Social Emotional Specialist

Position Type:
Culture and Climate/SERT
Date Posted:
5/1/2023
Location:
School Culture & Climate
Date Available:
08/09/2023
Closing Date:
Until Filled
Position / Title:Social Emotional Specialist (SERT)
Bargaining Unit: ETA
Department/Location: Office of Schools - Department of Culture & Climate
Calendar Days: 184
Reports To: Coordinator of Culture & Climate
JD Revision Date: 01/24/2024
Supervises: N/A
Function / Position Summary
As part of a Social Emotional Response Team (SERT), the Social Emotional Specialist (SES) leads the network strategy in developing, implementing, and maintaining a safe, secure, and nurturing school learning environment that is flexible in meeting the academic, social, and emotional needs of each student. The SES works closely with the Coordinator of Culture and Climate and the Executive Director of their assigned network to build administrator, teachers, and related services staff capacity in strategies that will improve and
sustain a positive culture and climate in all assigned schools. The SES regularly monitors and analyzes their network school data to lead continuous improvement efforts around creating and improving conditions for self-regulation and student agency (culture and climate) in all network schools. The SES will provide rapid restorative response support to schools, assisting the school team in sustaining capacity for: assessing student safety, supporting staff needs, identifying and developing specific interventions to stabilize the school
environment for the student. SES will support school staff with the development of a multi-layered individualized plan for students. The SES Support Intervention Specialist will continue to monitor implementation fidelity and intervention outcomes with each site. The SES Support Intervention Specialist will work to promote capacity building for tiered supports across the district.
Job Duties / Responsibilities

• As a member of the Social Emotional Response Team, the SES Intervention Specialist will support and empower schools to be welcoming centers of family and community engagement while striving toward prevention, operational excellence and efficiency
• Provide individualized and classroom-based support to assigned teachers in implementing instructional strategies in alignment with the Danielson framework, U-46 Rising and the Instructional Clarity Framework.
• Plan and facilitate session(s) during New Teacher Orientation (NTO) and NTO extension.
• Lead network schools in professional learning designed to improve building-wide capacity to proactively and reactively respond to student behavioral and Social Emotional needs.
• Support school staff/administrators in developing and implementing Multi-Tiered Systems of Support as it relates to individual high need students as related to discipline, safety, and emotional well-being.
• Ability to recognize trauma and to help educate staff in working with students affected by trauma.
• Collaborate with district, network, and school staff to build capacity for a cohesive, district-wide multitiered system of support for students and families.
• Work with community agency partners to connect students and families with services.
• Work with district and school staff to strengthen the U-46 MTSS model of implementation for: Social Emotional learning, student discipline and school safety.
• Ability to gather and use data from various sources: interview, observation, student discipline and intervention data to create and/or inform intervention plans.
• Assist school teams in using data for: collection, analysis, problem solving and data based decision making as they relate to identified high risk factors which may be impeding student success. (ie. attendance, class failure, behavior, poverty, etc.)
• Collaborate with alternative placement programs and the U-46 Threat Assessment Team to assist school staff and students with successful transitions.
• Conduct escalated bullying investigations in alignment with Illinois School Code
• Work with school staff, students and families in a culturally and linguistically responsive manner.
• Participate in regular Social Emotional Response Team meetings with central office Coordinators
• Serve as a peer consulting teacher if/when matched with a potential Participating Teacher to discuss the Peer Assistance Review (PAR) Program, to establish mutually agreed upon performance goals, to develop a Professional Development Plan (PDP), and to develop a process for the successful completion of the PAR program. The process will be confidential and non-evaluative.
• As a potential Peer Consulting Teacher (PCT), conduct a minimum of 5 observations per semester of the Participating Teacher during classroom instruction and provide specific, immediate feedback after each visit, including maintaining a written log of contacts and specific support given to each Participating Teacher as well as monitoring progress and providing periodic written and/or oral reports to the Participating Teacher for discussion and review.
• Participate in meetings and prepare and discuss reports to share with the PAR panel upon request.
• Maintain a high level of confidentiality.
• Ability to physically move in and out of cars and in and out of buildings.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education

• Degree in Social Work, Counseling, Psychologist, Teaching, or Administration with Professional Educator License (PEL) required.
• Performance Evaluation Qualifications (Teacher) required
• Experience working with youth in Social Emotional areas
• Previous school social work experience preferred
• Previous PBIS experience preferred

Experience / Knowledge

• Knowledge and experience in MTSS/PBIS tiered systems of support.
• Knowledge and experience in Social Academic Instructional (intervention) groups; i.e. Grief/Loss, problem solving, pro-social skills.
• Trained or willing to be trained in Tier 2/3 interventions, ie. FBA/BIP, WRAP, RENEW.
• Knowledge of Trauma Informed Care, Restorative Practices and Violence Prevention.
• Trained as a certified CPI instructor within 60 days of start date.
• Trained in Restorative Practices within 60 days of start date.
• Ability to work collaboratively with multiple staff, students and families.
• Bilingual Spanish speaker preferred.

Physical Demands

• Requires prolonged sitting or standing.
• Occasionally requires physical exertion to manually move, lift, carry, pull, or push heavy objects or materials.
• Occasional stooping, bending, and reaching.

Terms of Employment

• 7.5 hour day per the Elgin Agreement.
• Salary and benefits as established by the Board of Education.

Attachment(s):

• SERT JD.pdf