Database Manager

About Brookwood School:

Brookwood is an Early Childhood through Grade 8 independent school of about 300 students located on a beautiful 30-acre wooded campus in Manchester, MA on the coast of the North Shore of Boston. At Brookwood, kids come first—not the test, not trophies, not to-do lists. We know how kids learn best. Every day, we use our expertise to challenge kids intellectually and ensure they feel valued so that they can grow into their best selves. Our program focuses on fostering a joyful community of lifelong learners and upstanding global citizens who embrace a culture of curiosity, kindness, and academic accomplishment.  Brookwood also offers a playful, collaborative work environment for 85 faculty and staff who go the extra mile to do what is best for kids. 

Job Summary:

The Database Manager is an integral part of the Brookwood Administrative team working across all departments within the school.  The successful candidate must be able to both think strategically about the databases we use and also roll up their sleeves to attend to all of the details involved in implementing new databases and also ensuring data integrity in existing databases.

The Database Manager will work closely with various constituencies and the DFO to assess current databases and identify opportunities to streamline and better integrate information management.  This will also require working closely with various department heads and end users across the school to better understand needs and reporting requirements.  During any database migration, the Database Manager will play a key primary or supporting role.

The Database Manager, as the senior manager, will be responsible for ensuring data integrity within the school’s primary database (Veracross) and for providing reporting or education on report building to various constituencies.

Detailed Responsibilities:

The Veracross database system is currently used to support Brookwood’s student information services including classes, progress reports, transcripts, qualitative reporting (behavior groups), scheduling, attendance, sports teams, calendar, faculty and parent portals, as well as Development and Online Giving needs. In addition, Brookwood uses APIs in Veracross to communicate with our other databases including Filemaker and Magnus and the Database Manager will work closely with those users / contractors.

The Database Manager will assist in the transfer of information across databases as needed for the beginning of the new school year for both new and returning students.  This includes transferring information from Ravenna (Admissions) to Veracross and also to Blackbaud (Student Billing).  Additionally, the school is considering the best approach to capturing auxiliary programs and other information which may also need to transfer across databases.

Additional responsibilities:

• Acting as school Registrar to produce student progress reports and transcripts as needed for both Brookwood and requests from other schools; produce a sample transcript for parent presentations

• Assessing and improving data integrity in the school’s databases as needed; this may include contacting community members about updated data submitted by student families or employees

• Stepping into the role of managing morning attendance if front office staff are unavailable

• Training employees in the use of particular areas of the Veracross database (e.g., Faculty Portals, Attendance, SMS, etc)

• Supporting departments with particular database-related projects (e.g., Admissions software migration and tools, Trustee requests to update and correct historic Trustee information in Veracross, assist Development office with historical information, etc)

• Other duties as required and assigned

The Successful Candidate will have: 

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree 

• Experience (3-5 years preferred) in similar role, preferably in a school environment

• Deep experience in working with and implementing new databases across an entire organization with various constituencies involved

Essential Computer Skills

• Experience using Veracross (or equivalent) software

• Experience using Apple computers

• Experience working with Ravenna, Magnus, Filemaker, Blackbaud a plus

Additional Qualifications

• Unquestionable integrity and proven ability to treat sensitive information with the utmost discretion

• Strong communication skills and command of English

• Excellent critical thinking, analytical, and problem-solving skills

• Excellent record-keeping, organizational, and prioritization skills

• Highly attentive to detail where speed and accuracy are of equal importance

• Self-starter: Ability to see what needs to be done, able to work independently to complete the tasks in a timely and efficient manner

• Strong positive attitude under pressure and able to deliver strong customer service skills

• Creative, critical, and analytical thinking geared toward process improvement

• Able to work independently while being a team player, capable of working in an elementary school environment

• Experience working in a school setting a plus

• Sense of humor in your work, a friendly nature, and quick to smile

• Proficiency in and a commitment to antiracism, diversity, equity and inclusion

We strongly encourage applications from people of color, LGBTQ candidates or candidates from communities that are historically underrepresented in independent schools. We are committed to an inclusive school experience for all those who come to work at Brookwood.