Job Description
Director of Exceptional Learners
Director of Special Education and English Learners
SCHOOL/PROGRAM: Districtwide
CATEGORY: Administration/Director | Certified
RESPONSIBLE TO: Assistant Superintendent of Student and Family Supports
SUPERVISES: Exceptional learner department staff and other personnel assigned by the Superintendent or designee
CONTRACT: 235 days
SALARY: Based on rank and experience; applicable CIPS certified director salary schedule
Job Goal
To provide strategic, instructional, and operational leadership for districtwide special education and English Learner programs so every student has equitable access to rigorous grade-level learning, effective specialized services, and the supports needed for meaningful academic, linguistic, behavioral, and postsecondary progress. The Director ensures full compliance with IDEA, Section 504, Title VI, Title III, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, applicable Kentucky statutes and regulations, Board policy, and district procedures, while building the capacity of all educators�not only special education and English Learner staff�to effectively serve exceptional learners.
Key Leadership Outcomes
- Students with disabilities and English Learners demonstrate sustained improvement in achievement, English language development, graduation, attendance, engagement, and postsecondary readiness.
- Schools consistently provide legally compliant, high-quality, individualized services, accommodations, modifications, and inclusive learning experiences.
- General education, special education, and English Learner staff share responsibility and build increasing skill in serving exceptional learners.
- District and school teams use timely, disaggregated data to identify disparities, evaluate program effectiveness, and rapidly adjust instruction, staffing, and resources.
- Families receive understandable, culturally and linguistically responsive communication and are treated as meaningful partners in evaluation, eligibility, placement, and service planning.
- Districtwide systems, records, staffing, budgets, and reporting withstand monitoring, audit, complaint, and due-process review.
- Students who are both English Learners and students with disabilities are accurately identified, appropriately served, and protected from under- or over-identification.
Qualifications
- Holds, or is eligible to obtain, a valid Kentucky professional certificate for Advanced Educational Leader � Director of Special Education.
- Master's degree or higher in special education, educational leadership, curriculum and instruction, English Learner education, or a closely related field.
- Five years or more of successful K-12 experience, including significant work serving students with disabilities is preferred; district or school leadership experience strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated knowledge of IDEA, Section 504, the ADA, Title VI, Title III, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, applicable Kentucky statutes and regulations, due-process requirements, and state/federal monitoring expectations.
- Demonstrated success improving outcomes for students with disabilities, English Learners, or other historically underserved student groups.
- Strong knowledge of specially designed instruction, Universal Design for Learning, inclusive practices and co-teaching, positive behavior supports, English language development, and effective intervention systems.
- Experience leading adult learning, coaching, and organizational change across multiple schools or departments.
- Ability to analyze student, staffing, fiscal, and compliance data and translate findings into clear priorities and accountability measures.
- Excellent judgment, organization, communication, facilitation, conflict-resolution, and relationship-building skills.
- Experience in an urban public school district, and bilingual/multilingual proficiency, preferred but not required.
Essential Responsibilities
District Strategy, Coherence, and Continuous Improvement
- Develop, implement, and regularly refine a multiyear district strategy for exceptional learners with measurable goals for outcomes, equitable access, inclusion, instructional quality, compliance, staffing, and family partnership.
- Translate the district strategic plan into annual objectives, implementation milestones, and school-level expectations for special education and English Learner programming.
- Conduct recurring needs assessments and program reviews to identify root causes of achievement, opportunity, identification, and graduation gaps, and lead coordinated improvement responses.
- Establish nonnegotiable district standards for high-quality services while allowing schools flexibility; benchmark against strong models and build leadership pipelines and succession plans.
Instructional Leadership and Collaboration
- Serve as the district's lead advocate for the principle that exceptional learners are general education students first, and that their success is a shared responsibility across every classroom.
- Collaborate with the Director of Curriculum and Instruction, principals, instructional coaches, and school-based teams to fully embed exceptional learner priorities in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning.
- Ensure students with disabilities and English Learners have meaningful access to rigorous grade-level core instruction, advanced coursework, CTE, extracurricular activities, and postsecondary pathways.
- Establish and monitor districtwide expectations for specially designed instruction, English language development, accommodations, modifications, co-teaching, and progress monitoring; conduct learning walks and provide actionable feedback.
- Ensure professional learning is job-embedded, differentiated, sustained over time, and evaluated for impact on educator practice and student outcomes.
Special Education Compliance and Program Leadership
- Direct the district's implementation of IDEA and applicable Kentucky requirements, including child find, evaluation, eligibility, IEP development, placement, least restrictive environment, transition, discipline, procedural safeguards, and related services.
- Establish quality-control systems for timely, accurate evaluations, eligibility determinations, IEPs, and required state/federal submissions; monitor that services are delivered as written.
- Review district and school data on identification, placement, discipline, and due process to identify disproportionality and compliance or equity risk; provide consultation on complex or high-risk cases.
- Coordinate district responses to state monitoring, corrective action, complaints, mediation, and due-process hearings with the Superintendent and Board counsel.
- Oversee contracting, supervision, and evaluation of related services (OT, PT, speech-language, vision, deaf/hard-of-hearing, psychological, behavioral) and lead transition planning and services for parentally placed private-school students.
English Learner Program Leadership and Civil Rights Compliance
- Direct districtwide systems for the timely identification, screening, placement, service delivery, assessment, and reclassification of English Learners, including implementation of Kentucky's WIDA framework and required ACCESS testing.
- Ensure English Learners receive both explicit English language development and meaningful access to grade-level content instruction rather than remediation alone.
- Monitor schedules, course access, and extracurricular participation to prevent exclusion; coordinate Title III planning, budgeting, documentation, and reporting with the Finance Department and federal-program personnel.
- Ensure qualified interpretation and translation are available for enrollment, instruction, and family communication, and develop systems to support newcomers and long-term English Learners.
Students Who Are Both English Learners and Students with Disabilities
- Establish clear, research-informed procedures for evaluating and serving dually identified students, distinguishing disability-related needs from normal second-language acquisition or limited opportunity to learn.
- Ensure evaluations use multiple measures, qualified personnel, and native-language assessment as appropriate; prevent English Learner status from delaying a special education referral, and prevent disability status from limiting access to language-development services.
Standard Operating Procedures, Internal Controls, and Knowledge Management
- Develop, maintain, and annually update a comprehensive Exceptional Learners Standard Operating Procedures Manual covering compliance, instruction, documentation, timelines, and responsible roles.
- Maintain a single source of truth for procedures, forms, and training materials; implement internal audit and monitoring cycles and an annual compliance and reporting calendar.
- Ensure new staff receive role-specific onboarding and required annual training; maintain secure, accurate records consistent with privacy and retention requirements.
Data, Accountability, and Program Evaluation
- Create and maintain a districtwide exceptional learner dashboard with disaggregated indicators for achievement, service delivery, discipline, staffing, and fiscal performance.
- Establish regular data-review routines with Cabinet, principals, and instructional leaders; use data to evaluate the effectiveness, equity, and cost of programs and services.
- Provide the Superintendent and Board with accurate, understandable updates on outcomes, compliance, and strategic priorities; ensure required state and district data are timely, accurate, and validated.
Talent, Supervision, and Educator Capacity
- Recruit, select, onboard, supervise, coach, evaluate, and retain high-quality special education, English Learner, related-service, and department personnel.
- Partner with Human Resources to forecast staffing needs, verify certification, and deploy personnel based on student needs; develop differentiated induction and mentoring for new and emergency-certified staff.
- Build principal capacity to supervise and evaluate exceptional learner programming, and foster a department culture of urgency, collaboration, and high expectations.
Family and Community Partnership
- Create a climate of respect and shared decision-making with families in evaluation, eligibility, IEP, placement, and transition processes, with communication accessible in families' preferred languages.
- Develop proactive family education on special education rights, English Learner services, graduation pathways, and available community supports.
- Build partnerships with universities, community organizations, and postsecondary partners; address concerns early while protecting student rights and maintaining accurate documentation.
Budget, Grants, Contracts, and Resource Stewardship
- Direct oversight and management of IDEA Part B funding and budgets, in coordination with the district's Finance Coordinator, ensuring compliant, strategic, and outcomes-driven use of federal special education funds.
- Develop, manage, monitor, and evaluate special education, Title III, and other assigned budgets and grants in alignment with legal requirements, district priorities, and measurable outcomes.
- Ensure maintenance-of-effort, excess-cost, supplement-not-supplant, and other applicable fiscal requirements are met; review contracts and service agreements for necessity, quality, and value.
- Coordinate Medicaid documentation and reimbursement processes when assigned.
District Leadership and Other Responsibilities
- Serve as an active member of district leadership teams and advise the Superintendent and Cabinet promptly on significant compliance risks, staffing concerns, missed services, complaints, or litigation threats.
- Recommend revisions to Board policy, administrative procedures, and staffing models as needed, and maintain current professional knowledge through state and national networks.
- Represent the district professionally with KDE, EPSB, the U.S. Department of Education, the Office for Civil Rights, regional cooperatives, and other stakeholders.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Assistant Superintendent of Student and Family Supports or Superintendent of Schools.
Leadership Competencies
- Student-centered equity leadership: Maintains high expectations and removes structural barriers without lowering rigor or narrowing student opportunity.
- Instructional credibility: Understands strong classroom practice and connects specialized services to core teaching and learning.
- Systems thinking and operational discipline: Builds coherent, repeatable processes and maintains reliable records, timelines, and accountability structures.
- Strategic execution and data-driven improvement: Converts priorities into sequenced plans with clear ownership and measures, and adjusts course based on evidence.
- Compliance with purpose: Treats legal compliance as a minimum standard and a foundation for high-quality student experience�not the endpoint.
- Adult development and collaboration: Builds the knowledge and efficacy of leaders, teachers, and service providers, and works across departments to create shared ownership.
- Family partnership: Communicates with empathy, clarity, cultural humility, and respect for families' legal rights and expertise.
- Sound judgment and courage: Escalates risks promptly, addresses ineffective practices directly, and makes principled decisions in complex situations.
Physical Demands and Work Environment
The employee must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. The role requires regular travel among district schools and program sites, attendance at meetings or events outside normal business hours when necessary, use of standard office and instructional technology, and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced public-school environment.
Evaluation
Performance will be evaluated in accordance with Board policy and applicable Kentucky requirements, including evidence of student outcomes, program quality, legal compliance, implementation of strategic priorities, educator capacity, family experience, fiscal stewardship, and the effectiveness of supervised personnel and systems.
Application Process
Complete the district's online application through Covington Independent Schools � Frontline Recruitment. All applications will be evaluated and screened. Final posting language should include current contacts, application deadlines, and any required supplemental materials.
Covington Independent Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer.
91-2627-000 (1509)
