Career Center

Temporary Director of Communications Opportunity Statement 

The Fay School seeks a Temporary Director of Communications who will step into a highly organized office and inspire our school community by advancing the school’s new strategic priorities. The Temporary Director of Communications position is a stellar opportunity for an ambitious, motivated, and visionary leader eager to join an evolving school at a critical time in history. The target start date for the four-month position is December. 

Founded on the principle of building a school “where children come first,” The Fay School serves approximately 300 students aged three years to Fifth Grade in the Uptown area of Houston, Texas. ?It is among the best independent elementary and primary schools in the competitive Houston marketplace. By fostering their emotional intelligence and leadership development while providing challenging and engaging academics, The Fay School prepares its fifth-graders to matriculate to Houston’s most sought-after middle schools.

The school is a joyful educational oasis that sits on 8.5 acres of naturally landscaped property where children frequently work and play in its beautiful outdoor setting. Many Fay families speak of the immediate calm they feel as they drive onto the campus, delivering their children to this unique student-focused learning environment. To adapt to the evolving landscape of education and plan its direction for the next three to five years, The Fay School engaged in a partnership with Ian Symmonds & Associates, a leading firm in facilitating innovative strategic planning. The plan was unveiled during the 2020-2021 school year, making this an exciting time to be part of a community focused on the future of education and innovative thinking. 

Performance Profile

Position Summary: 

The Temporary Director of Communications is a full-time 4-month position that reports to the Director of Advancement. This position is part of the Advancement Team and works to develop and implement a broad, comprehensive, and strategic marketing and branding plan designed to promote the school.  

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following:

• Execute the annual marketing plans that engage internal and external constituents in the support and promotion of the school.  
• Oversee the production of a variety of materials meant to increase the school’s visibility and competitive positioning and enhance the public’s perception of the school.

• Coordinate a publications program that reaches and influences the school’s target audiences.
• Maintain integrity of the school’s website.  
• Execute and manage the integrated online presence on social media platforms.  
• Ensure that all externally facing platforms (Google, Niche, Mailchimp, ISSUU, etc.) are in alignment with Fay’s branding and messaging objectives. 
• Maintain social media surveillance and response in real time when possible. 
• Expected to utilize personal cell phone device to execute necessary social media applications. 
• Maintain The Fay School’s Blog, weekly newsletters, and other online publications.
• Supports the entire campus in their communications with prospective and current parents, including Nurse communications, communications from the Specials teachers, Personnel Announcements, Admissions department, and more. 
• Responsible for the creation and execution of any and all community wide emails (Fay Flyer, Admissions Welcome Series, Middle School Counseling updates, and Principal emails, etc.) 
• Capture day-to-day activities and events around campus through photography.   
• Assist with the planning and execution of ongoing and periodic Advancement functions including volunteer services and fundraising events.  
• Maintain and update all Communications platforms.   
• Performs other duties as assigned.   
• Willing and able to routinely and appropriately use personal smartphone to utilize school apps to communicate, collaborate, and fulfill responsibilities as outlined in this Performance Profile.
• Supports the school and its leadership.

Competency Profile: 

• Celebrates diversity and is proactively inclusive of all racial, cultural, socio-economic, religious, and gender groups.  
• Exhibits self-awareness and self-monitoring in identifying and solving school problems. At the same time, the Temporary Director of Communications understands the vision, the mission, the strategic plan, and all policies of the school and, when questions or concerns arise, raises them with appropriate colleagues and supervisors.  
• Demonstrates effective written and oral communication skills.  
• Embraces feedback and a culture of continuous improvement.  
• Displays attitudes and actions that contribute to a healthy and collegial school culture.  
• Supports and actively promotes the organization. Positively reflects the organization’s vision, core values, and strategic plan and addresses actions that don’t align with those values, the vision, and the strategic plan. 

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher. 
• Ability to write and speak effectively. 
• Ability to collaborate across departments. 
• Ability to maintain confidentiality. 

The Fay School’s Signature Programs and Differentiators:  

Leadership Development through Emotional Intelligence: Becoming a successful leader requires a high degree of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, social-awareness, and relationship skills. The Fay School’s Leadership Development Program engages students to cultivate these abilities through reflection, study, communication, and real-world problem solving. By providing opportunities to practice these skills across the curriculum and in real-world settings, we foster student leadership to positively impact the world. At Fay, we believe that humans will undoubtedly be measured by the success of our relationships and our ability to think creatively. The Fay School is committed to the development of these skills and to intentionally empower the next generation of leaders for our world.  

Outdoor Education and Environmental Responsibility: The Fay School enjoys one of the most beautiful landscapes in the city of Houston with our very own habitat of abundant green space, including nature trails in our 3-acre Fay Forest. Situated on Buffalo Bayou just upstream of Buffalo Bayou Park, the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, and Memorial Park, The Fay School’s ideal location allows for an Outdoor Education curriculum that cultivates both a love and understanding of nature and the encouragement to act on an ethos of environmental responsibility. The Outdoor Education curriculum at Fay, along with other developing initiatives, empowers children with a hands-on experience to explore and learn through our natural world. Children learn how to use tools to discover and gain a science-based understanding of plants and animals in our habitat. Equally as important, our students learn to appreciate the sensory aspect of our habitat, with exposure to art and poetry that is inspired by nature. Ask any child at The Fay School about Outdoor Education and watch them light up with joy and enthusiasm.  

Ethnic Diversity: The Fay School’s nonsectarian mission, coupled with Houston’s status as one of the most diverse cities in the United States, allows for an inclusive student body that is over 34 percent racially/ethnically diverse by NAIS definition. 

About The Fay School

School Mission:The Fay School is a nonsectarian, not-for-profit, co-educational school in which children of diverse talents and backgrounds with strong academic abilities are offered a high-quality education in a secure, enriching, and academically challenging environment. Here children learn and grow intellectually, physically, socially, ethically, and artistically while developing self-confidence and a lifelong love of learning through an active partnership among educators, parents, and students. School Vision:Anchored to a challenging, engaging, and relevant academic program, The Fay School’s Leadership Development Program distinguishes itself among all other schools in Houston. Grounded in both emotional intelligence and human capital strategy, The Fay School’s vision is to deliberately build and educate the next generation of leaders for our world. Our students experience leadership training and curriculum reserved for Fortune 500 companies, and they graduate from Fay with skills that will serve them for a lifetime.

Connections working at The Fay School