Elementary Special Education Teacher, Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, Salem Public Schools Sy2024-2025

Elementary Special Education Teacher, Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, Salem Public Schools SY2024-2025

About Salem Public Schools

Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Salem Public School educators are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. We seek individuals who are able to serve all of our students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. Salem Public Schools has a clear equity statement and core values that guide and drive our work as an anti-racist organization. Applicants who have experienced working in urban schools and have bilingual skills are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You'll Do:

As a collaborative member of the Special Education team, this person will be responsible for teaching, evaluating, and implementing programming for students with disabilities, utilizing inclusive practices whenever possible. The Special Education Teacher will have a working knowledge of effective behavior techniques and interventions and work in consultation with Special and Regular Education teams. The Teacher also will undertake a continuous caseload management, i.e., parent communication, behavioral interventions, professional obligations as determined by district and site.

Role Responsibilities:

• Use innovative approaches, and instructional strategies, including the effective use of technologies, to increase student learning and confidence to learn

• Modify/adapt materials and deliver instructional lessons to meet the specific needs of Students with Disabilities in inclusive settings

• Provide direct instruction and access to instruction that will allow all levels of students to successfully engage in instruction based on the Common Core standards

• Analyze data to drive instruction and improve student performance.

• Collaborate with school personnel, parents and various community agencies to improve the quality of student outcomes.

• Consult with grade-level teams to plan and implement cognitively demanding instruction for all students

• Collect data and create Individual Education Programs (IEP) for students

• Support classroom personnel and IEP teams (including special education instructional paraprofessionals) to assist them with the implementation of students' classroom goals and Individual Education IEP accommodations, modifications, and goals

• Assure implementation of data-taking mechanisms and reporting strategies, oversee the collection and analysis of data for student progress

• Provide staff with resources, tools, and modeling of instructional techniques and supports

• Present evidence of student progress toward goals and objectives through routine progress monitoring and formally at IEP meetings

• Additional duties as appropriate, assigned by the building Principal, Special Education Supervisor or Executive Director of Special Education.

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.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree (Required); Master's Degree (Preferred)

• Required Massachusetts teaching certification/licensure in Special Education (Moderate Disabilities PreK-8 required)

• Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement (Required within 1-year of start date)

• Ability to meet the expectations of the Massachusetts Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice

• Ability to write effective IEPs with SMART goals and sensible accommodations, using district software

• Ability to administer, interpret, and report findings from standardized and informal evaluations

• Must be physically capable of and willing to engage in restraint, bending, and lifting as required to meet unique student needs

• Safety Care Training Certification (District will provide training)

• Effective written and oral communication skills

• Maintain professional competence through in-service education activities provided by the District, and/or in self-selected professional growth activities.

• Minimum of 2 years teaching experience and working in an urban public school or charter school setting preferred.

• Proficiency with technology (blended learning, teacher/family communication suites (Remind preferred), Google G-Suite Apps, etc.) desirable.

• Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) proficiency a plus

• Bilingual candidates and candidates of color strongly encouraged to apply

• Current authorization to work in the United States

This position is a school-year position and salary is commensurate with the Salem Teachers Union contract. This position reports to the assigned Special Education Supervisor, the building Principal and the Executive Director of Special Education.

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. Use our new Salem Teacher Salary estimator here.

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.

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.