TITLE: Chief Academic Officer (CAO) (Formerly Director of State and Federal Programs) 

DEPARTMENT: Central Office Administration

REPORTS TO: Superintendent

STATUS: Exempt

CONTRACT DAYS: 240 Days

COMPENSATION INDEX: 0.25

 

COMPREHENSIVE ROLES MATRIX

To properly capture the executive workload, building leadership oversight, and compliance liability managed by this position within a high-needs district footprint, the Chief Academic Officer operates as a single point of leadership synthesized across the following distinct district-level roles:

• Executive Supervisor of Principals (Building-Level Leadership Oversight)
• Director of Special Education (DoSE)
• Director of Preschool
• Director of Human Resources
• Director of all Title Programs (Titles I, II, III, IV, V)
• Director of Curriculum & Instruction (PreK–12)
• District Assessment Coordinator (DAC)
• Director of Virtual Learning and Alternative Education
• District 504 Coordinator
• District Professional Development Coordinator
• District MTSS Coordinator
• District SBDM Coordinator
• District Grants Coordinator
• Certified Evaluation Coordinator
• District FRYSC Supervisor
• District English Learner (EL) and Gifted & Talented Supervisor
• Data Manager

Note on Specific Role Functions: Because this position merges multiple comprehensive administrative areas, please review the individual, standalone district job descriptions for each specific role listed above to obtain more granular detail regarding specialized daily workflows, technical criteria, and legal compliance benchmarks. 

 

POSITION PURPOSE

The Chief Academic Officer (CAO) serves as a vital member of the Superintendent’s Executive Cabinet, providing visionary leadership, executive oversight, and direct supervisory management for the district's entire instructional, compliance, academic technology, and human capital infrastructure. Operating within a high-needs district demographic, the CAO synthesizes the multiple distinct district-level roles listed above into a unified, high-performing academic operation. This position is directly responsible for supervising and evaluating building principals, ensuring strict compliance with state and federal mandates, maximizing grant funding, driving multi-tiered systems of support, overseeing alternative and digital learning pathways, and supervising curriculum, assessment, and personnel operations to close achievement gaps and maximize student success across all brick-and-mortar and virtual environments.

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND PERFORMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES

Principal Supervision and Executive Leadership

• Serve as the immediate supervisor and evaluator for all building principals (Elementary, Middle, and High School), providing instructional leadership coaching, operational support, and strategic performance reviews.
• Conduct regular site visits, classroom walkthroughs, and leadership mentorship sessions with principals to ensure school-level implementation of the district's strategic vision and Comprehensive District Improvement Plan (CDIP).
• Guide building principals through budgeting, staffing allocations, school culture initiatives, student discipline frameworks, and community engagement strategies.
• Lead regular principal PLC meetings to ensure systemic articulation, consistency of practice, and data-driven instruction across all campuses.

Academic Leadership, Curriculum & Instruction

• Direct the development, alignment, implementation, and evaluation of a rigorous PreK–12 district curriculum aligned with the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS).
• Act as the Director of Curriculum & Instruction and District Professional Development Coordinator, organizing and facilitating professional learning frameworks that improve teacher efficacy and build leadership capacity.
• Coordinate the District MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) Framework, ensuring evidence-based academic and behavioral interventions are systematically deployed and monitored across all schools.
• Serve as the District SBDM (School-Based Decision Making) Coordinator, serving as the liaison between the Central Office, school councils, principals, and the Board to maintain policy alignment.

Virtual & Alternative Learning Administration

• Serve as the Director of the Virtual Learning Academy, assuming comprehensive responsibility for the administration, enrollment, scheduling, and instruction of the district's digital learning programs.
• Supervise the selection, auditing, and implementation of digital curriculum platforms, ensuring online courses meet or exceed Kentucky Academic Standards and graduation requirements.
• Monitor virtual student engagement, attendance, and academic progress, ensuring synchronous and asynchronous instructional hours meet Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) compliance metrics.
• Coordinate virtual staffing, evaluate online instructors, and facilitate specialized professional development tailored to effective digital pedagogy and distance learning management.

Special Education & Specialized Populations Oversight

• Fulfill all statutory duties of the Director of Special Education (DoSE) as mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Kentucky Administrative Regulations (KARs), and local board policies.
• Direct the planning, legal compliance, and execution of Admission and Release Committee (ARC) processes, individual education programs (IEPs), and Section 504 accommodations.
• Supervise the Director of Preschool role, overseeing early childhood screening, enrollment, and instructional programming to ensure state-mandated compliance and school readiness.
• Manage the identification, tracking, and compliance frameworks for English Learner (EL), Gifted & Talented (GT), Migrant, and Homeless student populations across both physical campuses and the Virtual Academy as the District EL and Alternative Education Coordinator.

State & Federal Programs and Financial Accountability

• Serve as the Director of all Title programs (Titles I, II, III, IV, V), assuming full responsibility for grant applications, comprehensive needs assessments, budget allocations, and compliance reporting via GMAP.
• Act as the District Grants Coordinator, aggressively researching, writing, securing, and monitoring competitive state, federal, and private grants to maximize resources for at-risk and non-traditional student populations.
• Collaborate closely with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to ensure precise fiscal tracking, supplement-not-supplant validation, and audit-proof documentation for all state and federal allocations.

Assessment, Accountability & Research

• Serve as the District Assessment Coordinator (DAC), managing the secure administration, logistics, and ethical boundaries of all state-mandated accountability assessments (AKSA, ACT, ACCESS, etc.), including testing accommodations for virtual students.
• Act as the District Data Manager, leading the collection, analysis, and disaggregation of assessment and demographic data to drive continuous school improvement planning (CDIP/CSIP).

Human Resources & Executive Operations

• Serve as the Director of Human Resources, managing personnel files, certification verifications via EPSB, tenure tracking, recruitment cycles, and employee onboarding.
• Oversee the Certified Evaluation Contact process, ensuring the district’s Certified Evaluation Plan (CEP) is approved, up to date, and executed uniformly across all traditional and virtual learning environments.
• Collaborate regularly with the Superintendent on executive planning, policy generation, and strategic district-wide decisions, presenting comprehensive programmatic reports to the Board of Education.

Other Duties

• Perform other duties as assigned by the Superintendent to support the operational flexibility, academic continuous improvement, and emergency responsiveness of the district.

 

QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

• Education: Master’s Degree or higher in Educational Leadership, Educational Technology, Administration, or a closely related field from an accredited institution. Specialist or Doctorate preferred.
• Certification Requirements (Kentucky Department of Education):
• Valid Kentucky Certification for Teaching
• Valid Kentucky Certification for School Principal.
• Valid Kentucky Certification for School Superintendent.
• Valid Kentucky Certification for Director of Special Education (DoSE).
• Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of successful building-level principal experience or equivalent district-level administrative experience. A proven track record of supervising personnel, driving instructional gains, and navigating high-stakes compliance frameworks (IDEA, Title I, or District Assessment) is required.

 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Extensive knowledge of Kentucky School Law, Kentucky Administrative Regulations (KARs), IDEA, and federal Title regulations.
• Exceptional executive leadership and coaching skills necessary to evaluate, develop, and mentor high-performing building principals.
• Proficiency with Learning Management Systems (LMS), online instructional design, and data analytics tools specific to virtual schooling.
• Exceptional data fluency with an ability to translate complex assessment analytics into actionable traditional and virtual instructional practices.
• Superior fiscal management skills tied to complex, multi-layered federal grant structures.
• High-level communication and interpersonal skills are necessary to coordinate a multifaceted 15-role portfolio across diverse physical and digital learning environments.

 

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that an employee must meet to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• Frequent travel across district buildings, classrooms, and campuses to observe principals and operations.
• Regular evening commitments to attend Board of Education, school events, and SBDM meetings.
• Routine computer use, virtual meeting coordination, data entry, and intensive reading of regulatory/legal text.