Operations and Special Projects Coordinator

Operations and Special Projects Coordinator

Grade Level: K1-8

Start Date: November 2026 (term position through June 2027)

Location: UP Academy Dorchester, Boston, MA

About UP Education Network

UP Education Network is a non-profit school success organization that addresses inequities in public school systems. UP provides differentiated support to historically under resourced schools through a partnership with districts and the state.

Since opening its doors in 2010, UP Education Network has focused on taking the lowest-performing schools in Massachusetts and transforming those schools into exceptional learning environments.

We manage two campuses in Dorchester, serving over 1,300 students in Boston Public Schools (BPS) from grades pre-K through 8th. Our schools operate with charter-like autonomy while our network provides comprehensive support and management that builds capacity for schools to focus deeply on students.

Role

The Special Projects Coordinator plays a central role in ensuring a well-run, efficient, and responsive school. In addition to maintaining the school’s administrative systems and routines, the Special Projects Coordinator will support the School Leadership Team by completing various school-wide projects related to operations, school assessment and accountability, community relations, and strategic planning.

The Special Projects Coordinator must be able to communicate effectively with students, teachers, families, trustees, donors, and visitors.

Specific Responsibilities

• Strengthen and elevate the school's systems and culture, building routines that help students and staff thrive
• Lead the strategy and roll-out of school-wide projects from concept through execution
• Own the accuracy and upkeep of the school's daily data systems, keeping critical information reliable and current
• Coordinate the logistics and behind-the-scenes preparation that make school events and activities run seamlessly
• Champion Horace Mann Charter School compliance, ensuring required reports and documentation reach the Board, DESE, and Boston Public Schools accurately and on time
• Serve as a key support for the UP Academy Dorchester Board, managing scheduling, agendas, and meeting minutes
• Drive coordination and support for our career-connected learning and alumni programming, helping students stay connected to their futures
• Contribute to the daily rhythm of school life, including lunch, recess, and other student-facing duties
• Partner with the Principal, School Leadership Team, and Network Leadership Team to advance priorities as they arise
• Step in wherever needed as a true utility player, including covering the front desk
• Manage testing logistics and support for MAP and MCAS, ensuring smooth, well-run assessment windows
• Support attendance tracking and chronic absenteeism intervention

Qualifications

• A passionate belief in UP Academy’s mission, values, and educational model
• An eagerness to set ambitious, challenging, and tangible goals, and a relentless drive to achieve them
• An ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and a capacity to remain calm and focused when faced with unexpected challenges
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including strong public speaking skills
• A sense of humility in the face of success
• Bachelor’s degree is preferred
• Current authorization to work in the United States – A candidate must have such authorization by his or her first day of employment
• 2 years operational experience, preferably in a school setting

Compensation and Benefits

Your salary is commensurate with experience; UP Academy follows the salary scales of each UP Academy’s host school district. As an employee of UP Academy and your respective school district, you will receive the same access to personal and sick days, health insurance, and dental insurance as others within your union.

Working at UP Education Network

We know that great staff members directly lead to the success of our students. At UP, your career is shaped by:

• Opportunities for immediate impact: UP offers a chance to bring best practices found in high-performing schools to students previously enrolled in struggling schools, and to rapidly unlock the potential of these students
• Talented, mission-driven colleagues: Our staff is enthusiastic, dedicated, and willing to do “whatever it takes” to put every student on the path to college
• Collaboration and teamwork: Staff members collaborate and work closely together on grade-level or content area teams, using data to track student performance as well as guide instructional practice
• Consistent professional growth and development: Members of our staff typically have bi-weekly check-in meetings with their managers where they receive targeted coaching and support, and the entire staff participates in weekly professional development sessions during the school year, kick-started by extensive training in August

We encourage applicants of diverse backgrounds to apply for any open position in which they feel qualified. We believe that we have a responsibility to recruit, retain, develop, and reward a diverse and talented staff. Our students must be exposed on a daily basis to a diverse group of powerful role models - in their teachers, their school leaders, and their supporters in the network office.

With this in mind, we are committed to recruiting the most talented individuals from the widest possible range of backgrounds to join our creative, mission-driven team.