Arts Department Chair at Davis School Chicago

Davis School Chicago is a proudly Jewish, college-preparatory high school opening in fall 2027 in downtown Chicago, in a state-of-the-art building at the heart of a great city for learning. Every adult at Davis is an educator and a culture-builder, held to two expectations at once: deep human warmth and uncompromising intellectual excellence. Davis is hiring a founding Arts Department Chair to build a program where making, performing, and understanding art are studied as seriously as calculus — and to teach in it every day. This is a teaching chair: in the launch years the Chair carries a substantial teaching load while building the department from scratch, with increasing time for curriculum, coaching, and professional development as the school grows. Responsibilities: • Architect the arts course sequence from first principles across visual arts, music, theatre, and media arts, meeting or exceeding AP frameworks (AP Art and Design, AP Art History, AP Music Theory) • Lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of a vertically aligned arts curriculum • Recruit, hire, onboard, mentor, supervise, and evaluate department faculty, and serve as an instructional coach • Facilitate weekly common planning time centered on student work, and run peer observation and coaching cycles • Support exhibitions, performances, ensembles, festivals, competitions, and community arts initiatives • Help students build portfolios, audition materials, and pathways toward collegiate and professional arts opportunities • Build relationships with universities, museums, conservatories, cultural institutions, artists, and arts organizations Qualifications: • Master's degree required in Education, Educational Leadership, Art, Music, Theatre, or Arts Education; doctorate preferred • Illinois Professional Educator License in the arts preferred; National Board Certification a major plus • 3+ years of successful arts teaching experience • Leadership experience with adults required; instructional leadership preferred • Being Jewish is not a requirement for this role Salary: $77,543–$137,099, based on the school's faculty salary schedule, plus a leadership differential of $4,000–$8,000 determined by years of leadership experience. Benefits: • Paid time off and holiday pay • Medical insurance • 401(k) with employer match Davis School Chicago is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.