Operations / Administration COMMUNITY SCHOOL DIRECTOR – EINSTEIN CAMPUS COMMUNITY SCHOOL INITIATIVE
Job Description
About ASPIRA of New York, Inc.
Since 1961, ASPIRA of New York has been dedicated to serving New York City youth and their families, providing opportunities that would otherwise not be available to them, and serving as an effective advocate, fighting to improve education in the Puerto Rican and Latino communities. In the 50 years since it was organized ASPIRA has served thousands of New York City children, youth, parents, schools, and other community based agencies, establishing a record of providing high quality, comprehensive programs and services such as its College Access Leadership Development Program, YES Service Learning Program, Resolution Hall, Parent Empowerment Academy and Middle School Youth Development Clubs.
About Community Schools
ASPIRA’s Community School (CS) Program strategy is driven by strong collaborative partnerships among principals, parents, teachers, and Community Based Organizations (CBOs). The model offers a holistic approach toward improving academic performance driven by parents who are real and active partners in their children’s education. Each student is connected to a mentor, club, or social service. The school climate is joyful and positive and includes robust data monitoring and attendance taking practices. Community members spend time at the school, participating in activities ranging from participating in the School Leadership Team (SLT) to financial and parenting workshops. The model construct focuses on aligning regular school day curricula with Expanded and Extended afterschool or weekend classes. An integral part of the (CS) approach focuses on the school becoming a center of school- and community-based services embedded into the school day. These services can include but are not limited to health, mental health, counseling, and academic enrichment.
Position Overview
The CSD will consult school leadership officials in both IS 131 Albert Einstein and Soundview Academy middle schools. The affiliated parties will recruit, screen and select the CSD. Primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to, implementing and managing Community School (CS) programs and reporting to SLT teams from each respective school. The (CSD) will report to the Senior Managing Director of ASPIRA, and will facilitate the implementation and management of programs and activities within the scope of the Community School (CS) initiative. S/he will oversee programs, services, activities and events that improve student academic achievement while fostering stronger family ties and school-centric community development. The ideal candidate will have 3-5 years of pedagogical and/or administrative experience in secondary schools, as well as the demonstrated ability to implement a coherent academic and instructional focus that unites various programs and stakeholders involved in this initiative.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Ensure all CS stakeholders pursue unified research-based student achievement and community development strategies.
- Serve on SLTs for both schools and align different service partners within IS 131 and Soundview Academy with campus-wide instructional goals.
- Work with the Principal and attendance team to develop protocols to ensure increased student attendance that meets targeted benchmarks. Data will be shared and used at weekly meetings with the Principal and Attendance Team.
- Work with CS team as a sub-committee of the SLT to maintain a focus on results and track progress via research-demonstrated data-driven metrics; assist with data collection, research and preparing relevant data to bring to meetings to inform decisions made by both principals, SLT and CS team.
- Develop campus resources to assist teachers, paraprofessionals, school and building support staff, extracurricular partners and staff, and parents and students in determining ongoing needs of students and families.
- Serve as liaison for agencies and programs interested in partnering with the school, and identify new partnerships and partners that possess relevant service enhancements and expanded learning and enrichment opportunities that serve campus-wide academic and instructional goals.
- Collaborate with Parent Coordinators of both schools to ensure that families have meaningful opportunities to participate in the school and to ensure full implementation of a transformative family and parent engagement initiative aligned with CS strategy.
- Utilize school partners and teachers to differentiate learning interventions for students, as well as track and monitor the impact of interventions on student engagement in school.
- Establish protocols for ongoing and effective communication among key players in the community school initiative, including local elected officials, school administration and staff, community and health services organizations, parents, volunteers, extracurricular staff, consultants and community members.
- Oversee full implementation of the Community School plan in partnership with both Principals and the SLTs.
- Identify evidence and research-based practices and/or partnerships that address priority areas for the school community strategy, which may include but are not limited to; Parent/Family Engagement, Community Engagement, Youth Development, Academic Rigor and Instructional Practices and Health, Mental Health, Tutoring, After school programming, Mentoring, Early Childhood.
- Develop and implement ongoing mechanisms or forums to elicit input from teachers, school staff, SLT members, families, parents, and students to determine ongoing needs of students and families.
- Develop, maintain, publicize and disseminate schedule of programs, supports and activities offered at the school on relevant websites or pamphlets for families.
- Organize a community school forum to inform school partners about CS reforms, while guiding parents, students, CBO representatives and community residents on how they can participate in CS initiative.
- Engage school and community stakeholders in forums and monthly SLT and CS team meetings to ensure a strong community voice in the development and implementation of the CS plan.
- Provide training and technical assistance for students with language or other learning barriers.
- Assist school and partner agencies with resource management and development, including fund development and grant maintenance.
Qualifications and Requirements:
- Strong knowledge of secondary urban educational settings and their impact on the community school initiative.
- Master’s degree in Education or related field and seven years of administrative experience, preferably as an administrator or program supervisor in a secondary setting.
- Proven ability to energize parents and students in participating in the school community, including the ability to provide innovative family engagement and parent coordination.
- Case management experience or familiarity with an understanding of how a referral process works among teachers and partner programs.
- Demonstrated work experience in building relationships across multiple public institutions and community-based partnerships to advance program goals and objectives, preferably in a youth development setting.
- Knowledge of program participants’ diverse backgrounds and the ability to integrate this knowledge into service delivery, with a particular concentration on Black and Latino urban youth.
- Data-driven decision maker with demonstrated ability in using data to inform decisions, including strong skillset with web-based data analyses tools.
- Excellent command of oral and written communications skills.
- Ability to work flexible hours, including some weekends and evenings.
- Proficient with both PC and Mac platforms, demonstrated ability to work asynchronously on Google domain and other workflow portals, strong command of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, as well as Apple workflow systems.·
- Spanish/English bilingual skills and knowledge of working with diverse populations preferred.
Salary is commensurate with experience; range $70,000- $80,000.
