Director of Admissions and Retention

Newton Montessori School
Newton, Massachusetts

Newton Montessori School, founded in 2006, is seeking a new Director of Admissions and Retention as it grows from a start up to an established presence within New England’s independent school environment. As part of an active and collaborative senior management team, the Director of Admissions and Retention reports directly to the Head of School and is charged with the primary oversight of recruitment, admissions, retention and outplacement, as well as the community building and special projects involved therein.

The Director of Admissions and Retention reports to the Head of School and serves, along with the Director of Development/Business Manager and Director of Communications, as a member of the four-person senior management team. S/he will join a school with an excellent Senior Management Team, a top-notch faculty and staff, and an engaged parent community, as well as four years of sustained enrollment growth even during this depressed economy. Together with this team and alongside the Board of Directors, the Director of Admissions and Retention will help imagine and deliver a bold future for a growing school, while creating systems for its current size.

Specifically, the Director of Admissions and Retention is responsible for accomplishing, on an ongoing basis, the following goals:

Recruitment:

• Develops an overarching recruitment strategy that spans the entirety of the admissions process, from materials to outplacement, and implements it in tandem with growth goals set by the Head of School and the Board of Directors.

• Collaborates with Director of Communications to build and deliver a social media strategy, encompassing and improving the school’s current website, and adding in tools such as Facebook and other readily accessible internet options. Utilizes statistics generated by these tools to analyze usage and return on investment, and improve strategies to increase visibility and applications.

• Supports the development and implementation of a vibrant Summer Program which lends itself to ongoing recruitment and on boarding of new students.

Admissions:

• In collaboration with senior management team, oversees the admissions process from inquiry through enrollment and from retention to outplacement. Introduces prospective parents and students to the school while also maintaining current parent interest and engagement, whether through tours, Open Houses, personal interviews, special interest events, and ongoing communications.

• Makes final decisions regarding acceptances or rejections of candidates, taking into consideration the impact of each decision on the school community at large. Optimizes enrollment, sharing responsibility in the school’s growth goals, such that each program level is right-sized to build the next.

• Provides information for the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors to consider as they deliberate the awarding of Financial Aid and Scholarship funds.

Retention:

• In collaboration with the Senior Management Team and the Leadership Committee, ensures an excellent family experience from the initial inquiry through graduation. Develops and maintains an organized annual calendar of touch points with the various communities of parents, students, alumni, teachers, and staff that allows all to feel included and informed, connected and invested in the school’s brand. Provides, in a timely manner, materials that will be disseminated in the weekly newsletter, printed materials, website, emails, and special announcements.

• Develops a collective sense of community investment in the school, in the classrooms, and in the programs that builds the internal cohesiveness and shared dedication to institutionalizing the Montessori experience for generations to come. Continues to swell the numbers of families who understand and expect to finish the three-year Montessori cycle, while constantly looking forward to what the children will experience as they grow within the school.

Outplacement:

• Conducts exits interviews with families not returning and integrates knowledge gained into ongoing recruitment and retention efforts.

• Coordinates evaluation and placement of current students applying out to other institutions. Develops a strong reputation among the schools into which our students transition, creating an environment from which next-step schools actively seek students.

Reputation Management:

• Actively seeks out external opportunities to act as the schools’ brand ambassador at and while hosting various events and meetings related to admissions. Strives to build the school’s reputation for thought leadership within the local, independent, and Montessori school communities. Promotes good relationships with other schools and related groups.

• Works to generate a reputation within the larger independent and Montessori school communities, as well as within the local, neighboring communities, all in an effort to develop a more diverse and deeper pool of potential applicants, teachers, and staff.

• Works in partnership with the Director of Communications to insure that external messaging (advertising, website, press releases, and community partnerships and events) blend well with the overall school image, and provide a consistent and streamlined face to the community of parents, teachers, and external stakeholders.

Stakeholder Support:

• Working in partnership with the Curriculum Coordinator and classroom teachers, reviews incoming classes each year, at each level, and makes decisions about student placement, class schedules (including specials), and usage of facilities.

• Working in collaboration with the Director of Communications, creates the annual school calendar, including open houses, phase-in days, orientation, parent meetings, and special events such as Special Friends’ Day, Graduation, and others.

• Supports newly enrolled parents and parents starting next program levels by ensuring that they have a full understanding of school policies and curriculum, and helps find solutions for individual families with unique situations. Collaborates with the Parent Association to eagerly build an on boarding process, assign parent partners, and create a community accessible to new families even before the first day of school.

• Models customer service practices and embraces the school’s mission and core values of respecting yourself, respecting others, and respecting the environments.

Specials Projects:

• Assists the Head of School, where necessary, in any area so deemed appropriate, including, from time to time, staff counseling and management, budgeting and planning, strategic growth plans, policy and procedure development, and other such tasks.

• Willingly contributes to the senior management team, collaborating on any and all special projects as needed, and as priorities shift throughout the year.

• Prepares and presents admissions, recruitment, and retention statistics to the Board of Directors monthly, and the Head of School as needed. Answers questions about strategy and results of invested resources, and engages in conversation with Board Members and senior management colleague about adjustments and mid-course changes where strategies may not be yield appropriate or expected return.

Qualifications of the Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will bring solid knowledge of how admissions and recruitment affect all functions of a school environment. S/he will have a keen understanding of marketing and communications, and brand management, and how each affects recruitment, admissions, and retention. S/he will have excellent writing/editing skills and experience in leading teams from start to finish, and diplomatically managing dedicated groups of staff and volunteers to meet deadlines. The successful Director will demonstrate an ongoing commitment to expanding his/her knowledge base in both substantive areas (i.e., Montessori programs) and functional areas (i.e., new technology, social media). Finally, the successful candidate will possess a superior work ethic, humility, and dedication toward fulfilling Newton Montessori School’s core mission and values.

While no one person will embody all of the qualities enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:

• A minimum of five years of proven, successful experience in admissions in a school setting, or at least ten years of success in an organization of comparable complexity and challenge from which skills might easily translate. Montessori experience preferred.

• Outstanding communication skills, both written and oral, and the ability to listen as well as one speaks. Confident in representing the school in a variety of arenas, from a local town fair to a committee of other heads of admissions. The flexibility to adjust approach or language to a broad swath of audience members.

• Impeccable discretion in handling exceptionally confidential information about families and their children.

• The ability to create organization out of the chaos the can consume recruitment and admissions, and to create systems from which reports can be easily drawn and assessed. An attention to details, without losing view of the larger picture.

• Experience in utilizing social media and other new technologies to promote an organization, a mission, and a brand.

• A love for children that translates into an appreciation of the child and their family. The ability to assess how a student and family might contribute and benefit to the community at large while also valuing each family’s own diverse gifts.

• Entrepreneurial instincts to develop and create systems as needed, paired with the flexibility to work temporarily in situations where none exist. A high degree of organization, ability to solve problems, set priorities, multitask, manage time, leverage limited resources and meet critical deadlines.

• A sense of humor. The patience to work in a lean but growing nonprofit environment, and the expectation there are times when all hands must be on deck. Strong, independent work ethic and comfort working with minimal supervision, and the capacity and willingness to roll up one’s sleeves to accomplish the task at hand.

• The ability to incorporate work outside of traditional business hours, at admissions fairs, Open Houses, tours, performances, community building activities, and other admissions and school events.

• Bachelor’s degree required.

To Apply:

More information about Newton Montessori School may be found at http://www.NewtonMontessori.org. 

Due to the pace of this search, candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Applications including a cover letter describing your interest and qualifications, your resume (in Word format), salary history and where you learned of the position should be sent to:
NMS-DAR@NonprofitProfessionals.com. In order to expedite the internal sorting and reviewing
process, please type your name (Last, First) as the only contents in the subject line of your e-mail.

Newton Montessori School is an equal opportunity employer.