Pre-K Partner City Connects Coordinator, Salem Public Schools SY2024-2025

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 professionals to implement the City Connects program within our PreK community partner programs. City Connects__ a collaboration among the public schools, community agencies, and Boston College, is reinvigorating a core function of schools by implementing an innovative model of systemic whole-child support. City Connects Coordinators implement a systematic, integrated framework for whole-child supports that assess the strengths and needs of each child in the PreK programs and connect them with a tailored set of supports and resources from inside and outside the program. Salem Public Schools seeks a full-time City-Connects Coordinator to fill a critical role in expanding systemic whole-child wraparound support to our PreK partner programs. 

The responsibilities of the Coordinator are to:  

• Connect children who are enrolled in PreK community partner programs to a range of prevention, early intervention and intensive services programs that address the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social development of each child 
• Establish and lead Student Support Teams in the community partner program that identifies and responds to the strengths and personal developmental needs of each child 
• Develop and enhance community partnerships with varied community agencies to meet the identified needs of children, families, and the program
• Collaborate with program staff, including classroom teachers, to implement the City Connects model 
• Promote the City Connects model of whole-child support to the community, families and community agencies. 
• Engage families and caregivers in understanding and supporting the education of their children and the ways in which academic outcomes are enhanced by serving the social / emotional and personal development needs of the child 
• Collect data on the implementation of the model and the delivery of services 

• Offer consultation and support regarding children with emotional or developmental concerns to PreK program staff and leadership
• Support teachers in developing & implementing proactive support plans in the classroom
• Complete needed paperwork and job related functions in a timely manner in accordance with program and district regulations
• Facilitate Tier 1 and 2 intervention groups on topics including social skills, emotional regulation, etc.
• Respond appropriately to program needs and crises 
• Routinely attend district and program meetings, training and professional development 
• Other duties as requested by program director and PreK-5 Director of Student Supports

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 mistakes and challenges and uses them as opportunities for professional development. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.

Job Requirements 

Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in School Counseling, Social Work or School Psychology
• Massachusetts certification/licensure or license eligible as a school social worker/school adjustment counselor, school counselor, school psychologist
• Ability to communicate and interact effectively with families, community members, collateral contracts, children and staff verbally and in written form  
• Excellent time managements skills and data based decision making skills
• Experience working in a school environment
• Evidence of culturally competent practices
• Must be Crisis Prevention Intervention and restraint trained or willing to be trained 
• Proficiency with technology (blended learning, teacher/family communication suites (Remind preferred), Google G-Suite Apps, etc.) desirable
• Bilingual candidates and candidates of color strongly encouraged to apply
• Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) preferred
• Current authorization to work in the United States  

As part of this work, the Middle School Math Teacher will participate in a two week, paid summer professional learning with the 8th grade team during the weeks of August 5th and August 12th (paid at $45/hour) leading to the start of the new school year (~70 hours for a stipend of $3150). This role also requires weekly after school professional learning on Wednesdays. All sessions in excess of the contractual 25 hours of teacher meetings will be compensated at $45/hour, for ~$1000 extra for the year. Opportunities for additional professional development and support will be provided through district and school based coaches and the Dean of Innovation.

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 2024-25 district and/or school calendar.

Salary: Salary is determined by the Salem Teachers Union collective bargaining agreement with differential for added days/hours, per union contract. The City Connects Coordinator reports to the building Principal and the Director of Student and Family Support. Salary information can be found in Appendix A. 

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.

Contact Information: Ellen Wingard, Executive Director Student Support Services

Salem Public Schools

29 Highland Avenue

Salem, MA  01970

Phone: 781-732-0137

Email: ewingard@salemk12.org

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, housing status, 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.