The Atlanta Speech School

Director of the Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool

Start Date: July 2025

The Atlanta Speech School provides an unmatched opportunity to learn from both peers and experts in the field, and to contribute to the School’s growing body of knowledge. Beyond seeking proficiency, we work to construct a Deep Reading Brain for each child at the School and, through our Rollins Center for Language & Literacy, every child beyond the school. Deep reading requires learning to make connections between what we read to what we think, feel, and do. Through deep reading, children develop empathy, hone critical thinking, and go on to make the greatest possible difference in the lives of others.

We believe in connection over compliance. Rather than silencing children, we teach them to listen - and to think, to question, and to solve. Our staff works together to know and serve each child from within an intentional learning ecosystem that is as joyful as it is rigorous. Our practices are grounded in structured literacy and built on the sciences of healthy brain development, language acquisition, and the construction of the Deep Reading Brain.  The Atlanta Speech School’s work of building strong literacy foundations is intentionally centered around critical thinking, empathy, problem solving and the development of executive functions. We are committed to providing a community through which all our students, families, and staff show up safely as themselves and for each other. As stewards of this environment, it is our responsibility to ensure safety extends to every person, inclusive of all races /ethnicities, religions, genders, family structures, sexual orientations, and any other aspect of their identity.

The School has never turned away a child in need of services based on their family’s financial circumstances.

PROGRAM SUMMARY:

The Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool at the Atlanta Speech School seeks an exceptional leader to serve as Director. This position offers the opportunity to support and inspire our knowledgeable, engaged and self-motivated team of professionals, deeply committed to the work they do every day for the students in their classroom and children in their care.

The Kenan Preschool is a community preschool program that serves typically developing children, two to five years of age.

The Kenan ecosystem is centered on deep relationships with each child built from conversational partnerships.
Kenan is a sanctuary, so Kenan children can become sanctuaries for others.
Kenan curriculum and practices are culturally responsive, to ensure that each child’s background, identity, and experiences are considered and respected.
The Kenan School is accredited by the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and is licensed by Bright from the Start, Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.

Through its eighty-five-year history, the Atlanta Speech School has evolved to become a comprehensive center for language and literacy – earning a rising national reputation as the educational equivalent of a teaching hospital. The school attracts a staff of highly qualified and committed teaching professionals who apply the research of leading learning and brain scientists to achieve transformational language and literacy outcomes for children through four school divisions, four clinical programs, the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy, and the free online Cox Campus.

While schools across the country continue to constrain teaching and learning with conformity and compliance, the Atlanta Speech School unconditionally commits instead to expanding the minds of all students on our campus and across our city through listening, language and literacy. On campus and in our partner schools, we seek to recover the voices of students through relationships and self-advocacy, and liberate the hearts of students through self-reflection, critical thinking, and opportunity. We do this by prioritizing connection over compliance, and we follow positive discipline practices that encourage children to discover who they are while becoming responsible, respectful and engaged members of their communities.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Director of the Kenan Preschool at the Atlanta Speech School provides daily leadership and support to the students, parents, and staff members of the preschool program. This individual facilitates the highly collaborative work of a staff of teachers, a curriculum specialist, admissions and outplacement coordinator, preschool counselor, occupational therapist, and speech language therapist with the goal of providing the best possible preschool services to children ages two through five. The Director also serves as the Kenan representative on the school wide Leadership Team, helping to guide the development of the School’s three preschool programs and Atlanta Speech School as a whole.

Candidates will demonstrate a thorough understanding of early childhood development, early childhood developmentally appropriately practice, children’s learning profiles and psychoeducational evaluations, including academic development, cognitive processes, executive functions, and social-emotional development.

Programmatic Responsibilities

Develop goals, direction, and policies of the program
Develop and implement criteria for admissions, outplacement, and student outcomes
Conduct ongoing program evaluation and identification of needs, including coordinating regularly with Kenan’s curriculum specialist to plan for and guide students’ academic experiences
Collaborate with parents through the Kenan Parent Council through quarterly meetings
Attend regularly scheduled meetings with the Chief Academic Officer
Plan parent and staff education programs
Participate in budget review and manage funds allocated to the Kenan Preschool
Represent Kenan, leading tours during Open House events
Attract, recruit and hire highly skilled and motivated staff
Collaborate with the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy on program development and Cox Campus content for Birth-5 educators.

2. Responsibilities to Parents & Students

Conduct orientation and parent education meetings
Be available for parent contacts, conferences, calls
Observe children and make recommendations, including assisting with developing and reviewing individual goals for children and developing procedures to identify and help children who are not progressing satisfactorily
Plan and attend student support and data team meetings
Participate in discussions of enrollment and outplacement and proof teacher reports and outplacement recommendations
Clearly communicate with parents regarding departmental guidelines/policies, schedules and procedures in person and in writing
Oversee review of student records and selection of materials released to other agencies
Coordinate re-enrollment

3. Responsibilities to Staff

Assign staff placement and duties
Develop and deliver onboarding for new staff
Observe and mentor staff following Atlanta Speech School guidelines
Participate in parent conferences as requested or required
Confer with teachers regarding students, concerns, and performance improvement plans
Demonstrate lessons as necessary
Recommend, develop, and provide staff development opportunities that align with program needs and/or staff needs
Support staff engagement in overall Speech School professional development (Montag Lecture Series, etc.)

4. Administrative Responsibilities

Host monthly staff meetings
Plan the Kenan calendar to include events such as student activities, parent conference days, special events, and teacher work/planning days
Monitor and plan for department budget needs

5. Responsibilities to the Leadership Team

Collaborate with other Directors within the School to establish best practices and provide best services
Periodically facilitate Leadership Team and Roundtable meetings
Be a collaborative partner in decision making for the Atlanta Speech School

QUALIFICATIONS:

Applicants should hold a master’s degree or higher in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, Reading, Speech-Language Pathology, Early Childhood Special Education or other related fields from an accredited university
Current Georgia clear/renewable teaching certificate or eligible for certification
Minimum 8-10 years’ experience working in early childhood setting or similar experience demonstrating knowledge of early childhood education and language and early literacy instruction
Excellent oral, written, organizational, and interpersonal skills, and the ability to work collaboratively

SALARY: Salary is commensurate with credentials and experience.

TO APPLY: Please submit all the following documents to ensure that your information is considered: cover letter, resume, and written submission: Please describe how your particular skills, talents, and/or expertise could be beneficial to the Kenan Preschool Program. (Please limit the response to 500 words).

Email: hr@atlantaspeechschool[dot]org

Subject line: Director of the Anne & Jim Kenan Preschool

Atlanta Speech School

Founded over 85 years ago, the Atlanta Speech School has evolved into four school divisions, four clinical programs, Rollins Center for Language & Literacy professional development program and Rollins’ free online Cox Campus. Across all our programs we are driven to ensure that each child can find their voice. The School has never turned away a child in need of our specialized services based on their family’s financial circumstances.

We are the educational equivalent of a teaching hospital. With our vision of literacy and justice for all, we lead equity-based change by extending our work beyond our campus. What occurs in the classroom for each child at the Atlanta Speech School is made available to every teacher by way of our free online professional learning platform, Cox Campus. Cox Campus’ membership is composed of more than 270,000 educators, leaders, healthcare professionals and parents representing all fifty states and 100 countries. 

The School, across all its programs, including the Kenan Preschool, attracts a staff of the most gifted and committed teaching professionals who apply the research of the nation’s leading experts on early healthy brain development, language acquisition and Deep Reading Brain.

Atlanta Speech School

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