Director of School Safety

Job Description

The Director, School Safety reports to the Managing Director of School Operations Support & Safety and serves as the designated District Safety Officer and Emergency Management Coordinator for KIPP Texas. This role owns the creation, implementation, and continuous improvement of a comprehensive statewide school safety and emergency management program incorporating Texas legislative mandates, industry best practices, and proactive risk mitigation strategies to ensure the safest possible physical and virtual learning environments for all KIPP Texas students and staff. The Director leads Board, District, and city safety committees, manages the statewide safety team, and serves as KIPP Texas's primary safety liaison with local law enforcement, city and county emergency management agencies, the Texas School Safety Center (TxSSC), School administration, district leadership, and other internal and external partners.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Strategic Leadership

• Owns the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of a comprehensive, statewide school safety program. Establishes the program’s vision, ensuring seamless integration across all organizational operations, rather than maintaining existing processes in a silo.

• Leverages safety data to generate actionable analysis. Uses these insights to drive strategic safety improvements, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and inform key decisions for Operations and Board leadership.

• Partners with Threat assessment and student culture teams to identify trends, potential threats, and reporting needs

• Prepares and delivers quarterly safety dashboard reports to the Board of Directors, providing a transparent view of audit findings, corrective action progress, drill compliance, and strategic resource allocation.

• Acts as the central advisory authority for school and regional leaders regarding high-stakes safety protocols and interactions with external officials, translating complex legal mandates into "school-ready" operational guidance.

• Designs and facilitates school safety trainings for KIPP Texas staff, students, and stakeholders ensuring appropriate leveling and engagement.

• Serves as the cross-functional safety integrator, establishing feedback loops with School Culture, Mental Health, MTSS, and Discipline departments to ensure safety programming is embedded within the broader Safe and Supportive School Program (SSSP) and holistic student wellness initiatives.

• Cultivates a statewide network of school-based safety leads (such as Assistant Principals of Operations). Builds internal capacity to extend safety audit coverage, lead campus safety committees, and drive a unified, proactive safety culture across all campuses.

• Monitors, anticipates, and proactively acts on emerging legislation and regulations. Ensures the organization stays ahead of state and federal requirements, transitioning from a reactive to a proactive compliance posture.

• Partners with the KIPP Foundation, TEA, and TxSSC to align KIPP Texas's safety program with national and state best practices and emerging safety frameworks.

• Collaborates with Facilities and Capital Planning departments to define and maintain security infrastructure standards for new construction and renovation projects, ensuring all physical environments meet 'safety by design' requirements.

• Manage research, prioritization, and tracking of safety grant funds.

Emergency Management & Compliance

• Fulfills all statutory responsibilities of the District Safety Officer and Emergency Management Coordinator designation — including law enforcement liaison functions, TEA reporting, and compliance with SB11 and HB 496 mandates.

• Develops, maintains, and continuously improves district and campus Multi-Hazard Emergency Operating Plans (MHEOPs) in full compliance with Texas legislative requirements; conducts annual campus safety audits, develops improvement plans, and tracks gap remediation across all sites.

• Serves as the primary point of contact for integrating Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) into campus safety structures, including facilitating LEO walkthroughs and their participation in campus safety committees.

• Provides expert guidance and direction to school-based teams on crisis response, ensuring consistent application of protocols and appropriate escalation across all campuses.

• Monitors emergency drill completion and compliance across all campuses; ensures all required drills are executed, documented, and auditable.

• Leads formal After-Action Reviews (AAR) following significant safety incidents, major drill failures, or emergency events. Ensures root causes are identified, corrective actions are tracked to closure, and organizational learning is institutionalized across the network.

• Establishes clear communication protocols for crisis response; partners with the Communications/PR team to ensure the timely and accurate flow of information to families, staff, and external stakeholders during safety incidents, maintaining clear 'single source of truth' messaging.

• Coordinate and manage Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) partnerships as assigned.

• Lead design and completion of TEA three-year safety audit process.

• Prepare schools for success in Intruder Detection Audits, Vulnerability assessments, and any other mandated safety audits.

• Participate in city-level weather and emergency management coordination calls and cascade relevant information and actions to district leaders.

Systems & Platform Management

• Manages Sentinel, Silent Panic Alert Technology, visitor management, and any other safety technology platforms statewide; overseeing user accounts, team configuration, site setup, and ongoing platform performance.

• Generates auditable, actionable analysis from platform data to drive safety improvement decisions, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and inform strategic priorities for Operations and Board leadership.

• Conducts ongoing efficacy audits of training programs by measuring implementation consistency across campuses (e.g., via school leader interviews and drill performance). Collaborates with instructional leadership to adjust training delivery methods for diverse staff roles (front office, teachers, substitutes) to ensure retention and application.

People Leadership & Network Development

• Directly manages the statewide safety team; establishing performance expectations, providing coaching, and building organizational safety expertise over time.

• Trains and supports school-based Assistant Principals of Operations as safety leads; building their capacity to extend safety audit coverage, lead campus safety committees, and drive safety communication and culture.

• Builds and sustains partnerships with key external stakeholders — including law enforcement, emergency management agencies, TxSSC, and TEA — to strengthen organizational safety strategy and program delivery.

• Manages third-party security service contracts, conducting regular quality audits to ensure vendor performance, staffing consistency, and operational conduct fully align with KIPP Texas safety standards and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

• Manage third-party security guard contracts and operations.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum of five years of progressive leadership experience in school safety, emergency management, law enforcement, or a closely related field; bachelor's degree in a relevant field required; advanced degree preferred.

• Minimum of three years of experience supporting K-12 school systems preferred; demonstrated understanding of the functions, processes, and challenges of safety within school environments.

• Previous law enforcement or emergency management experience is preferred.

• FEMA Incident Command System (ICS) certification strongly preferred given the District Emergency Management Coordinator designation; additional FEMA emergency management certifications a plus.

• Demonstrated track record of designing and implementing complex safety or emergency management programs across multiple concurrent priorities in a large, multi-site organization.

• Demonstrated experience in effective adult learning, facilitation, and safety training delivery.

COMPETENCY AND SKILLS:

• Alignment with KIPP Texas's mission and commitment to safe learning environments for every student and staff member.

• Proven program architecture skills; able to design, build, and scale a comprehensive statewide safety and emergency management program from inception through sustained operation.

• Deep knowledge of Texas school safety legislation — including SB11 and HB 496 — and demonstrated ability to translate regulatory requirements into organizational policies, procedures, and training.

• Strong law enforcement and emergency management partnership skills; able to build and maintain credible, productive relationships with external agencies and stakeholders.

• Skilled at leading through influence — able to drive safety accountability across school and regional teams without always having direct-line authority.

• Strong facilitation and adult learning skills; able to design and deliver high-impact safety training for diverse audiences across a large, geographically dispersed organization.

• Data-driven decision-maker; able to generate and interpret safety platform data to identify trends, assess risk, and develop actionable improvement recommendations.

• Clear and professional communicator — written and verbal — able to present complex safety information to executive leadership, the Board, school teams, and external agency partners.

• Able to navigate ambiguity, manage competing priorities, and make sound decisions under pressure in high-stakes situations.

• Proactive and self-directed; continuously monitors the legislative and operational environment for emerging risks and acts with urgency to address them.

Physical Requirements: 

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• The person in this position needs to be able to move about inside and outside the school throughout the workday.

• The candidate is expected to attend conferences, meetings and training sessions both virtually and in person within the Region. 

Additional Requirements:

• Reliable transportation is needed for travel between campuses

• Ability to maintain emotional control under stress.

• Work with frequent interruptions.

Work Environment: 

Hybrid work - Reports to the central office or schools three days a week

Travel Requirements: 

Moderate travel: Regular travel to school sites, regional offices or external locations for professional learning, meetings and other work related activities. Travel frequency may increase based on time of year.

Additional Information

What We Bring to the Table: 

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans with coverage options for employees and their families. 

• Competitive vacation and flexible paid time off (PTO) policies.

• Paid family leave.

• Flexible spending account or high-yield HSA.

• Employee assistance programs. 

• KIPP also offers the following employee-paid benefits: legal plans, LifeLock identity protection, life insurance and disability insurance.

EEO: 

KIPP Texas is an Equal Opportunity Employer. KIPP Texas ensures equal employment opportunities regardless of race, creed, gender, color, national origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, or disability. Any individual needing assistance in making an application for any opening should contact the Talent Team.

 Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job duties. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.

Company Description

About KIPP Texas Public Schools
KIPP Texas Public Schools is a free, public charter school network with more than 45 Pre-K - 12 schools across Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. With over 30 years in Texas, we work together with our families and communities to prepare students for college, career, and beyond! Our schools provide a high-quality, well-rounded education built on academic success and personal growth, where all students learn and thrive in a productive, safe, and joyful way!

As one of the earliest charter networks in Texas—founded in Houston in 1994 and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018—we hire dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join a Team and Family with an unwavering commitment to creating classrooms, offices, and communities rooted in academic success and joy. 

If you are passionate about joining a mission-driven community that wants every child to "run to school," the KIPP Texas Team and Family is for you! KIPP Public Schools is a national network of public charter schools that prepares students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves, their communities, and us all. We are a network of 278 schools with nearly 16,500 educators and 190,000 students and alumni.