Annie Wright is seeking a full-time dorm parent to begin on August 15, 2025. This is a full-time, residential position focused on care and support for the school’s boarding community that reports directly to the Director of Residential Life. 

Mission Statement

Annie Wright’s strong community cultivates individual learners to become well-educated, creative, and responsible citizens for a global society.

Position Description

The Dorm Parent works as a member of a closely cooperative, consensus-based team of professional educators that provides supervision, wellness and academic support, cultural and recreational activities, and organization and disciplinary structure for the Upper School boarding community. Together with seven other residential faculty, the Dorm Parent supports a boarding population of 132 students from across the United States and around the world.

The Dorm Parent is driven by and toward continuous engagement with students and the coordination and support of their daily lives, embraces this role as a lifestyle or vocation rather than a job, and serves as legal in loco parentis. The Dorm Parent recognizes that parenting teens is more than a forty-hour-per-week job, but is excited to know when the dorm is closed (summers and long breaks) they are on break as well. The Dorm Parent is a supervisor, caregiver, teacher, advisor, advocate, disciplinarian, and friend for our students. The Dorm Parent supports and uplifts each student, recognizes the uniqueness of each individual, and encourages a culture of belonging and inclusion in the dorms. Through an almost entirely relationship-based role, the Dorm Parent follows a standard of approach for every child of “unconditional positive regard.”   

The first responsibility of the Dorm Parent is to ensure the health and well-being of the boarding community, and the second responsibility is to teach character development through community membership. Being a residential faculty member is a shared, group endeavor that requires the Dorm Parent, who must reside on campus, and their family members to embrace the unique dorm lifestyle and to conduct themselves in accordance with the standards of the program. The Dorm Parent is effectively on emergency call, even when not officially on duty, and is expected to be an active, visible, and participatory member of the dorm community. The Dorm Parent must, first and foremost, desire to be an engaged and enthusiastic mentor, teacher, and supervisor for a dorm full of teenagers from all over the world.

Though central to the Annie Wright Schools experience, by its residential nature, the boarding program expands on the AWS mission and adopts its own familial guideposts: a dedicated mission and guiding dorm values. Together with the Residential Faculty, the Dorm Parent uses this compass and these landmarks to help young people grow into independent, kind, inclusive members of whatever communities they join throughout their lives.

Boarding Mission

The intent of the AWS boarding program is to promote student wellness, academic success, and character education through thoughtful mentoring, personal accountability, and intentional community membership. 

Dorm Values

Appreciation, Balance, Compassion, Courage, Family, Integrity, Respect and Responsibility.  

Position Overview: Duties and Responsibilities

The successful Dorm Parent:

• consistently demonstrates good judgment, makes all decisions with student wellness as the first priority, and is a role model of
• appropriate behavior and community engagement at all times;
• resides on campus in apartments or houses provided by the school (apartment sizes vary and are assigned according to individuals’ roles and family needs);
• works closely and cooperatively with residential faculty, students, and other school staff; attends all staff meetings and participates in all trainings and orientations for faculty and staff at the beginning and end of the academic year; and fulfills all administrative tasks and other duties as assigned;
• is on duty for designated shifts, predominantly swing shifts, including Monday-Friday from afternoon to late night, one full weekend shift per month, and additional school events and dorm activities beyond the normal duty hours;
  supports, attends, and provides supervision for all dorm meetings, formal dinners, activities, and other special events designed for resident students;
• and develops, sponsors, and leads programming in character education, community building, academics, leadership, and recreational and cultural activities;

Salary and Benefits

This position offers a salary range between $40,000 and $45,000, depending on qualifications and experience. Residential staff also earn a rent-free campus apartment with all utilities, board when school is in session, internet access, personal computer, and use of school facilities. The new Dorm Parents may move into their residence as early as August 1, 2025.

Benefits available to the hired candidate include the following, subject to the terms of the applicable benefit plan:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• Life insurance
• Accidental death & dismemberment insurance
• Long-term disability insurance
• Paid sick leave (known as Wellness Days): Each regular full-time employee earns 80 hours of Wellness leave per accrual year
• Eighteen (18) paid Holidays in 2025 (some may fall over standard Summer, Winter or Spring breaks if Faculty)
• Fifty percent (50%) Tuition remission in accordance with school policy. All fees and incidental expenses are the sole responsibility of the employee-parent
• All children of benefited employees of AWS, who are currently enrolled at AWS, are eligible for extended day services at no charge when school is in session. Charges apply for faculty in-service days or similar days  
• A 403(b) retirement plan with a 6% company match with a 3 % employee contribution

Application Process

Annie Wright Schools remain firmly committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity. Annie Wright shall hire, promote, transfer, terminate, and make all other employment-related decisions without regard to an employee’s race, color, creed, sex, religion, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, political ideology, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or any other basis prohibited by law. Annie Wright Schools are actively seeking to create a more culturally diverse school community and accordingly, applicants of color and underrepresented backgrounds are encouraged to apply. 

To apply, email a cover letter, resume, email and telephone contact information for 3-5 professional references, and this completed and signed application, all in PDF format, to Mrs. Erin Gann, Executive Assistant to the Head of Schools, at erin_gann@aw.org. In accordance with Annie Wright Schools’ strategic focus on issues related to social justice, candidates should anticipate being asked to address how their past work, as well as future contributions, might serve to advance Annie Wright’s commitment to a more diverse and inclusive community. Applications for this position will be accepted until filled.

Qualifications

The Dorm Parent:

• must be at least 21 years old, have a valid Washington State driver’s license, pass school bus driver training (comprehensive driving abstracts will be obtained to determine if applicants are eligible to drive school vehicles), and hold current CPR/First Aid certification (training can be provided);
• must pass enhanced DCYF background checks required of all boarding employees and must sign and abide by the AWS Residential Occupancy contract (applies to resident spouses as well);

Additionally, the Dorm Parent will demonstrate key elements of the following listed expertise and experiences. This is an aspirational list and Annie Wright Schools encourages candidates to apply who may not currently possess, but are working on building, all of these qualities:

• holds a diploma from an accredited college or similar advanced training in a relevant field;
• has experience working with young people as a dorm parent, classroom teacher, camp counselor, youth group leader, or in a similar role;
• demonstrates commitment to personal integrity, character development, and community membership as well as broad emotional intelligence and a deep reserve of patience;
• has a track record of acting effectively and supervising students in a variety of potential emergency situations;
• demonstrates willingness to develop, sponsor, and lead programming in character education and community building, academics, leadership, and recreational and cultural activities;
• practices cultural humility in personal interactions;
• is eligible to work in the United States. Note: Under our current employment policies, we are unable to sponsor work visas and do not offer positions to candidates who are not yet eligible to work in the United States.

Physical Requirements

The Dorm Parent:

• must be capable of long hours and late nights, much of which is spent on the move, supporting and engaging with kids all over campus;
• must be able to occasionally lift up to 25 pounds and move up and down many flights of stairs a day;
• must be able to move around with agility, and engage in active, playful activities with students.