Deputy Superintendent of Schools

About the District

Lansing School District educates more than 10,000 PreK-12 students in 25 school buildings across Lansing, Michigan. The district serves an increasingly diverse urban community and stands out for offering families and staff a broad mix of innovative educational choices. Every team member is expected to help fulfill the district’s mission of delivering an excellent education in a safe, supportive environment.

Role Overview

The Deputy Superintendent of Schools is a senior executive role that reports directly to the Superintendent and is part of the District Executive Team. This leader provides strategic direction, oversight, coordination, and accountability across major district areas such as K-12 schools, curriculum and instruction, assessment and evaluation, professional learning, pupil accounting and enrollment, alternative education, athletics and enrichment, online learning, summer school, and district instructional and steering committees. The position partners with leaders across the district, the Board of Education, families, and community organizations to strengthen academic systems, improve consistency, and drive strong student outcomes.

Qualifications

• A master’s degree or higher in Educational Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction, Administration, or a closely related discipline is required.
• A valid Michigan School Administrator Certificate, or eligibility for one, is required.
• At least 5 years of successful experience in school or educational leadership is required.
• Proven background in supervising, coaching, evaluating, and supporting principals, school leaders, and/or district administrators is required.
• Strong knowledge of K-12 instructional systems, assessment, accountability, school improvement, student support, and district operations is required.
• Experience leading teams, handling complex initiatives, and implementing systems across multiple schools or departments is required.
• Ability to use data to track progress, identify needs, measure impact, and guide improvement is required.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, problem-solving, and decision-making skills are required.
• Must be able to build trust, collaborate effectively, and lead through influence with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Strong commitment to student achievement and the success of all Lansing School District students is required.
• Central office leadership experience in a large urban school district is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Act as a senior advisor to the Superintendent and participate as a key member of the executive leadership team.
• Oversee, guide, support, and evaluate designated senior directors, directors, administrators, and other staff as assigned by the Superintendent.
• Direct districtwide efforts connected to curriculum, instruction, assessment, evaluation, instructional programs, professional learning, and continuous improvement.
• Help shape, implement, monitor, and assess district academic priorities and strategic initiatives.
• Work with school and central office leaders to improve instructional systems, school improvement, student performance, attendance, graduation, and overall school outcomes.
• Support alignment of academic programs, student services, staffing, resources, and operational systems across schools and departments.
• Assist with principal supervision, principal growth, and consistent execution of district expectations across buildings.
• Lead or support Instructional Council, steering committees, and other districtwide leadership groups.
• Oversee assigned functions such as K-12 schools, alternative education, athletics and enrichment, Capital Area K-12 Online, summer school, pupil accounting, central enrollment, research requests, and related areas.
• Use district, school, program, and student data to assess progress, review effectiveness, identify gaps, and recommend improvements.
• Partner with executive team members on budgeting, staffing, resource allocation, compliance, policy implementation, collective bargaining, labor relations, and long-range planning.
• Assist the Superintendent with reports, recommendations, presentations, and updates for the Board of Education, staff, families, and community partners.
• Represent the Superintendent and/or district in meetings, committees, community events, and partnerships as needed.
• Support crisis response, issue resolution, parent/community concerns, and high-level operational or instructional matters.
• Help build a culture centered on high expectations, accountability, teamwork, professionalism, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure assigned schools and departments comply with Board policy, state and federal rules, grant conditions, collective bargaining agreements, and district procedures.
• Protect confidentiality and use sound professional judgment when handling sensitive personnel, student, family, and district issues.
• Carry out additional duties assigned by the Superintendent.

Additional Information

Lansing School District emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion and provides equal opportunity to all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or sexual orientation. The district values professional growth and diverse perspectives. Internal mobility is supported, and internal candidates may be identified as strong internal candidates before a posting is opened more broadly.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. The district notes that most jobs remain posted for at least 10 days unless otherwise specified. If selected, candidates will be contacted for an interview. Because of application volume, individual feedback may be limited.

External candidates applying for multiple roles in the same department only need to submit one application and can note additional interests in the final question. Internal candidates should use their SSO email address and submit separate applications for each role of interest.

This job summary describes the main responsibilities and qualifications for the role and is not a complete list of duties. The district may revise responsibilities as needed, and additional duties may be assigned depending on funding sources.