The posting
ORGANIZATION
Peak to Peak Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school in Lafayette, Colorado, with a mission to “provide broad access to an exemplary K-12 liberal arts, college preparatory education that challenges students to achieve their academic potential.” Founded by a group of parents and community members, Peak to Peak opened its doors in 2000 and has grown into a single, unified K-12 campus serving approximately 1,450 students, with an annual budget of roughly $28 million. The school is authorized by the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD), governed by an independent Board of Directors, and admits students by lottery.
Over more than 25 years, Peak to Peak has become an established exemplar of academic excellence that other schools look to as a model. Its elementary, middle, and high school programs are designed as one coherent, progressively challenging curriculum, culminating in a high school where 97% of students participate in Advanced Placement coursework. Peak to Peak has long been consistently recognized among the top public schools in Colorado and the nation, holds top state accreditation, and maintains a five-year average graduation rate of 100%. From 2016 to 2026, 99% of graduates were accepted to at least one college of their choice, and 95% enroll in four-year colleges. The school is equally committed to the whole child, offering more than 75 activities, clubs, and teams, signature experiential programs such as Peak Week, and striving to provide “an environment in which each student is known, respected, and valued as an individual of great potential and promise.”
Peak to Peak’s success rests on its people. The school maintains a 90% five-year average teacher retention rate and a culture built on trustworthiness, diligence, open communication, fairness, equity, and justice. As its 2023-2026 Strategic Plan, organized around the goals to Inspire Learning, Create Opportunities, and Cultivate a Responsive School Culture, comes to a close and an ambitious campus expansion moves forward, Peak to Peak is focused on preserving what makes it exceptional while charting its course for the next 25 years.including defining what a college preparatory, liberal arts education looks like amid a changing postsecondary landscape.
To learn more about Peak to Peak Charter School, please visit www.peaktopeak.org.
OPPORTUNITY
Peak to Peak Charter School seeks an Executive Director of Education (EDE) to serve as the primary steward of its K-12 academic vision. Peak to Peak is led by two co-executive directors who report to the Board of Directors as equal partners: the EDE, who leads the school’s educational program, and the Executive Director of Operations (EDO), who leads operations which includes finance, facilities, human resources, transportation and fundraising. Together, they serve as the bridge between the Board and the school. The EDE will serve as a non-voting member of the Board of Directors and hold clear accountability for unifying the elementary, middle, and high school programs and ensuring the fulfillment of the mission throughout the K-12 educational experience. The EDE will directly supervise the Elementary, Middle School, and High School Principals and several program directors.
Educational leadership comes first in this role. The EDE must understand what makes Peak to Peak successful academically, clearly articulate and strategically galvanize the community around an academic vision, protect the rigor and coherence of its K-12 program, and build on those strengths to identify new opportunities.
Ideally, the EDE will bring experience leading a school or serving in a significant school-based leadership role, a strong understanding of the charter school environment (Colorado charter experience is highly valued), and the strategic and operational acumen to partner with the EDO on major initiatives such as the campus expansion and to lead the development of the next strategic plan.
Just as important is how the EDE leads. Peak to Peak thrives under a collaborative, “power with” leadership style. The ideal leader is humble, transparent, and emotionally intelligent; takes the time to truly learn the school’s culture, people, and history before seeking to change it; engages all
stakeholders early; and then has the courage to make clear, timely decisions and follows through. Following a period of leadership transition, the EDE will clarify decision-making roles and accountability with the EDO, the Board, and the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), build a strong and equal co-leadership partnership, build alignment and trust, and inspire a talented, veteran staff to embrace thoughtful change without losing the traditions that have made the school successful.
This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced, mission-driven charter school educational leader who loves what Peak to Peak already does well and is ready to unite its community around a shared vision for the future. Working alongside a strong operations partner, the new EDE will strengthen one of Colorado’s most respected public schools, ensuring that every student continues to be challenged, known, and prepared for success in college and beyond.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Key Responsibilities of the Executive Director of Education include:
- Academic Vision and K-12 Alignment: Serving as the primary steward of Peak to Peak’s K-12 liberal arts, college preparatory vision, including ensuring graduation competencies align with the demands of higher education so students are prepared to excel after graduation; guiding and integrating curricular and instructional programs to maximize student achievement; overseeing K-12 standards, curriculum, and assessments along with vertical and horizontal teaming across levels; ensuring coherent K-12 systems for special education, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), English language development for multilingual learners, academic intervention, Gifted and Talented, and differentiation that serve every learner, from students who need additional support to accelerated learners; setting thoughtful, consistent approaches to artificial intelligence and technology in teaching and learning; and, in collaboration with principals, using Peak to Peak’s own data and current research-based practice to monitor student progress and drive continuous improvement.
- Strategic Leadership: Leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of the next strategic plan in partnership with the EDO, the Board, the ELT, and the school community; assigning clear ownership and measurable goals to each strategy and reporting progress to the Board; shaping the educational vision for guiding major school-wide initiatives such as the campus expansion; and fostering a climate of innovation, equity and excellence that keeps Peak to Peak an exemplar while honoring its core identity.
- Team Leadership and Organizational Health: Co-leading, with the EDO, a cohesive, high-performing Executive Leadership Team with clear, high expectations for all staff; establishing clear decision rights, accountability structures, and organized, responsive communication practices; coaching and developing principals and school leaders, and providing back-up leadership when a principal is out; recruiting, developing, evaluating, and retaining exceptional leaders and educators; elevating professional development and advocating, in partnership with the EDO and Board, for competitive compensation, sustainable workloads, and staff well-being; supporting principals as instructional leaders and in resolving issues among staff, students, and families; and overseeing, in conjunction with the EDO, the financial health of the school, budget planning aligned with strategic priorities, and the equitable distribution of shared K-12 resources.
- Board Partnership, Governance, and Compliance: Serving, together with the EDO, as the Board of Directors’ primary link to the school and as a non-voting Board member; providing timely, accurate, and transparent information and ensuring that the perspectives of school leaders and staff inform Board deliberations; reporting on academic outcomes and using academic data to celebrate the school’s successes and to focus work and resources where growth is needed; ensuring Board initiatives are implemented; reviewing policies and procedures with the Board; and overseeing compliance and reporting obligations to BVSD, the Colorado Department of Education, and the charter contract.
- Committee Leadership: Leading the school’s Accountability Committee and Equity Committees, including both the staff and parent/guardian Equity Committees; participating, in partnership with principals, on the Elementary and Secondary Curriculum, Hiring and Organizational Development Committee; and participating, in partnership with the EDO, on the Finance and Budget Committee.
- Community Engagement and Representation: Being a visible, accessible presence for students, staff, and families across all three levels; fostering open communication and collaboration across the school community; engaging parents and volunteers strategically; representing Peak to Peak to the charter school and education community, higher education, and community partners; and partnering with the EDO on fundraising and community engagement. The Executive Director will also strengthen Peak to Peak’s partnership with Boulder Valley School District and lead the school’s preparation for the next charter contract negotiation.
PRIORITIES
A successful first year in this role for the new Executive Director of Education will include:
- Build trusting relationships with the Board, the Executive Leadership Team, faculty, staff, students, and families through a structured listening tour and the collection of stakeholder data, developing a deep understanding of the school’s culture, strengths, people, and history across all of K-12 before introducing new initiatives.
- Unify the elementary, middle, and high school levels and the ELT around a shared K-12 academic vision and priorities; clarify and communicate decision-making authority and accountability between the EDE and EDO and across the Board and ELT; and relieve principals of the added load they have carried during the leadership transition.
- Lead an inclusive process to develop the next plan, with clear owners and measurable goals for each strategy, grounded in a forward-looking vision for college preparatory, liberal arts education that addresses the changing postsecondary landscape, career readiness, and artificial intelligence.
- Strengthen support for every learner by aligning special education, English language development support from Multilingual learners, MTSS, Gifted and Talented and academic intervention practices K-12, expanding differentiation for accelerated learners.
- Partner with the EDO on the campus expansion and the school’s long-term financial health, ensuring that facilities, budget, and resource decisions keep academic excellence at the center and that staff compensation, retention, and work-life balance remain a priority.
Requirements
JOB QUALIFICATIONS
In order to fulfill these responsibilities, the ideal Executive Director of Education candidate will be:
- A master’s degree in education is strongly preferred.
- A principal or administrator license is strongly preferred.
- Charter school experience, especially Colorado charter school experience, is strongly preferred.
- An accomplished educational leader with 10+ years of steadily advancing K-12 experience, including K-12 classroom teaching and leading a school or serving in a significant school-based leadership role such as principal, ideally across more than one grade level (elementary, middle, and/or high school) strongly preferred.
- A record of sustaining high academic achievement.
- A visionary instructional leader with deep knowledge of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and current research across the K-12 continuum, who values the school’s existing strengths and uses them to pursue new opportunities.
- Knowledge of special education, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE), MTSS, Gifted and Talented and differentiation for diverse learners is essential.
- A data-driven leader who uses quantitative and qualitative data to identify needs, set priorities, and translate findings into instructional action, and who coaches others to do the same.
- A collaborative, humble leader with a proven record of hiring, coaching, evaluating, and retaining strong principals and teachers who leads with integrity, transparency, and emotional intelligence and remains a lifelong learner.
- A clear, direct communicator who sets clear expectations, gives and receives candid feedback, runs effective meetings, acts proactively rather than reactively, and reliably follows through on commitments.
- An experienced change leader who can honor an established school’s traditions while thoughtfully moving a staff toward continuous improvement, ideally with experience in strategic plan development, implementation, and evaluation.
- Operationally and financially astute, with experience in ensuring alignment of staffing and financial resources with strategic priorities, knowledge of Federal and State school law and accountability requirements, and proven effectiveness supporting and communicating with a board of directors.
- Equity literate, culturally competent and a self-reflective leader who understands the effects of race, class, ethnicity, income, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, and other issues of difference in society and is able to lead direct conversations about them.
- A builder of authentic relationships with families, faculty, BVSD, community partners, and other supporters, able to engage with a variety of individuals and speak in a clear and compelling manner about the school’s goals and priorities.
Benefits
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
This position offers a competitive salary range of $133,182 - $198,729, commensurate with education and experience, and robust benefits including medical (Peak to Peak pays 90-100% of the employee premium), fully paid dental, life, and short- and long-term disability insurance, Colorado PERA retirement with additional 401(k), 403(b), and 457 options, voluntary vision, flexible spending accounts, paid leave, priority enrollment for staff children, and ongoing professional development. More details can be provided upon request.
TO APPLY
Please submit a resume online at https://apply.workable.com/j/91FE3DD104.
Peak to Peak Charter School is an equal opportunity employer and an organization that values diversity. Recruiting staff to create an inclusive organization is a priority, and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds. Candidates are evaluated solely on their qualifications to perform the work required.
