26-27 Founding Director of Campus Operations – Fifth Ward Elementary
YES Prep Public Schools
Houston, TX 77033
From $71,500 a year
Description
Description
Job Description
POSITION: 26-27 Founding Director of Campus Operations – Fifth Ward Elementary
REPORTS TO: Operations Program Manager
POSITION TYPE: 12-month
START DATE: July 2026
COMPENSATION: Starting at $71,500 annually
At YES Prep, work for a mission that impacts the life trajectory of students and their families. YES Prep creates pathways to extraordinary opportunity through best-in-class development, competitive compensation and benefits, and recognition for your impact. Grow as an authentic leader and be part of a high-performing, team-oriented culture.
Some quick stats about us:
- 21,650 Students
- 2,600 Team Members
- 16 Secondary Campuses
- 12 Elementary Campuses
- 91% Students Who Qualify for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch
- 96% Hispanic & African-American Students
- 99% Students Who Are Accepted to a 4-Year University
- 85% First-Generation College Students
- Ranked in the Top 100 High Schools in the Nation, U.S. News & World Report
We serve the students of Houston, Texas, the 4th largest city across the United States. There are over 20 public-school districts and other great public charter school options within Houston’s city limits serving our increasing population.
THE OPPORTUNITY
YES Prep needs a dynamic Founding Director of Campus Operations with a robust set of experiences, to make our mission a reality. As a YES Prep employee, you will achieve jaw-dropping results, create pathways to opportunity for our students, and build transformative relationships.
To put it simply, you be the operational leader of the campus who is responsible for ensuring daily safety, predictability, readiness, and exceptional experiences for students, staff, and families. The DCO develops campus operations staff, improves systems, anticipates campus needs, and serves as a key member of the leadership team.
THE ROLE
When you join the YES Prep team, some of the exciting work and responsibilities will include:
Campus Operations Leadership & Daily Systems Execution
- Leading daily execution of all operational systems (arrival, dismissal, lunch, recess, transitions, emergency routines);
- Conducting daily readiness sweeps to ensure the campus environment is organized, clean, and welcoming;
- Implementing preventative solutions and anticipating operational issues before they occur;
- Ensuring operational systems support instructional time and staff experience.
Attendance, ADA Accuracy & Enrollment Support
- Maintaining ADA accuracy at 98–99%+ through daily monitoring and corrections;
- Leading absence-calling routines and ensure documentation follows district expectations;
- Partnering with registrar and OC to reduce chronic absenteeism;
- Supporting enrollment, onboarding, residency verification, and documentation compliance.
Safety, Security, & Emergency Management
- Maintaining 100% compliance in safety drills, custody documentation, and emergency protocols;
- Training staff on escort procedures, elopement response, building security, and emergency expectations;
- Responding to small-scale incidents with calm, professional leadership;
- Proactively identifying and correcting safety risks.
Facilities, Grounds, & Environmental Readiness
- Conducting ongoing walkthroughs using district readiness rubrics;
- Partnering with custodial, Facilities, and vendors to resolve issues quickly;
- Ensure testing, BOY, and EOY readiness for all instructional and operational spaces.
People Leadership: OC, Registrar, Receptionist
- Conducting weekly coaching conversations with the OC, Registrar, Nurse and Receptionist focused on execution quality, accuracy, communication, and systems readiness;
- Delegating effectively and building ownership within the team;
- Addressing misalignment quickly and professionally;
- Maintaining a calm, positive, professional tone across front office culture.
Family Experience & Communication Systems
- Ensuring the front office and all family-facing systems are organized, welcoming, and responsive;
- Maintaining accurate, bilingual communication aligned to district expectations;
- Resolving concerns with professionalism and maturity;
- Supporting all family-facing events with high-quality logistics.
Enrollment and Recruitment Strategy
- Owning the enrollment and recruitment strategy for the campus, including goal setting, monitoring progress, identifying risks, and determining strategic adjustments;
- Collaborating with the OC to co-design effective outreach and onboarding plans and provides ongoing coaching and clarity to ensure strong execution;
- Holding ultimate responsibility for meeting enrollment targets and system fidelity, while managing the OC who leads execution of all enrollment and recruitment actions;
- Overseeing enrollment execution by coaching the OC and monitoring registrar documentation accuracy.
Cross-Functional Coordination
- Partnering with Child Nutrition, IT/FST, Facilities, Transportation, SIS, S&S, and Assessment teams;
- Submitting and tracking tickets, work orders, and escalations with accuracy and urgency;
- Representing campus needs clearly and advocate effectively.
Testing, Technology, and Academic Operations
- Leading all operational components of testing (STAAR, MAP, TELPAS);
- Overseeing 3-wave device audits, charger accountability, and testing readiness;
- Supporting master schedule implementation and preventing operational interruptions to instruction;
- Ensuring testing logistics and operational plans are fully implemented, so instructional leaders maintain instructional integrity.
Operational Equity & Compliance
- Ensuring fairness across grade levels in lunch, transitions, dismissal, recess, and instructional access;
- Maintaining compliance for attendance, enrollment, staffing coverage, and facility readiness;
- Keeping campus audit-ready at all times.
Professionalism, Communication & Leadership Maturity
- Communicating with clarity, neutrality, and professionalism;
- Demonstrating calm leadership during high-volume and high-pressure situations;
- Modeling predictable follow-through, strong organization, and executive presence;
- Leading through influence and foster a culture of operational excellence;
- Modeling YES Prep’s Culture of predictable Operational Excellence through calm communication, accurate execution, and timely follow-through.
- Additional duties as assigned.
THE PERSON
We seek staff with a multitude of backgrounds, talents, interests, and ideas. Certain traits consistently shine through our most successful employees: passion for the mission, drive for results, care for students, and resilience. Other traits needed and desired for this role are:
THE MUST HAVES
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited four-year educational institution
- 3-5 years of business, operational and/or managerial experience
- Excellent communication, public relations, and interpersonal skills
- Excellence organizational skills
- Ability to evaluate problems and implement effective and creative solutions
- Initiator, problem-solver, and creative thinker
- Ability to work outside of normal hours and on weekends
- Belief in and commitment to the mission and core value of YES Prep Public Schools
- Openness to giving and receiving frequent feedback
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks and initiatives at once
- Ability to maintain emotional control under stress
- Ability to work urgently in a fast-paced and results-oriented environment
- Creates and maintains positive working relationships on a team and/or in a highly collaborative environment
- A dedication to learn, grow, and develop as a professional
THE MUST HAVE BELIEFS
- Belief in and commitment to the mission and core value of YES Prep Public Schools
- Desire to disrupt systemic status quos in education
- Willingness to go above and beyond to disrupt said status quos
- Passion to develop resiliency through a relentless pursuit of jaw-dropping results
- Conviction that high expectations + high accountability = high performance and high growth
THE NICE TO HAVES
- Team management experience
- Vendor management experience preferred
- Bilingual Spanish
THE PERKS
- Compensation – This position is an exempt, salaried position; offers commensurate with experience.
- Health and Supplemental Insurance – A $0 monthly medical option that includes $600 towards a Health Savings Account, in addition to a variety of supplemental benefits including Dental, Vision, Disability, Life, etc. Employees must work 20+ hours a week to be eligible for a full spectrum of benefits, and 10 hours a week minimum for medical benefits.
- Retirement Plans – Participation in Teacher Retirement System of Texas and a 457b Retirement Plan.
- Paid Time Off – Employees working 20+ hours a week receive 15 days of Paid Time Off in addition to the system closures during the Academic Calendar.
- Paid Leave Programming – In the event you need to be out due to medical needs (including maternity and paternity leave), YES Prep offers paid leave, paid out at 100%, based on eligibility and tenure.
- Professional Development - YES Prep values longevity and performance over time. We invest in developing leaders through high-quality programs, effective coaching, and ongoing professional development.
- Award Winning Culture – The strong cultures of our campuses and Home Office are just one of many reasons we were named Houston’s Best Place To Work in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2025. We won the 2012 Broad Prize for Excellence in Urban Education and were a 2016 finalist as well.
YES Prep is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, or parenthood.