Director of Special Education

Position Type:
Administration

Date Posted:
1/12/2026

Location:
Administration
REPORTS TO:
Superintendent of Schools

MISSION: The Chester Upland School District is committed to providing all students the opportunity to achieve excellence in the four A's:
Academics, Athletics, Arts, and Activities.

The senior leadership team continues to build a talented and committed team to ensure all students are prepared to graduate from Chester Upland schools career and college ready! The C.O.R.E. is the foundation of the Chester Upland School District's vision and mission.

C.O.R.E.:
C- Children First:
The well-being and continuous learning of every child will drive decisions.
O- One Chester Upland:
With dedicated community of partners, parents, students and staff, we will excel, united as One Chester Upland.
R- Reimagining:
Through a mode of continuous improvement, we will apply four important levers for change, collaboration, capacity building, deepening knowledge of pedagogy, and focusing direction to improve outcomes for all.
E- Equity, Excellence, and Emotional Intelligence:
We will ensure equitable access to a quality education that includes emotional intelligence and leads to excellence across all opportunities and services.

Position Purpose
To plan, operate and evaluate special education programs in accordance with state and federal regulations and laws to meet the special education needs of students and schools. In addition, the Director of Special Education will provide leadership and supervision to the administrative, instructional, and support staff relative to special education policies, procedures, and programs.

Essential Functions

• Monitor student programming to ensure that the District is in compliance with Federal and State regulations in terms of placement, IEP's, service delivery, discipline, assessments, and documentation.
• Collaborative coordination of Extended School Year, Early Intervention to School Age Transition, and Secondary Transition programming
• Supervise and actively collaborate in the evaluation, selection, and implementation of learning programs and supplemental curricular resources utilized in special education programming with an equity mindset.
• Evaluate and improve the diagnostic and instructional techniques used with special education students.
• Continued development and expansion of programming options within the district for students receiving specialized instruction to increase students' sense of belonging.
• Provide educational leadership and expertise to improve inclusion and subject matter coordination between special education and regular education staff.
• Develop and organize professional development workshops and formal training for administrative, professional, support staff, and community members.
• Participate in the supervision and evaluation of assigned professional staff.
• Complete classroom observations and monitors student data/achievement.
• Serve as LEA in IEP, GIEP, 504 and other meetings for students enrolled within in district or out of district programs.
• With an equity lens, actively collaborate with directors, building administrators, curriculum leaders, school psychologists, teachers, related service providers, parents and families to ensure appropriate services for identified students.

Additional Duties
Performs other related tasks as assigned by the Superintendent of Schools, and other central office administrators as designated by the Superintendent.
Note: The above description is illustrative of tasks and responsibilities. It is not meant to be all inclusive of every task or responsibility.

Key Competencies
The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following:

Vision and Courage to Ensure All Students Achieve:

• Demonstrate belief and holds self and other accountable for reaching high academic achievement of all students.
• Secures buy-in for a clear and compelling vision.
• Comfortable addressing matters of equity, race, and bias in decision-making

Teaching and Learning Knowledge Expertise:

• Demonstrate the ability to develop and deliver programming that drives improved academic and technical skill performance for all students.
• Understand and implement promising, innovative, and effective…