Head of School / Director - Cloud Forest School

  Costa Rica

• Monteverde: 
Monteverde

Length of Position: Two - five years
Dates: Starting January 2010

Description: The Cloud Forest School, locally known as the Centro de Educación Creativa, is an independent, bilingual Pre-K through 11th grade school that offers a creative, progressive education to 220 students with an emphasis on integrating environmental education, English, and Spanish into the curriculum.

The Cloud Forest School sits upon a 106 acre campus of pastureland and rainforest, nestled at the top of Costa Rica's northwest Tilaran mountain range. Monteverde is renowned for its unique biodiversity, and is surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of conserved cloud forest. Our town of 5,000 people is comprised of local Costa Ricans and north American and European nationals who have decided to make Costa Rica their home. With an active art, music, yoga, dance, and scientific community and the best coffee and ice cream in the nation, Monteverde is a safe and dynamic place for families to live.

The Director of the school reports to the Board of Directors of the CFS-CEC. This individual has the overall responsibility of insuring that the mission of the school is fulfilled:

* Managing current resources
* Working with budgets and enrollment
* Providing vision and direction as well as planning future needs of the school
* Leadership of an administrative team as well as teaching staff
* Directing day-to-day management of educational activities of the school
* Developing academic programs
* Monitoring students' educational progress
* Training and motivating teachers and other staff
* Managing special education and other student services
* Handling relations with parents, prospective and current students, and the community.

The Cloud Forest School's strong preference is that the Director be bilingual with experience living abroad and working in a multicultural setting; this individual will also have the interpersonal and professional skills necessary to work productively with a diverse group of constituents.

Highlights: About the Cloud Forest School - Centro de Educación Creativa:

* We are Costa Rican, fully accredited, nonprofit, bilingual PreK - high school, working mostly with local Costa Rican students, over 75% of whom receive financial aid. About 8% of our 210 students are visiting from North America or Europe for the 2009-2010 school year.

* About 2/3 of our faculty are certified teachers from North America; the remaining 1/3 are Costa Rican educators. The majority of support staff at the CFS-CEC are local Costa Ricans.

* We offer a volunteer and internship program to university and gap-year students from around the globe; in the 2008-2009 school year, over 230 people participated in these programs.

* Our campus sits on 42 hectares of Cloud Forest; we are a member of the Costa Rican Network of Private Reserves and form part of the Monteverde Reserve complex.

* Classes begin mid-July and end mid-June. Teachers have a month vacation from mid-December to mid-January, and four other weeks off throughout the year. The Director is granted 2 weeks of vacation in December, 2 in June/July, 1 for Easter week, and 10 additional days.

* Monteverde is a remote mountain community of 5,000 people located about 3 hours from the city, or 3 hours from the Pacific coast beaches. It is perfect for those who truly enjoy the outdoors, hiking, relaxing with friends and enjoying wildlife. There are artists and musicians in town as well as many nonprofit conservation and educational organizations.

Qualifications: Skills and Abilities

* Minimum 3-5 years in educational administration / school leadership
* Minimum of a Masters degree or its equivalent.
* A devotion to, and experience with, environmental and progressive education.
* Excellent management skills.
* Outstanding interpersonal and intercultural skills.
* Ability to read, write and speak both Spanish and English is strongly preferred.
* Experience in non-profit management preferred
* Poise and a sense of humor.

Minimum Education: Masters

Salary / Pay: Range: 1000 - 1300 per month, payable in Costa Rican colones + 1 month salary bonus (aguinaldo). Enrollment in the Costa Rica Health System, 7 weeks vacation, tuition waver for one child, tuition reduction for subsequent children

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to American, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants.

Application Process Involves:

• In-Person Interview when Feasible
• Letters of Reference
• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Other
• Phone Interview
• Resume
• Written Application

Cloud Forest School's Mission Statement: Our mission is to nurture generations of ecologically aware, academically well-rounded bilingual individuals. We will work to provide students with the knowledge, values and skills needed to make environmentally and socially conscious decisions on a local, national and global scale. Our vision is a sustainable future for the Earth through educating individuals to love, respect and protect the natural environment, to strive for justice and peace as well as academic excellence and to work towards conserving biodiversity and enriching community life.

Year Founded: 1991