Special Education Learning Skills Teacher, Collins Middle School FY2024-2025

About Salem Public Schools, where belonging leads to opportunity.

Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history.  Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district enrolling nearly 4,000 students across our 11 schools. Our vision is to ensure that all students will be locally engaged, globally connected, and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world. We hold dear our core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity in everything we do. Over the next three years (2023-2026), we are committed to the work outlined by the four core priorities in our strategic plan: 1) Elevate Learning; 2) Empower Educators; 3) Center Belonging; and 4) Strengthen Our Foundation. We seek individuals who are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement for all students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. Applicants who have experience working in urban schools and settings and are bilingual are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You’ll Do:

Salem Public Schools is seeking a skilled special education teacher to work with students in a Life Skills Classroom. This position requires the use of experiential education to provide opportunities for youth to make positive choices, gain self-confidence and learn skills that are critical to their lifelong development.

Experience working with students with significant social emotional disabilities is a must. A strong sense of professionalism is required. Candidates must be team-oriented and possess strong oral and written communication skills, organizational ability, and effective time management skill.

Responsibilities:

• Managing of all aspects of assigned Life Skills student's services both educational and mental health
• Teaching curriculum content modified and accommodated to meet the students IEP
• Ensuring staff, student and family comprehension of behavior and treatment goals
• Fostering inclusion and acceptance of students with disabilities with in the broader school community
• Striving at all times to foster a positive approach to problem solving
• Using effective communication skills to present information accurately and clearly.
• Presenting evidence of student progress toward goals and objectives through regular progress reports & Team meetings
• Completing needed paper work and job related functions in a timely manner
• Crisis Prevention Intervention Certification required and provided 
• Evaluate students’ abilities in basic academics and social development
• Help manage and promote students’ prosocial social behavior and academic habits of learning.
• Proctor MCAS and/or assist with MCAS ALT development and procedures
• Other duties as assigned by the building principal, special education administrator and/or Executive Director of Pupil Personnel Services.

What You’ll Bring:

We are looking for candidates who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, are inspired by our mission and are highly motivated to change children’s lives through education. You’ll be right at home here if you are a reflective practitioner who values collaboration with colleagues and pushes yourself, your work and the people around you to the next level.  We expect our SPS employees to:

• Hold a deep commitment to students and families and value diversity - The SPS community is vibrant, diverse in background, ethnicity, language, and perspective. You embrace and affirm the backgrounds of all members of the SPS community and view our diversity as a powerful resource that supports us each in learning and doing our best work.
• Hold high expectations for yourself, students, and colleagues – You see potential in all, especially our SPS students, and maintain high expectations for achievement, while providing the support necessary to meet that bar. You hold yourself to high expectations, modeling SPS values and seeking opportunities to continuously improve.
• Build authentic, caring relationships with colleagues, students, and families – You build strong relationships across students, families, and colleagues that are collaborative in nature and contribute to the individual and collective success of SPS.  You partner with families and colleagues to make decisions in the best interest of students and learning.
• Embrace feedback – You are a reflective practitioner who learns from failure, using mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree (required); Master’s Degree preferred
• Required Massachusetts teaching certification/licensure in Special Education; Certifications in Moderate Special Needs required
• Dual certification in a Middle school content area and Moderate Special Needs preferred
• Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement (Required within 1-year of start date)
• Ability to meet the expectations of the Massachusetts Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice
• Experience working with students with social emotional/behavioral issues required
• Safety Care Training Certification (District will provide training)
• Effective written and oral communication skills
• Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) proficiency a plus
• Bilingual candidates and candidates of color strongly encouraged to apply
• Current authorization to work in the United States

Work Year: Teachers in Salem Public Schools work a 185 day school year (180 student contact days plus 5 professional development days. Please visit www.salemk12.org to view the 2023-24 district and/or school calendar.

Salary: Teacher salaries in the Salem Public Schools are determined by the Salem Teachers Union collective bargaining agreement. Salary information can be found in Appendix A. Use our new Salem Teacher Salary estimator here. Collins Middle School teachers receive an additional 4% differential on top of their base salary for a slightly longer (7 hour) school day.

Benefits: The City of Salem offers Group Insurance Commission (GIC) benefits to all full-time employees. Click here for more information about our health benefits.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally, we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.