Job Description

Director of Special Education Services

YouthBuild Preparatory Academy is looking for a Director of Special Education Services who can lead special education with both technical skill and educational courage. This is not a paperwork-only compliance role. Compliance matters, and it must be done well. But at YBPA, special education cannot be reduced to forms, timelines, meetings, and service logs. The Director of Special Education Services must ensure that students with disabilities receive the services, supports, instruction, accommodations, and opportunities they are legally entitled to while also making sure they are fully included in a competency-based, project-based, interdisciplinary, liberatory learning community.

The Director of Special Education Services is responsible for leading, coordinating, monitoring, and improving all special education services at YouthBuild Preparatory Academy. This includes IEP development and implementation, special education compliance, Child Find responsibilities, evaluations, eligibility processes, service delivery, progress monitoring, family communication, staff coaching, related services coordination, transition planning, and support for students with diverse learning needs. The person in this role must be able to hold two truths at the same time. First, the school must meet every legal and ethical obligation to students with disabilities and their families. Second, students with disabilities must not be treated as separate from the heart of the school. They are not an add-on. They are not a compliance category. They are full members of the learning community who deserve access to rigorous projects, exhibitions of learning, career pathways, academic support, community-based learning, and meaningful demonstrations of mastery.

This role requires a leader who understands special education law, instruction, student support, team leadership, family partnership, and schoolwide systems. It also requires someone who believes that disability justice, access, belonging, and high expectations belong together.

The ideal Director of Special Education Services is: deeply committed to students with disabilities and to building a school culture where access, rigor, support, and belonging are expected. skilled in special education compliance, IEP development, progress monitoring, service delivery, evaluations, eligibility, and family communication. able to lead special education as part of the school's instructional model, not as a separate program sitting outside the core learning experience. experienced in supporting students with a wide range of academic, behavioral, social-emotional, executive functioning, communication, and transition needs. comfortable coaching teachers and staff on accommodations, modifications, specially designed instruction, inclusive practice, project-based learning, and competency-based assessment. strong at building systems, tracking details, meeting deadlines, protecting confidentiality, and communicating clearly. able to balance legal compliance with human-centered leadership. collaborative and direct, with the ability to work across academic, student support, family engagement, operations, and leadership teams. committed to eliminating deficit-based thinking about students with disabilities. grounded in the belief that students with disabilities deserve meaningful access to rigorous learning, not watered-down expectations.

The essential roles and responsibilities include special education leadership and compliance, instructional leadership and inclusive practice, IEP development, implementation, and progress monitoring, learning lab and intervention oversight, student support, behavior, and access, family engagement and communication, related services and external partnerships, data, reporting, and systems management, and team leadership and professional development.

Required qualifications include a bachelor's degree, master's degree in a related field, Rhode Island special education certification, minimum of five years of experience in special education, strong knowledge of special education laws and regulations, and ability to manage complex timelines and documentation.

Preferred qualifications include Rhode Island certification in special education with leadership credentials, experience with competency-based and project-based learning, experience supporting students with various disabilities, experience supervising staff and managing related service providers, experience with special education data systems, and bilingual or multilingual ability.

A successful Director of Special Education Services at YBPA will ensure special education services are compliant, timely, organized, and student-centered. They will build systems that make IEP implementation clear, consistent, and connected to daily instruction. They will help students with disabilities access rigorous competency-based and project-based learning without lowering expectations. They will support teachers in understanding how to design accessible learning experiences and implement accommodations, modifications, and specially designed instruction. They will strengthen the Learning Lab as a targeted academic intervention and credit recovery space. They will improve communication with families and build trust around special education services. They will use data to identify students who need support before they fall further behind. They will ensure students with disabilities are meaningfully included in projects, exhibitions, portfolios, career pathways, and graduation planning. They will build a special education team culture rooted in clarity, accountability, compassion, and high expectations. They will contribute to a school culture where students experience growth, relationships, agency, and belonging every day.

YouthBuild Preparatory Academy is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and learning community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law.

Closing statement: This role is for a leader who understands that special education is not a side department. It is one of the clearest tests of whether a school truly believes in access, belonging, and high expectations. At YouthBuild Preparatory Academy, the Director of Special Education Services will lead the systems, people, practices, and partnerships that help students with disabilities receive what they need and demonstrate what they know. The work requires precision, patience, urgency, and backbone. We are building something that challenges the old model. That means we need a special education leader who can protect compliance, coach practice, support families, challenge deficit thinking, and help students move toward mastery with dignity. If you are looking for a paperwork-only role, this may not be the right fit. If you are ready to build special education services that are legally sound, instructionally strong, and rooted in student power, this is the work.

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