Duties
Reports To: Superintendent of Schools
Directly Supervises:
- Special Education
- Multilingual Learners
- Gifted and Talented
- MTSS & Intervention Services
- Attendance & Truancy Intervention Coordinator
- Counseling, Student Wellness & Mental Health
- Alternative & Transitional Programming
- Equity Compliance and Access
POSITION SUMMARY
The Chief Student Support Officer (CSSO) serves as the district’s senior executive leader responsible for ensuring equitable access, comprehensive supports, and high-quality services for vulnerable and historically underserved student populations.
This role oversees Special Education, Multilingual Learners, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), attendance intervention systems, SEL and mental health services, alternative programming, and equity compliance to ensure every student receives the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports necessary to succeed.
The Chief ensures that student support systems are integrated, data-driven, legally compliant, and grounded in equity to provide all students with high-quality educational access.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Special Education Leadership
- Oversees all Special Education programming and ensures compliance with Federal and State mandates.
- Monitors IEP implementation, placement decisions, and student achievement outcomes.
- Ensures equitable identification practices and addresses disproportionality.
- Oversees Extended School Year (ESY), private placements, and specialized programming.
2. Multilingual Learners (MLL)
- Oversees programming and instructional support for multilingual learners.
- Ensures compliance with state and federal language acquisition requirements.
- Aligns language development supports with academic acceleration strategies.
- Monitors equitable access to advanced coursework and enrichment.
- Coordinates support for English Learners with disabilities.
3. Gifted and Talented (GT)
- Oversees districtwide Gifted and Talented identification, programming, and services.
- Ensures equitable and culturally responsive identification practices to address underrepresentation.
- Monitors compliance with state requirements for Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs).
- Aligns gifted programming with academic acceleration, enrichment, and advanced coursework opportunities.
- Supports differentiated instruction and talent development across schools.
- Monitors gifted student growth and access using disaggregated data to ensure continuous improvement.
4. Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
- Oversees districtwide MTSS implementation.
- Ensures alignment of academic and behavioral intervention systems.
- Develops tools and processes for tiered intervention monitoring.
- Monitors intervention effectiveness using disaggregated data.
5. Attendance Intervention Systems
- Designs and oversees district-wide attendance intervention strategy.
- Implements early warning systems for chronic absenteeism.
- Aligns attendance efforts with family engagement and social supports.
- Collaborates with school leaders to ensure attendance plans are executed with fidelity.
- Monitors attendance data to address disparities.
- 6. Counseling, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) & Mental Health
- Leads development and implementation of holistic student support systems.
- Oversees restorative practices and behavioral intervention frameworks.
- Coordinates school-based mental health services and partnerships.
- Ensures equitable distribution of behavioral and emotional supports.
- Provides executive oversight of student discipline systems to ensure nondiscriminatory practices.
- Oversees comprehensive school counseling programs.
7. Alternative & Transitional Programming
- Oversees alternative education programs and transitional supports.
- Ensures appropriate placement and individualized plans for students in alternative settings.
- Monitors student progress toward re-engagement and graduation.
- Aligns alternative programming with district graduation pathways in collaboration with CAO.
8. Equity Compliance & Access
- Serves as the oversight authority for Section 504 compliance.
- Ensures compliance with Title IX, Section 504, IDEA, and other federal/state regulations.
- Applies a racial equity lens to the allocation of student supports.
- Monitors disproportionality in discipline, identification, and access to services.
- Develops equity-based performance indicators.
- Ensures students of all backgrounds have equitable access to high-quality programming.
PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
- Reduce disproportionality in special education, gifted identification, and discipline
- Increase attendance rates and reduce chronic absenteeism
- Improve IEP goal attainment rates
- Strengthen MTSS fidelity across campuses
- Expand access to academic counseling, mental health, and SEL supports
- Improve outcomes for multilingual learners
- Increase successful transitions from alternative programs
- Increase equitable identification, access, and academic growth outcomes for Gifted and Talented students
Salary/Benefits
Expected salary range from $195,000 to $230,000, fringe benefits, and work year as established by the Board of Education.
Evaluation: Performance evaluated annually by the Superintendent.
FLSA Status: Exempt
Status: Revised February 2026
Additional Notes
JG Consulting has partnered with Champaign Unit 4 School District to facilitate the search for this role.
:PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW FOR THE FULL JOB DESCRIPTION:
Champaign Unit 4 School District is a large unit school district serving more than 10,000 students in grades pre-K through 12 in Champaign, Savoy, and Bondville, Illinois. Our 19 campuses employ more than 2,000 teachers, administrators, and support personnel, including some of the brightest educators in the region. Our District represents the diversity of our world, fosters positive learning environments to prepare students for college and careers, and our schools empower students to succeed on any path they choose.
Download Job Description: Click here
How to Apply
Please submit your resume through the application on our website.
Link to District/Third Party Online Application Web Page
https://jobs.jgconsulting.us/jobdetail/ZR_96_JOB