District of Columbia Public Schools

Compensation

Full Description

Office: Office of External Affairs Date Posted: 12/11/2025 Salary Range: 1-5 / $73,643 - $83,094 NTE Date: N/A Position Overview The mission of the Office of External Affairs to improve outcomes for every student in DCPS by fostering strong connections between and among schools, families, the greater DC community, and other stakeholders. Through effective communication, meaningful family and community engagement, and collaborative partnerships, we shine a light on the inspiring stories of the students and schools within DCPS and work to ensure our district is an inclusive environment in which all voices are heard. All our work is designed to accelerate student success by: • Building and sustaining relationships between and among DCPS, families, communities, and partners that increase trust; • Increasing transparency and access to information, resources, and DCPS leadership and staff; • Building capacity in schools and Central Services to enhance communication and engagement with staff, families and communities to improve student outcomes; and • Ensuring DCPS’s stakeholders are well-informed about our priorities and our successes and have context about our challenges. Divisions/Teams • Strategic Communications • Builds and executes communications systems to ensure clear and informative messaging to stakeholders. • Supports district-wide branding and marketing through photography, videography, graphic design, social media and newsletter engagement, website management, and more. • Works cross-functionally to transform district initiatives into effective communications campaigns. • Monitors progress of projects, based on changes in direction, priorities, and resources. • Operations Communications: • Develops and leads overall school-based or district-level incident response communications strategy. • Approves and writes operations communications on issues including facilities, building modernizations, health, school climate, and other crisis communications. • Identifies key ways to turn crisis communications into opportunities to reverse existing narratives about DCPS. • Works across several Central Office teams to manage crisis communications, often outside of the school day. • Press: • Manages reactive and proactive engagement with local and national media stories to share the stories of DCPS students, staff, and schools. • Devises media outreach strategies to support strategic communications objectives. • Supports crisis communications work by ensuring media are accurately reporting on developments. • Ensure that key messaging, talking points, and other media materials align with priorities and guidelines set by the Executive Office of the Mayor. • Family and Community Engagement: • Aims to build the capacity of Central Services, school administrators, and educators to partner with families to drive student success. • Listens to and engages our families and community at the district and school level to build trust, using stakeholder feedback to inform the work of DCPS. • Builds and sustains strategic relationships with key stakeholders. • Directly supports schools in their parent and community engagement efforts, including with Local School Advisory Teams (LSATs) and parent teacher organizations (PTOs). • Partnerships: • Serves as the district’s central team for identifying and managing strategic partnerships that promote student achievement, build school capacity, and advance district priorities. • Enhances the capacity of Central Services, school administrators, and teachers to maximize the impact of partnerships on key organizational goals. • Develops and maintains systems and policies that ensure school-based and district-level partnerships are high-quality, compliant, and aligned with the strategic priority to ensure students feel connected to their schools. The Coordinator, Operations Communications will coordinate and write school-to-families communications on school operations, including safety and security, health and wellness, facilities issues, school building renovations, and school planning. The coordinator’s work will support DC Public Schools' regular, transparent communication with families and assist in messaging that communicates the complexity of an urban school district. The Coordinator, Operations Communications, will require work outside of normal business hours. The Coordinator, Operations Communications will report to the Director, Operations Communications . Essential Duties and Responsibilities The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned. • Drafts all school-based communications in a timely manner for issues including but not limited to facilities, building modernizations, safety and security, health and wellness, school climate, and other crisis communications. And available to coordinate and handle crisis communications outside of normal work hours. • Serves as the Operations Communications school day incident point of contact (POC), including conducting all initial phone or email outreach to incident POCs. • Helps to determine key messages on operations communications. • Maintains the operations communications files, tracking systems, and database(s) and updates it them consistently as new information becomes available. • Builds relationships and liaises with various internal departments to drive collaboration and project team success. • Stays closely aware of projects, initiatives, and emerging issues across schools and DCPS and informs Manager, Operations Communications of any that could require communications action. • Tracks and reports progress of operations communications and aligns work with individual and team goals. Qualifications • Bachelor's degree and two to four years of related work experience. • Master's degree preferred. • Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus. • Strong writing and editing skills. • Extremely organized and highly detail oriented. • Excellent time-management skills, with the ability to prioritize competing deadlines. • Experience with crisis communications and/or community engagement a plus. • Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus. • Professional proficiency in Spanish communications a plus. • Available to coordinate handle crisis communications outside of normal work hours. DCPS Values • STUDENTS FIRST: We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do. • COURAGE: We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success. • EQUITY: We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds. • EXCELLENCE: We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions. • TEAMWORK: We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically. • JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other. We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals with disabilities. Accommodation and/or application assistance is available upon request at all stages of the application and employment process. To request accommodation, please contact dcps.eeo-ada@k12.dc.gov.