Principal

Position Summary
Name of Position: Principal
Position Location: Irvine, California
Employment Type: Full-time; Exempt; 12-Month, unless otherwise designated by employment agreement or
contract documents
Work Schedule: Typically 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; morning, evening, weekend, break, summer, worship service,
student-event, parent-meeting, athletic, performing arts, international, counseling, discipline, crisis-response,
accreditation, and special-event hours may be required according to ministry needs
Education Required: Doctorate required, preferably in education; administrative services credential preferred
Years of Experience: A minimum of five years of school leadership experience required, with demonstrated
strength in Christian leadership; a minimum of three years of teaching experience required
Starting Salary: $155,172 to $185,281; commensurate with experience, education, leadership responsibility, and
ministry needs
Travel: Local, regional, national, and international travel as required for school-related meetings, conferences,
and other assigned responsibilities
Religious Affiliation: Member in good standing of a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregation required;
call-eligible worker in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod preferred but not required
Reports to: Chief Operating Officer
Supervises: Vice Principals and assigned directors, committees, programs, and areas as reflected in the
organizational chart and as directed by the Chief Operating Officer.
The Principal provides Christ-centered leadership for the educational, spiritual, relational, cultural, academic,
and student-facing life of Crean Lutheran High School. The Principal helps ensure that CLHS remains faithful to
its mission of Proclaiming Jesus Christ Through Excellence in Education by strengthening the programs, people,
expectations, and systems that shape the school's daily life.

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
● Active Christian and local church member.
● Demonstrates a heart for Jesus Christ:
o I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I
Corinthians 2:2

● Demonstrates personal character:
o In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity,
seriousness and soundness of speech... Titus 2:7-8
● Demonstrates a passion for excellence worthy of Christ:
o Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord... Colossians 3:23
● Demonstrates a passion for the unity in the Body of Christ while maintaining faithful fidelity to scripture,
salvation by grace through faith, and Jesus’ once-for-all atoning sacrifice and resurrection:

o It is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

● Exemplifies a Christ-like attitude in both written and verbal communication.
● Approachable, with an appropriate balance of high expectations, patience, and mentorship.
● A team player who is willing to listen to the ideas, concerns, and solutions of others.

ROLE AND FUNCTION, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (General)
● Displays an ability to clearly, professionally, and persuasively articulate Crean Lutheran’s positions
regarding its philosophy of education, its educational and cocurricular programs, its intentional
Christ-centered and Biblically-based worldview, and its unapologetic mission as a Lutheran school
serving a constituency consisting of a diverse sampling of the broad Christian family and also the
possibility of students and/or families who do not yet know and trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior;
● Prepares students through consistent and varied ministry opportunities to be able to internalize and
defend Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior;
● Empowers each student, through a comprehensive curriculum, enriching co-curricular activities, and the
assistance of staff to gain an appreciation for what might be his or her calling;
● Provides nurturing and encouraging Christian interactions;
● Models professionalism through attire, punctual attendance, behavior, and safety;
● Models a Gospel-centered approach in day-to-day relationships with students, faculty, and staff
members, and parents, and fosters such an approach among everyone on campus;
● Is a force for Christian unity, encouraging the celebration of a variety of different Christian
denominations’ gifts to the multi-faceted saving grace of God in Christ;
● Maintains student records and observes strict fiscal responsibility in relation to areas of oversight and
responsibility;
● Maintains a commitment to ongoing growth in self and others, supporting and participating annually in
professional growth;
● Understands, utilizes, and advocates the use of technology;
● Effectively and appropriately collaborates with faculty and staff members;
● “Jesus-proofs” all communications and public CLHS presentations, reflecting our Christ-centered culture
and focus, and maintaining the branding of CLHS;
● Possesses the ability to provide spiritual leadership to staff, students, and other members of the Crean
Lutheran High School family;
● Helps the staff relate Christian philosophy to the day-by-day practice and procedure of the Crean
Lutheran High School community;
● Organizes existing resources and personnel to maintain and strengthen the quality of Christian
education;
● Communicates with warmth and understanding in interactions with administrative colleagues, teachers,
students, parents, and other stakeholders;
● Reads, agrees to, and abides by the Employee Policy Manual, available from the Director of Human
Resources;
● Demonstrates a positive attitude toward the job and remains a flexible and innovative team builder and
team member;
● Follows and models Matthew 18:15-20, encouraging communication between individuals;
● Communicates effectively with faculty, administrators, students, and parents.

ROLE AND FUNCTION, SKILLS AND ABILITIES (Specific)
In carrying out the responsibilities below, the Principal may act directly or through other designees as
appropriate and as directed by the Chief Operating Officer.

Principal Leadership and Mission Alignment
● Serves as Principal of Crean Lutheran High School, providing Christ-centered leadership for the school’s
educational, spiritual, relational, cultural, academic, co-curricular, and student-facing life;
● Leads assigned student-facing programs and personnel in a manner that strengthens CLHS’s mission of
Proclaiming Jesus Christ Through Excellence in Education and helps ensure students are known, loved,
challenged, supported, discipled, and prepared as Christians, Learners, and Servants;
● Helps ensure that assigned programs, departments, leaders, traditions, events, worship opportunities,
parent interactions, and student experiences are aligned with CLHS’s mission, vision, values, Lutheran
identity, schoolwide goals, and expectations for excellence worthy of Christ;
● Provides leadership for a school culture that is joyful, disciplined, relational, excellent, safe,
Christ-centered, student-centered, and mission-aligned, while supporting teachers, staff members, Vice
Principals, directors, and assigned leaders in carrying out their vocations with faithfulness, skill,
professionalism, and excellence worthy of Christ.

Vice Principal and Program Leadership
● Directly supervises assigned Vice Principals;
● Provides support and accountability for assigned Vice Principals, directors, and other assigned leaders;
● Helps ensure that assigned departments supervise with clarity, consistency, and appropriate
follow-through;
● Identifies leadership gaps, program needs, personnel concerns, communication breakdowns, and
opportunities for improvement within assigned student-facing areas.
Academic Leadership and Instructional Excellence
● Provides leadership and oversight for academic excellence, curriculum alignment, instructional quality,
assessment practices, academic programming, academic pathways, faculty support, and student learning
as assigned;
● Helps ensure that academic programs, curriculum, instruction, grading practices, policies, course
offerings, cohorts, academic teams, honor societies, and academic pathways are rigorous,
mission-aligned, student-centered, appropriately innovative, and supportive of college readiness,
Christian formation, and lifelong learning;
● Supports faculty members in maintaining high expectations, strong relationships, sound pedagogy, clear
communication, effective assessment, classroom professionalism, and Christian witness;
● Uses student-performance data, stakeholder feedback, accreditation findings, department goals, and
schoolwide priorities to support academic improvement;
● Works with appropriate leaders to ensure that students are challenged and supported spiritually,
academically, socially, physically, and emotionally.

Parent Partnership, Communication, and Conflict Resolution
● Builds and maintains healthy parent partnership through clear communication, professionalism,
responsiveness, transparency, and Christian care;
● Provides or ensures appropriate written and verbal communication to students, parents, faculty, staff,
administrators, and community members regarding assigned student-facing programs and school
priorities;
● Helps resolve student, parent, faculty, staff, and program concerns through a clear process, careful
listening, appropriate documentation, confidentiality, and Matthew 18 principles;
● Represents CLHS with warmth, clarity, professionalism, gratitude, steadiness, and confidence.
Strategic Planning, Accreditation, and Continuous Improvement

● Leads strategic planning efforts, schoolwide action planning, institutional self-study, annual goal-setting,
data gathering, progress monitoring, accreditation, and improvement planning;
● Oversees WASC/NLSA-related work, including preparation, documentation, reporting, committee
leadership, evidence gathering, accreditation findings, and action-plan implementation;
● Helps connect strategic goals to practical implementation within programs, departments, personnel,
timelines, resources, communication plans, and measurable progress;
● Uses accreditation findings, stakeholder feedback, data, enrollment trends, student outcomes, academic
results, student-care needs, and program realities to help strengthen the school;
● Encourages assigned leaders and departments to identify goals, monitor progress, evaluate
effectiveness, pursue continuous improvement, and keep strategic planning mission-centered,
actionable, sustainable, and connected to the daily life of students, faculty, staff, and families.
Student Safety, Crisis Response, and Risk Awareness
● Provides calm, organized, Christ-centered leadership during student crises, grief, loss, discipline
concerns, wellness emergencies, campus disruptions, safety concerns, or other significant student-facing
events;
● Supports the development, review, communication, and implementation of student-facing safety plans,
supervision expectations, crisis communication practices, emergency procedures, reunification planning,
drills, and follow-up reviews as assigned;
● Helps ensure that crisis response protects students and employees, communicates clearly with
stakeholders, maintains educational continuity where possible, points the community to the hope and
promises of Jesus Christ, and leads to improvements in procedures, communication, supervision, student
care, counseling support, faculty support, and training.

Budget Stewardship and Resource Alignment
● Stewards assigned budgets with care, transparency, accountability, and faithful Christian stewardship;
● Works closely with the COO, CFO, Business Office, Vice Principals, and assigned leaders to plan and
manage budgets related to assigned programs and departments;
● Helps ensure that budget requests align with mission, strategic priorities, student needs, program
realities, stewardship expectations, and long-range planning;
● Supports budget planning for assigned departments by helping leaders anticipate needs, justify
expenses, manage spending, and identify priorities;
● Helps ensure that spending decisions reflect both excellence worthy of Christ and faithful stewardship of
the resources entrusted to CLHS.

SKILLS AND ABILITIES (Overview)

Christian and Principal Leadership
● Provides Christ-centered leadership and demonstrates a strong understanding of Christian school
administration, school culture, parent partnership, and the mission of Proclaiming Jesus Christ through
Excellence in Education.

Academic Leadership and Student Care
● Understands curriculum, instruction, assessment, faculty development, academic programming,
counseling, learning support, discipline, student life, spiritual formation, and student safety as integrated
responsibilities of Christian school leadership.

Personnel Leadership
● Supervises, supports, evaluates, coaches, and holds accountable Vice Principals, directors, faculty, staff,

and assigned leaders in a manner that strengthens clarity, trust, collaboration, mission alignment, and
follow-through.

Strategic Thinking and Execution
● Identifies trends, anticipates future needs, develops practical solutions, and manages multiple priorities,
deadlines, personnel needs, student and parent concerns, and sensitive matters with sound organization
and consistent follow-through.

Communication, Collaboration, and Judgment
● Communicates clearly, professionally, pastorally, and calmly; works effectively with executive and
departmental leaders, faculty, staff, families, pastors, and community partners; and maintains appropriate
confidentiality, boundaries, and discretion.

Leadership Presence and Growth
● Demonstrates poise, courage, compassion, and steady leadership during conflict, crises, high-visibility
events, and periods of change while remaining committed to continued growth in Christian leadership,
Lutheran education, school administration, student care, personnel leadership, and executive
partnership.

Physical Requirements
While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, see, read, write, sit,
stand, walk across campus, use a computer and other office equipment, participate in meetings, supervise
personnel, attend events, visit classrooms and campus spaces, communicate with students and adults, and
represent CLHS in a variety of settings. The employee may be required to stand or walk for extended periods
during school events, chapel, athletic events, performing arts events, emergency situations, campus supervision,
and community-facing activities. The employee must be able to lift and/or move up to approximately 25 pounds
and safely perform assigned administrative, student-facing, event, emergency-response, and program-support
responsibilities.

Working Environment
Work is performed on a school campus, in office settings, classrooms, worship and event spaces, athletic
spaces, outdoor areas, partner-school or community-facing locations, and other school-related environments.
The role involves regular interaction with students, families, faculty, staff, administrators, pastors, board
members, church leaders, coaches, counselors, vendors, guests, volunteers, and community members. The
noise level ranges from quiet office settings to loud large-event, athletic, performing arts, or
emergency-response environments. The role includes frequent interruptions, changing priorities, sensitive
conversations, public-facing responsibilities, local travel, and occasional evening, weekend, break, summer,
worship service, student-event, athletic, international, counseling, accreditation, and special-event
responsibilities.

Other Duties
Please note that this ministry description outlines the primary qualifications, essential functions, physical
requirements, work environment, and duties of this position. It is not designed to cover or contain a
comprehensive listing of all activities or responsibilities that may be required. Additional functions and
requirements may be assigned by the Chief Operating Officer or Administration as deemed appropriate. This
document does not constitute a contract of employment, and Crean Lutheran High School reserves the right to
change the position description or assign additional duties at any time with or without notice, as deemed
appropriate by the School.