rouge, LA; our school campuses are located in Baton Rouge, Caddo, and Covington. For this role, we need someone who can be on site at one of our schools and/or in the Baton Rouge office most days, and who could commute to other sites across the state regularly.

APPLICATION AND TIMELINE

The priority deadline for this role is January 29, 2025. After this date, we will review applications and interview candidates on a rolling basis, and we may close the application at any point following the priority deadline. We encourage interested applicants to apply by the priority deadline when possible.

POSITION DETAILS

As LKA has expanded from a single-site school to multiple campuses, we have built a Charter Management Organization (CMO) central office team, largely made up of executive-level roles, who lead and support the school-based teams. The COO sits on the central office team, and they lead and set the standard for excellent operations at all levels of the organization to ensure students, faculty, staff, and families have a great experience, are safe, and that we are in compliance. This role directly manages each school site’s School Operations Officer (SOO) and oversees anything related to the support of our faculty and students that falls outside of our academic program. This is a dynamic role and specific responsibilities may shift, but the COO will be responsible for the following:

Organizational Leadership

• Act as a senior leader for the organization and collaborate with the team to help craft overall organizational strategy and goals, with specific ownership of operations (central office and schools)
• Set the vision for and lead all operational functions, including food service, facilities, IT, and school safety 
• Ensure that schools are in compliance with all local, state, and federal operational requirements and standard operating procedures 
• Establish or update standardized systems and processes across campuses and manage School Operations Officers (SOOs) at each site to ensure alignment across schools
• Lead as-needed projects and initiatives aligned with your skills and capacity 

Daily School Operations

• Directly manage and provide strategic oversight, guidance, and development to SOOs to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in daily operations, including but not limited to: check-in/check-out for students, student attendance, phone coverage, substitute teacher coordination, and master calendars
• Ensure prudent financial management of before school, after school, and summer school programs  

Technology

The SOOs at each campus oversee contracted IT support for their school. The COO will manage and support the SOOs to ensure that the IT support consistently delivers on the following:

• Forecasting of technology performance, opportunities, and needs
• Implementation and management of all technology operations, including the security of technical equipment and data, as well as troubleshooting and solving issues as they arise
• Support for teachers and students with day-to-day hardware and software issues
• Provide smooth software installation and maintenance on all staff and student computers
• Manage hardware function, maintenance, upgrading, and replacement
• Facilitate cybersecurity training for LKA leaders and faculty

Facility & Vendor Management

• Oversee facilities management and maintenance for each campus and central office 
• Support school-based facilities staff in ensuring that schools are safe, neat, clean, and fully operational at all times
• Partner with the SOOs to ensure ongoing evaluations of the physical condition of the schools’ facilities, identifying and prioritizing areas for improvement to support the schools’ educational objectives
• With the CEO and CFO, lead facilities conversations around new sites, including construction vendor selection, lease negotiation, and construction contracts
• Build and nurture vendor relationships and monitor vendor performance, promptly addressing any service issues with food, technology, nursing, maintenance, or any other contracted services

Student Culture & Behavior

• Support, guide, and oversee SOOs on issues related to behavior, discipline, suspension, and expulsion
• Partner with SOOs to ensure the consistent and fair implementation and management of the school’s discipline and behavior intervention plans

Policy & Safety Enforcement

• Proactively identify and address compliance issues and enforce operational policies with fidelity and in full compliance with local, state, and federal regulations
• Approve and monitor the implementation of emergency protocols, ensuring that all procedures are documented, regularly reviewed for accuracy, and communicated effectively to students, parents, and staff
• Ensure updated safety plans; train SOOs to ensure that plans are in place and that all staff and students are prepared in the event of an emergency
• Oversee the process for annual updates of student, parent, and faculty handbooks and ensure clear communication with parents, school leadership, and faculty

SKILLS AND MINDSETS

Belief in LKA’s Mission & Model: The COO must share LKA’s passion for giving all students the tools needed to thrive. We are, at our core, student focused. We are a lean organization with an all-hands-on-deck, do-what-is-needed approach for our students. We work incredibly hard, often long hours, in service of our shared mission and belief of what is possible. Leaders that excel at LKA can see the through-line from their work to our students, and they persevere in the face of obstacles to ensure they are meeting their commitments to the students and families we serve. 

Exceptional Leadership & Management: The COO must be a seasoned leader with experience leading operational functions and teams. They must be skilled at leading a diverse team with a high bar for quality work. The COO must have a service leadership approach toward management, demonstrating empathy, openness to feedback, team building, and a commitment to continuously improving. The COO will cultivate a culture of continuous improvement within the operations team, encouraging innovation and proactive problem-solving to enhance operations.  They will also demonstrate high levels of self-awareness and confidence in their own leadership and strengths, as well as the humility to let others lead in their areas of expertise. 

Innovative Problem Solving, Strategic Decision Making, & Results Orientation: LKA operates differently from other schools because of our unique mission, and we need leaders who are innovative, solutions oriented, and who have strong follow through. We don’t follow the status quo because that is what has typically failed our kids. Our leaders need to be highly adaptable with the ability to see opportunities for improvement and also build sustainable and standardized operations. They also need to be comfortable with the often reactive nature of working in a school - regardless of how much planning you do, there is always something new that arises. 

Nuanced Communication & Relationship Building: This position is coming into a largely established team and will need to build trust and strong relationships with direct reports, colleagues, our schools’ communities, and the board. We need someone who has enough confidence and experience to know when to listen and when and how to speak up. This role also needs to be highly skilled at clear, direct communication - both written and verbal - so that the right information gets to the right people on an appropriate timeline.

Organization & Systems Thinking: This role requires a high degree of organizational effectiveness. We need someone who excels at building processes and training and supporting others to utilize them. The person in this role will have strong attention to detail, exceptional project management, and consistent follow-through. 

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• At least 7-10 years of aligned professional experience 
• Leadership and management of a small team (at least 2 mid- to senior-level team members)

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Experience working in and/or with public charter schools and/or an understanding of school operations
• Experience in an administrative leadership position (e.g., in a hospital, plant, nonprofit operations oversight, etc.)
• Local context and/or ties to Baton Rouge and/or other parts of Louisiana 

WHAT MAKES LKA UNIQUE

LKA is a special and unique school specifically designed for dyslexic students to thrive. It’s important to us that all of our leaders understand and are committed to our unique model that has led to our success. A few specific things that we want to highlight about LKA include:

• LKA was founded by parents of dyslexic students and is built on a highly researched and medically proven model that works specifically for dyslexic students. Our staffing structure, small group instruction, and curriculum choices are core to our program. The COO needs to build an understanding of the model in order to make decisions and recommendations grounded in what’s best for our students and the organization's effectiveness. 
• We have a highly engaged and deeply committed board of directors, many of whom were involved in the founding of the school. The Board Chair specifically will be deeply involved, particularly at the beginning. We share this in full transparency as this model may be different from other board relationships that education leaders have experienced. 
• We run public charter schools, meaning we serve all students who qualify for our schools, something we are deeply proud of and is part of our mission. While we aim to learn from other schools, what works at private schools or other charter schools may not apply to our specialized program and population of students. We work hard to both be driven by evidence and also tailored to our students' needs. 
• We are driven by our students' needs first and foremost. We’ll never spend money in ways that aren’t aligned to our mission. We don’t have fancy offices but we’ll find ways to fund programs that will benefit our students. We aim to keep a lean leadership structure to have as many resources for our students as possible. We need a COO that understands this aspect of our organizational priorities and is committed to being all in for what we are working to achieve. 

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

LKA offers a robust benefits and compensation package that includes 100% employer paid medical, dental, and vision benefits for employees and a retirement plan. The starting salary range for this position is between $100,000-$130,000 and will be determined based on prior experience.

LKA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and upholds the principles of equal employment opportunity for all employees and job applicants. LKA makes employment-based decisions, including, but not limited to, recruitment, hiring, assignment, conditions of employment, compensation, benefits, training, promotion, transfer and termination, without regard to race, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, color, age, national or ethnic origin, pregnancy, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, military status, disability, religion, genetic trait or information, or any other legally protected status or characteristic under federal, state, and local law.