Interim English Department Chair

Title: Interim English Department Chair - Interim Role through 2026-2027 School Year

Department: Administration

Assignment: 10 month Certified

FLSA Status: Exempt

Reports To: Assistant Principal

|Supervises: Department staff, classrooms, students

Location: Deerfield High School

Salary: Placement on the Teacher Salary Scale plus an additional 17.5% prorated based on start

Summary:

This is an interim English Department Chair role that runs through 2026-2027 School Year.

The English Department Chair provides support for the building Principal and Assistant Principals and instructional leadership to staff including curriculum planning, review and implementation; professional development; school management; student activities and services; community relations and personnel management. The Department Chair is responsible for the safety and welfare of both students and staff. The Department Chair coordinates with the Principal, Assistant Principals and other administrators to assist in defining and enforcing school policies and guidelines for students, staff, and faculty.

Qualifications:

• BA or MA in teaching required.
• Illinois Professional Educator License (PEL) required.
• Administrative endorsement (Type 75, Teacher Leader or Principal endorsement) required.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of teaching experience.
• License registered with Lake County ROE.
• ISBE Teacher Evaluator certification (required within 2 weeks of start)

Essential Functions:

The criteria indicated below are intended to describe various types of work that may be performed. The exclusion of specific responsibilities does not prohibit them if the work is similar, related, or a logical task of the position.

Mission, Vision and Beliefs

The department chair works with the staff and community to build a shared mission, and vision of high expectations that ensures all students are on the path to college and career readiness, and holds staff accountable for results.

• Coordinates efforts to create and implement a vision for the school and defines desired results and goals that align with the overall school vision and lead to student improvement for all learners.
• Ensures that the school's identity, vision, mission, drive school decisions.
• Conducts difficult but crucial conversations with individuals, teams, and staff based on student performance data in a timely manner for the purpose of enhancing student learning and results.

Leading and Managing Systems Change

The Department Chair creates and implements systems to ensure a safe, orderly, and productive environment for student and adult learning toward the achievement of school and district improvement priorities.

• Develops, implements, and monitors the outcomes of the school improvement plan and school wide student achievement data results to improve student achievement.
• Creates a safe, clean and orderly learning environment.
• Collaborates with staff to allocate personnel, time, material, and adult learning resources appropriately to achieve the school improvement plan targets.
• Utilizes current technologies to support leadership and management functions.

Improving Teaching and Learning

The Department Chair works with the school staff and community to develop a research-based framework for effective teaching and learning that is refined continuously to improve instruction for all students.

• Works with and engages staff in the development and continuous refinement of a shared vision for effective teaching and learning by implementing a standards based curriculum, relevant to student needs and interests, research-based effective practice, academic rigor, and high expectations for student performance in every classroom.
• Creates a continuous improvement cycle that uses multiple forms of data and student work samples to support individual, team, and school-wide improvement goals, identify and address areas of improvement and celebrate successes.
• Implements student interventions that differentiate instruction based on student needs.
• Selects and retains teachers with the expertise to deliver instruction that maximizes student learning.
• Evaluates the effectiveness of teaching and holds individual teachers accountable for meeting their goals by conducting formal and informal observations in order to provide timely, written feedback on instruction, preparation and classroom environment as part of the district teacher appraisal system.
• Ensures the training, development, and support for high-performing instructional teacher teams to support adult learning and development to advance student learning and performance.
• Supports the system for providing data-driven professional development and sharing of effective practice by thoughtfully providing and protecting staff time intentionally allocated for this purpose.
• Advances instructional technology within the learning environment.

Building and Maintaining Collaborative Relationships

The Department Chair creates a collaborative school community where the school staff, families, and community interact regularly and share ownership for the success of the school.

• Creates, develops and sustains relationships that result in active student engagement in the learning process.
• Utilizes meaningful feedback of students, staff, families, and community in the evaluation of school programs and policies.
• Proactively engages families and communities in supporting their child's learning and the schools learning goals.
• Proactively engages counterparts in sender elementary districts in providing instructional leadership
• Demonstrates an understanding of the change process and uses leadership and facilitation skills to manage it effectively.

Leading with Integrity and Professionalism

The Department Chair works with the school staff and community to create a positive context for learning by ensuring equity, fulfilling professional responsibilities with honesty and integrity, and serving as a model for the professional behavior of others.

• Treats all people fairly, equitably, and with dignity and respect. Protects the rights and confidentiality of students and staff.
• Demonstrates personal and professional standards and conduct that enhance the image of the school and the educational profession.
• Creates and supports a climate that values, accepts and understands diversity in culture and point of view.

Creating and Sustaining a Culture of High Expectations

The Department Chair works with staff and community to build a culture of high expectations and aspirations for every student by setting clear staff and student expectations for positive learning behaviors and by focusing on students' social-emotional learning.

• Builds a culture of high aspirations and achievement for every student.
• Requires staff and students to demonstrate consistent values and positive behaviors aligned to the school's vision and mission.
• Leads a school culture and environment that successfully develops the full range of students' learning capacities-academic, creative, social-emotional, behavioral and physical.

Language Skills

Communicates clearly both in oral and written format with all constituents of the District 113 community. Effectively present information and respond to questions from constituency groups. Apply knowledge of current research and theory in a specific field. Establish and maintain effective and collaborative working relationships with students, staff and the school community. Perform duties with awareness of all district requirements and Board of Education policies.

Mathematical and Technical Skills

Calculate figures, estimates, proportions, percentages, and cost projections. Apply concepts of basic algebra and geometry. Strong technology skills, including standard Microsoft Office suite / Google Workspace, financial management, and data analysis. .

Reasoning Ability

Define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Interpret an extensive variety of verbal and written instructions and deal with multiple abstract and concrete variables.

Contacts Outside Your Own Department:

Build positive relationships with constituents of the District 113 community that includes, teachers, school staff, administrative team, Board of Education, guardians, students, and private providers.

Physical and Mental Demands:

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, bend, write, type, speak, listen, and taste or smell.
• The employee is regularly required to communicate with staff and others.
• The employee is frequently required to use hands and/or fingers, handle, feel or operate objects, tools or controls.
• The employee may occasionally be required to climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, twist, reach or crawl. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision,depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
• Specific psychological demands of this job include the ability to remain calm under stress levels associated with job demands, along with constant contact with students, colleagues and the public.

Working Conditions:

• In the work environment, this role is regularly exposed to office environmental conditions.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate with regular exposure to loud classrooms, hallways, cafeterias or sports venues.
• The employee is regularly required to meet deadlines with severe time constraints and interact with the public and staff in addition to meeting multiple demands from several people.
• The employee is frequently required to work irregular or extended work hours, which may include evenings or weekends.

Safety:

As a part of the District workforce, this role is responsible for being aware of, modeling and contributing to the maintenance and implementation of all District safety policies and procedures. The role is directly responsible for the safety, well-being, and work output of students.

Required to:

• Use good safety awareness and judgment
• Follow policies
• Report potentially unsafe conditions
• Follow manufacturer safety instructions when using equipment
• Follow agency ergonomic policies and procedures

The information contained in this job description is for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) and is not an exhaustive list of the duties performed for this position. Additional duties are performed by the individuals currently holding this position and additional duties may be assigned. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.