Assistant Dean of Students/Director of Community Engagement

Assistant Dean of Students/Community Engagement Coordinator

This is a student facing position that reports to the Dean of Students. 

The goals for this position are:

• To increase student-student, student-adult, and student-school engagement in a very diverse boarding school community.
• To assist in the functioning of the Dean of Students office specifically in regards to attendance, travel and data recording and communication.

Director of Community Engagement

• Chair the Community Engagement Committee 
• Along with the committee, design and carry out educational and cultural events
  • Cultivate community groups, student interest clubs, etc.
• Assist in locating resources and materials, including professional development opportunities, that build Darrow’s capacity to embrace and reflect the diversity on the campus in all aspects of the school.
• Organize and implement a robust series of community events/activities designed to engage all community members and to foster connections between groups
  • Community Programing
    • One-off events as well as larger community events
    • Weekend Activities
  • Oversee the weekend activities program for students

Dean of Students office 

• Utilize the school’s database to monitor student information including attendance, discipline, demographics, emergency notification components. 
• Update the school’s database as needed throughout the year
• Communication with parents, students and faculty as directed by the Dean of Students
• Coordination of student travel and transportation

Benefits of this position include:

• On-campus housing, including utilities (if desired)
• Generous paid time off
• Medical and dental insurance
• 403(b) retirement plan 
• Health Savings Account
• Health Reimbursement Account
• Basic Life and AD&D coverage

About Darrow School

The Darrow School, an independent, co-ed, boarding and day school for grades 9-12, offers a comprehensive and individually focused college-preparatory curriculum that features a unique combination of classroom instruction, experiential learning, and environmental consciousness. The School is located on 365 acres in the Town of New Lebanon, located on the New York State side of the Berkshires, and comprises 26 buildings, 16 of which are Shaker-built and designated as Registered National Historic Landmark buildings.

Why Work at Darrow?

There is something indefinable and remarkable about Darrow School. Perhaps it’s our historic Shaker Heritage or our location nestled between the Berkshire Mountains and the Hudson Valley. Or maybe it's our community of individuals where everyone feels welcome and celebrated. Darrow is a place that draws people together, connects them, and stays with them forever.

Darrow offers a generous benefits package that includes retirement; health, life, and disability insurance plans; and generous paid time off. Some positions are year-round; others offer an academic-year schedule. Given the residential responsibilities of a boarding school, housing is provided for numerous positions either in a dormitory or residences on campus.

There's so much to enjoy about living and working at Darrow, and the community offers something for everyone. Our faculty and staff have said that some of the reasons they love working at Darrow include meaningful work, feeling of inclusion and acceptance, and friendly and familiar faces on campus. Darrow is a small community with a big heart.

Living, Breathing History 

With just over 100 students from around the world, Darrow offers faculty, staff, and students a dynamic boarding school experience. Founded in 1932 on a beautiful 365-acre Mountainside campus, we are the only boarding school community on a National Historic Landmark. Our campus was once home to the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society, renowned for its commitment to social and racial justice, community planning, architecture, and entrepreneurship.

Mission and Values

Darrow serves diverse backgrounds and abilities, building on individuals' talents and interests to deepen thinking with specialized programs, providing opportunities to explore the creative spaces where ideas intersect and solutions emerge. Our Active Curriculum, rooted in the liberal arts and sciences, is individually focused and combines innovative classroom instruction with project-based learning to educate future generations of global citizens who understand the wider world and their place in it.

Our Guiding Values

Growth

We prioritize growth over perfection, recognizing that each individual has their own gifts, challenges, and goals to build from. Our students are safe to fail creatively, which is essential for true learning. They routinely revise and reflect on their work on their way toward mastery.

Diversity

We believe that the opportunity to learn and grow in a small, diverse community during your formative years is irreplaceable. We actively cultivate and celebrate a student body that is diverse along many dimensions, including racial and ethnic diversity, diversity of gender identity, and neurodiversity.

Community

Like the Mohicans and Shakers who inhabited this place before us, we believe in the power of an intentional community built around shared work and shared values. Darrow is deliberately small, which means that each community member is valued and influential.

Compassion

We seek to treat each other with compassion, recognizing that we may only know a small part of someone else’s story. 

Authenticity

We aspire to be a place where young people become comfortable in their own skins and empowered to understand and share their authentic selves.

Campus Life

There's always something exciting and thought-provoking happening at Darrow. Enjoying a lively campus culture, faculty and staff have opportunities to regularly attend and participate in a diverse array of year-round events, including Hands-to-Work, Winterm, Tuesday Night Community Programming, fitness classes, concerts, performances, talks, lectures, live theater, and art exhibitions. Additionally, there are countless opportunities for collaboration on several campus-wide projects and initiatives for those seeking to serve their community.

World-renowned Arts and Culture

Darrow is at the center of world-renowned arts and culture. Our location at the edge of the Berkshires is home to music and performing arts venues in the summer, dozens of museums, and various historic sites. Cultural festivals and concerts speak to the region's diversity, while art colonies and craft villages offer inside views of skilled artisans at work. One of America's first art movements started in Hudson Valley. Today, Modern art is well represented with venues such as MassMoCa, Storm King Arts Center, and Dia: Beacon, all international destinations.

Darrow School is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed (religion), color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, age, disability, predisposing genetic characteristic, marital status or domestic violence victim status, and shall also follow the requirements of the Human Rights Law with regard to non-discrimination on the basis of prior criminal conviction and prior arrest. 

Darrow School does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation in the administration of any of its admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, educational, athletic, recreational, and other school-administered programs.