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What You’ll Do

As the Head of School at Easterseals New York's Kessler Center, you will lead a Children’s Residential Project (CRP)—a specialized educational and residential program serving students with developmental disabilities. You will oversee a highly individualized, supportive environment that integrates academic instruction, life skills development, and residential care to meet the complex needs of students ages 5–21. You will provide visionary leadership to build on a strong foundation while increasing enrollment and introducing innovative programming that prepares students for long-term independence, vocational success, and community inclusion.

Your Responsibilities Will Include:

Leadership & Vision

+ Championing the mission of Easterseals New York and The Fedcap Group’s Education Practice by fostering a culture of high-quality educational opportunity for children of all abilities.

+ Driving strategic growth—refining the school’s model and launching new programs that align with best practices in special education and innovative learning.

+ Leading transformational initiatives that improve outcomes and strengthen community impact.

Educational Programming & Innovation

+ Overseeing a rigorous, individualized curriculum tailored to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, integrating academic instruction with life-skills training and work-readiness preparation.

+ Launching and expanding new programming that will always give students access to new courses, programs, and activities.

+ Ensuring full compliance with state and federal education laws and IEP implementation standards.

+ Working closely with the residential program and staff to ensure seamless service delivery.

Team Leadership & Professional Development

+ Recruiting, retaining, and supporting a mission-driven team of educators, clinicians, and paraprofessionals.

+ Providing staffing development in trauma-informed instruction, behavior supports, and innovation in special education practice.

+ Cultivating a collaborative, supportive professional culture.

Student & Family Engagement

+ Executing a strategy to increase enrollment to meet the local demand for our services.

+ Building trusting relationships with students and their families to ensure coordinated support across home, school, and community.

+ Serving as a visible leader for families navigating complex educational and developmental systems.

Operations & Fiscal Management

+ Developing and managing the school’s budget, aligning resources to support new program development and staff growth.

+ Partnering with Easterseals New York and Fedcap leadership to secure grants and philanthropic support for innovation.

+ Overseeing day-to-day operations, facilities, and health and safety protocols.

Community & Stakeholder Engagement

+ Serving as the primary representative of the school in the community, strengthening relationships with public agencies, advocacy organizations, employers, and workforce boards.

+ Building external partnerships to support learning experiences for students.

You’re a great fit for this role if you have:

+ Master’s degree or higher in Special Education, Educational Leadership, or a related field.

+ At least 5–7 years of progressive school leadership experience, ideally in settings serving students with autism or developmental disabilities.

+ Strong knowledge of IDEA, IEP development, trauma-informed care, and evidence-based instructional strategies.

+ Visionary leadership with the ability to manage change, engage teams, and lead cross-sector collaborations.

Compensation

$105,000 - $120,000/yr

Who We Are

The mission of Easterseals New York is to spread help, hope and answers.

We operate programs that enable people with special needs to achieve equality, dignity, and independence in their own communities. We provide exceptional services to ensure that all people with disabilities or special needs and their families have equal opportunities to live, learn, work and play in their communities. We change the way the world defines and views disability by making profound, positive differences in people's lives every day. Easterseals has been an American Institution since 1919.

Easterseals New York joined The Fedcap Group in 2015.

Website: www.Easterseals.com/newyork

The Fedcap Group provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. We are an EEO employer committed to diversity, M/F/D/V.