Superintendents Office

Dr. Derek King

Superintendent

I am honored to serve the students, staff, families and community as the Superintendent for Excelsior Charter Schools.  My intent is to ensure that our families have a clear advantage by choosing to attend any campus within the Excelsior Charter School system. We ensure that our campuses and online environments are safe and provide the best atmospheres to encourage learning and mental health for all students.  We continue to attract and develop the strongest classroom, distance learning and school site leaders by committing to continuous improvement for every employee within our organization.

The foundation of my leadership rests in modeling the strongest school leadership behaviors and the Correlates of Highly Effective Schools:

1. Clearly stated mission and vision – Our mission of Preparing Students to Be Successful Adults is our true north. Our priorities, instructional goals, budgets and LCAPs are focused to prepare our students college acceptance and the workforce transition upon graduation.  We accept the responsibility and accountability for the success of all students.
2. Instructional leadership by all administrators and staff members – As the Superintendent I hold the primary role in instructional leadership. Our Principals embrace this role at the site level by building a community of shared values with our Teachers, Facilitators, Support Staff and family members.  We will continue to build environments that nurture collaboration that is learner centered.
3. A safe and orderly environment for learning – Our schools and online spaces will remain positive, purposeful, businesslike environments that are free from the threat of physical and emotional harm.
4. Climate of high expectations of student success – Our efforts are focused on learning and not merely instruction. We hold the highest expectations for all students, staff members, teachers and administrators. All Excelsior students develop Personal Life Plans (PLP) with the assistance of our Teaching and Facilitation staff.  Our goal is that all students reach their college and career transition milestones upon graduation.  While in high school we support free college attendance through our partnerships with several regional community colleges.
5. Frequent monitoring of student progress – Excelsior frequently measures academic student progress through a variety of assessment procedures. The monitoring of student learning emphasizes more authentic assessments of curriculum mastery. Assessment results are used to improve individual student performance and also improve instructional delivery. Assessment results show that alignment exists between the intended, taught, and tested curriculum.
6. Opportunity to learn and time on task – While we offer a hybrid teaching model we work hard to maximize and extend the instructional time by our teachers being well prepared and the use of technology to support students who are learning from home.
7. Positive home/school relations – Our goal is to build and maintain a high level of trust and open communication channels with our students, parents and community members. We work hard to develop processes to listen to the suggestions and concerns of our families.  Your student’s success is our shared goal.

My own children are Excelsior Charter School graduates. I strongly believe that attending Excelsior provides students and families an advantage over other school options. Thank you for trusting us with your students. It is my honor to continue to serve our students, families and staff and look forward to working with our Excelsior staff to provide safe, academically rigorous learning environments.

DEREKK@EXCELSIOR.COM