Be About It

Don’t talk about it. Be about it.

When I think about what drew me to KIPP 14 years ago and what keeps me excited about the work every day, it’s working with people who exemplify this saying. From teachers to principals to central office leaders, everyone knows the urgency of our mission. The challenges of poverty, racism, school funding, generational lack of investment in neighborhoods, and on and on and on, are real. They impact our kids and families and the work schools do…deeply and profoundly. At KIPP Philadelphia, we don’t ignore them or pretend they don’t exist. Just the opposite- we’re drawn to this work because we see great schools as one lever for disrupting those patterns of inequity and the artificial ceiling on what is possible for Black children in North and West Philadelphia.

But we can’t just talk about it. We need to be about it.

We approach how we build and run schools with an understanding that we must tackle these challenges. 

• It’s why we work hard to find great teachers and leaders who look like our students because we know that matters. I'm proud of the fact that both regionally and at my school (KIPP North Philadelphia), the number of staff members of color is about 50% and we’re committed to continuing to raise it. 
• It’s why we make staffing decisions like KIPP North Philadelphia having a social worker on staff in our founding year even though we only have 200 students right now. We must be ready to support our kids and families who have needs.
• It’s why we work so hard to build strong partnerships with our students’ families through home visits, robust family/teacher conferences, and families having the cell phone numbers of every staff member. 
• It’s why we located KIPP North Philadelphia in a neighborhood that is particularly underserved (the zip code we’re located in has the 3rd highest poverty rate in the city) and especially in need of high quality elementary school options. Because we not only wanted our school to be located in a community that most needs a great school, but to educated students from that neighborhood, we give preference in our lottery to students who live in the area around the school. We worked hard to recruit students by going door to door and establishing partnerships with local daycare centers. As a result, nearly 100% of our kindergarten students are from the surrounding neighborhood. 
• It’s why we pay so much care to how we hire teachers and staff members for our schools because nothing magical happens for kids without great teachers in front of them. 

This picture is from our regional leadership retreat this week and includes the principals of our schools and the senior leaders in our central office. It’s a group full of diverse, talented, and experienced educators – in fact all our principals worked as teachers in one of our schools before moving into a leadership role. And it’s a group that isn’t just talented but one where everyone shares a deep and personal connection to this work – to Philadelphia, to the power of education to transform lives, and the impact of great schools. Over two days, we dug deeply into our current performance, our aspirations for what our schools can be in the future, and planned for how to get there- and had some fun too. It wasn’t just talk though – it was about how we can make our schools better next week, how we can chart a stronger path for the next 2-3 years, and how we as leaders can be better at our jobs right now.

Even after 14 years, it’s a thrill to get to learn from and with folks who don’t just talk about it, but are about the work so fully.

We're Looking for a Great Music Teacher for Next Year!

 

As KIPP North grows next year and adds 2nd grade, we’re able to hire an additional specials/enrichment teacher. Currently our students have either art or yoga for an hour each day and we’re hoping to add music to that rotation for the 2019-20 school year. To do that, we need to find an amazing music teacher to add to our team. This job is a great opportunity for the right person to both build a program from scratch and make a big impact on kids who deserve fantastic arts education. What makes this such a great opportunity?

• As a founding music teacher for a growing school (K-2 next year, growing to K-8 eventually), our ideal candidate can design a program from scratch and then have the resources and support to make it happen. If you’ve dreamed about all the ways you would change a current role or imagined what you could make happen for kids with more time/support/money, you have the freedom to make it happen at KIPP North.

• Besides teaching general music classes, we’re hoping to have some form of student performance and/or extra programming for students with a real passion for music. Since this is a founding position, we’re open to pretty much all musical styles and specialties. We want the music teacher to have experience and passion that she/he can share with our students. One of the other KIPP Philadelphia elementary schools has a big focus on string instruments and a partnership with the Philadelphia Orchestra, while the other has a jazz band and teaches drumming to all students. Our focus at KIPP North could be one of those…or something totally different.  

• You’re part of a team of teachers and staff working hard each day to create an amazing school for kids and families who deserve it most. At KIPP Philadelphia, we firmly believe that students in North and West Philadelphia should have access to the same high-quality teaching and programming that affluent families get and that extends to the arts. Too few schools in Philadelphia are able to provide those opportunities to students and we’re proud that students from North Philadelphia will have a music education as good as a private school – and we need a great teacher to make that true!  

• We want music to be awesome and we’ll put the resources behind the program to make that happen. You’ll have a classroom just for music, a robust budget for instruments and supplies that you'll have a hand in creating, a schedule with at least 60 minutes of prep time per day (plus additional time for music pull-out/small groups), and an auditorium for performances.

• You’ll have freedom and flexibility to create the music program at KIPP North, but you’ll also have support from music teachers at our other five schools at KIPP Philadelphia, as well as other enrichment teachers at KIPP North. 

Check out the KIPP Philadelphia careers page for more info and the KIPP North Instagram page (@kippnorthphilly) for a look at what our school is like. We'll soon have a separate music posting up on our website but for now you can apply on our general founding elementary position. Or feel free to email me at bspeicher at kippphiladelphia.org