You will work within the South Bend Empowerment Zone schools and provide individual/group counseling for K – 8 students using validated therapeutic counseling models, provide instruction aligned to Indiana Standards for Health and Wellness, Responsive Classroom curriculum for K – 5 youth and Restorative Justice education and practices for middle school youth. Additionally, you will serve on schoolwide Behavior Support Teams to implement CRPBIS protocols, working collaboratively with parents to identify/mitigate risky behaviors, and respond to needs of students, staff and families during crisis incidents.

During the five-year period, we will tackle a variety of important bodies of work:

Year 1 (2019-2020) Establishing a Vision/Building a Strong Foundation

Year 2 (2020-2021) Building Systems of Support & Developing Community

Year 3 (2021-2022) Developing a Robust Enrichment Model (including NAEYC-Accredited Early Childhood Education and gifted/talented education)

Year 4 (2022-2023) Pursuing Deeper Learning/Reimagining schooling

Year 5 (2023-2024) Refining Deeper Learning/Reimagining schooling

The central philosophy of the South Bend Empowerment Zone is the centering of the student- and family-experience via the empowerment of leaders and educators at each school to respond to their needs in service to stronger academic, social, and emotional outcomes for our students.

Theory of Action: South Bend Empowerment Zone 2020-2021 (Year 2) Strategy
IF we…
• Shift prevailing deficit beliefs to acknowledge and honor student/family assets & strengths (BELIEFS);
• Overcommunicate the “vision of excellence” and design a staffing model that maximizes support for staff and students (SYSTEMS);
• Align school-level strategy to Zone overarching strategy and deliver strong execution of 1) strong instructional leadership, 2) developing trust while remaining student/family-centered, 3) modeling/living the “warm demander” approach for their staffs (SCHOOL LEADERSHIP);
• Ensure that school physical environments communicate value and care, staff are living into the “warm demander” approach, de-privatizing instructional practice and shifting to a strong collective learning culture (INSTRUCTION);

THEN…
• Student learning (growth and achievement) will be maximized via regular progress-monitoring and intensive academic tutoring provided during the instructional day, and rigorous standards-aligned classroom Tier 1 instruction. Students will be enabled to meet the student Vision of Excellence. (LEARNING)

Who You Are
• You are passionate and committed to the success of all South Bend students and have a track record of raising the academic achievement of children of color and children living in poverty.
• You are skilled at developing trust (high credibility, high reliability, high intimacy, low self-orientation) amongst a variety of stakeholders and rallying them around a student-centered vision
• You identify as a servant leader and people who have worked for you before highlight the strength of your credibility and your low self-orientation (ie. “we” is greater than “I”).
• You have a keen ability to build and cultivate relationships with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• You have excellent communication skills and thrive in a fast-paced, complex, and ambiguous environment.
• You understand the complexity and urgency of developing and executing strong strategy to contribute to the success of a dynamic team and ensuring strong academic and social/emotional outcomes for children of color and children living in poverty.
• You are relentlessly focused on results, committed to continual improvement, and have a strong sense of ownership over outcomes connected to your work.
• While you are skilled at advocating for what you believe is right and for your interests for your school, you have the ability to align your school’s transformation strategy to the Zone’s transformation strategy.
• You are skilled at taking a vision and executing on it
• You have a Master’s Degree in Social Work and an active Licensed Clinical Social Work or or will obtain an Indiana Clinical License and you are certified in First Aid and CPR. Possessed valid IN Drivers license.
• You have at least one year experience with elementary and middle school age children and families.

What You’ll Do

You will work within the South Bend Empowerment Zone schools and provide individual/group counseling for K – 8 students using validated therapeutic counseling models, provide instruction aligned to Indiana Standards for Health and Wellness, Responsive Classroom curriculum for K – 5 youth and Restorative Justice education and practices for middle school youth. Additionally, you will serve on schoolwide Behavior Support Teams to implement CRPBIS protocols, working collaboratively with parents to identify / mitigate risky behaviors, and respond to needs of students, staff and families during crisis incidents. Major responsibilities of the role include, but are not limited to:

Clinical Interventions for Students and Families
1. Provide one-on-one and group counseling to students referred for supplementary support from teachers and administrators.
2. Provide the following services to children and families including classroom, play based intervention, conducting classroom and face-to-face assessments; creating collaborative education and success plans; linking families with community resources; establishing diagnoses as necessary.
3. Apply developmentally appropriate therapeutic interventions, advanced psychosocial theory and methods to individuals, families, and staff with appropriate regard for the complexity of given problems.
4. Responsibilities encompass the provision of advanced evaluative, preventive, therapeutic, restorative and personal care services to assist in meeting the complex needs of children and their families, thus enabling them to better utilize internal and external resources in order to achieve their optimal level of change/well-being.
5. Remain current with best practices, industry trends and provides internal and external direction within South Bend Empowerment Zone and with local, regional, state and federal agencies and stakeholders.

Case Coordination and Case Management
1. Fill out and maintain client-related paperwork, including federal- and state-mandated forms, client diagnostic records, and progress notes.
2. Work collaboratively with the School Social Worker to provide referrals to appropriate mental health, social services or substance abuse treatment providers.
3. Develop and implement treatment plans based on clinical experience, knowledge, and best practices.
4. Increase capacity of partner schools to provide counseling and social skills programming.

Promote Systems of Support for Students and Families
1. Work with partners to implement Responsive Classroom and Restorative Justice in elementary and middle grade levels, K-8.
2. Facilitate school implementation of CRPBIS strategies, K – 8, to reduce disciplinary referrals and encourage positive behaviors in children.
3. Complete train-the-trainer modules to provide professional development to district teachers and staff.
4. Collaborate with all Empowerment Zone schools to integrate counseling activities with other student/family support programs and prevention initiatives.
5. Administer student and adult surveys to monitor progress of PRIDE2 program components and achievement of outcomes.
6. Provide feedback to school personnel based on classroom observation.
7. Training and coaching school-based staff on trauma-informed practices/approaches with a focus on providing actionable, concrete feedback (using an early adopter model in the spring and scaling to all in school year 2021)
8. Communicating and engaging with the broader school community in an effective, proactive, timely, and inspiring manner

Cultural Leadership
1. Supporting and monitoring the cultivation of a safe and orderly school environment that is conducive to teaching and learning across all Empowerment Zone schools
2. Supporting and monitoring a student-centered environment that supports growth, learning, and development and ensures high expectations and high relationship with students across all Empowerment Zone schools
3. Cultivating family and community engagement in service of improving student academic, social, and emotional development across all Empowerment Zone schools
4. Supporting student leadership initiatives across the Empowerment Zone

Ownership of Outcomes
1. Demonstrating a high “locus of control” and when seeing/experiencing a challenge, you develop solutions and strategies to overcome
2. Demonstrating a clear “ownership of outcomes” of the Empowerment Zone and engaging in relentless pursuit of strong outcomes for students
3. Demonstrating a strong learning orientation and a disposition to receiving and acting upon feedback

THE SOUTH BEND EMPOWERMENT ZONE IS AN
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER

Reports to: Director of Systems and School Supports, South Bend Empowerment Zone
Start Date: Immediately
Location: South Bend, IN
Compensation: $45,000-$55,000/annually, depending on prior experience/skill + generous benefits package.