Special Education Life Skills Teacher, Salem High School 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:
As a collaborative member of the Special Education team in Salem, the Life Skills Teacher is responsible for teaching, evaluating, and implementing programming for students with significant disabilities in a sub-separate, High School (9th-12th grade) Life Skills program. The successful candidate must have a working knowledge of effective instructional practices, behavior techniques, content curriculum and instructional supports and interventions. They must be able to work collaboratively with Special Education staff, therapists, administrators and consultants. The candidate must manage a fluid caseload and maintain flexibility with scheduling. The Special Education Teacher job includes consistent parent communication, paraprofessional supervision, transition planning, and additional professional obligations related to student and programming needs, as determined by the District and site.
Responsibilities:
- Plan curriculum and provide specialized instruction that allows all students to successfully engage in developmentally appropriate and standards-based instruction
- Work collaboratively across school settings, including co-teaching and common planning with therapists and support staff
- Use innovative approaches and instructional strategies, including the effective use of technologies, to increase student access, learning, independence, and confidence to learn
- Modify/adapt materials and instructional lessons to meet the specific needs of students with disabilities across the school day, as identified in the IEPs
- Analyze a variety of data to drive instruction and improve student access and performance
- Develop IEPs with SMART goals and logical accommodations using formal and informal data
- Report on student progress with IEP goals at scheduled intervals throughout the school year
- Maintain consistent communication with students, staff, families and outside agencies
- Collaborate with school personnel, parents, and various community agencies for the purpose of improving the quality of student outcomes and implementing effective Individual Education Programs (IEPs), 688 Referrals and Transition Plans for students
- Evaluate students’ abilities in basic academics and social development
- Plan meaningful community experiences
- Provide instruction that targets self-care, including personal hygiene, cooking and other ADL skills
- Help manage student behavior for the purpose of providing a safe, supportive, and optimal learning environment
- Proctor MCAS and/or lead 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:
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: 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.
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.
This position reports to the assigned Special Education Supervisor, the building Principal and the Executive Director of Pupil Personnel Services.
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.