SY24-25 Kennedy Middle School Teacher of Deportment

Date Posted	April 10, 2024
Industry	K-12: Public Schools
Certification Needed
Job Status	Not Specified
Salary	Not Specified

Description:

Grade Level: 6-8

Teaching in SEZP

SEZP is seeking educators who are excited and ready to make an impact in a collaborative, engaging, diverse, and high energy environment. We are seeking educators who believe teachers are activists - promising instructional access, rigor, advocacy, and a tenacious commitment to anti-racism for all students. SEZP teachers are expected to:

• Create a safe, purposeful classroom environment that prioritizes learning for all students
• Collaborate with other teachers, instructional leaders, and partners to ensure instruction is meeting the needs of all students
• Assess students regularly, analyze data, and determine appropriate next steps for instruction
• Ensure that instruction meets the needs of all students, including students with special needs, English Language Learners, and students performing below grade level
• Build relationships and communicate regularly with students and their families to solicit input and share academic progress
• Engage in learning about issues of racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in education to examine your own biases; reflect on how those biases affect you, your students, and their families; and plan and deliver instruction in a culturally responsive way
• Participate in and learn from regular professional development opportunities before and during the school year

Teacher of Deportment Responsibilities

• Works as part of a team with the Principal, Assistant Principal, and others, as needed, to support positive student behavior in the school. The teacher of deportment reports to the principal or his/her designee.
• Provides direct instruction to students who have been identified as needing assistance in appropriate behavior in daily interactions with staff and other students.
• Works with students and staff to provide a safe learning community by implementing disciplinary policies.
• Works with parents, students, and staff to ensure successful transition between schools, where appropriate.
• Works with faculty and students to structure, develop, and support classroom and non-classroom learning including supporting extra-curricular activities, such as assemblies, lunch duty, arrival and dismissal times, and the like.
• Works with staff to implement the Code of Conduct and conducts conflict resolution activities as necessary.
• Serves as liaison to the surrounding community and other area schools about off-campus student safety, behavior and other student life issues.
• Serves as liaison to the surrounding community and other area school administrators to assist in identifying and/or developing professional development to meet the social, emotional and behavioral needs of the school and the needs of capabilities of the individuals or student groups involved.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
• Appropriate content/program area (teacher (any subject), school guidance, school social worker, or administrator) and grade level (6-8) licensure from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Desired Skills

• A track record of success working with students and proven expertise in a similar school setting
• High expectations for self and others, and a willingness to hold self and others accountable to these expectations
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, and strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to build strong relationships with students and families
• Commitment to professional growth and regularly seeking out opportunities to improve instructional practice
• Belief and alignment with SEZP’s core beliefs and philosophy, including the belief that each and every child can excel academically
• Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to manage interrelated tasks
• Bilingual speaking, reading, and/or writing abilities (Spanish)

If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or to reach out for more information. We know that historically marginalized groups – including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ – are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.

We encourage you to reach out to SEZP@springfieldempowerment.org if you have questions about the role or your qualifications. We are happy to help you feel ready to apply!

Benefits

SEZP offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience; salaries for new teachers start at $50,500. Teachers in SEZP qualify for benefits (personal/sick days, retirement, health insurance, etc.) offered to other teachers in the Springfield Public Schools.

In addition, there are several opportunities unique to SEZP schools to increase earnings above base salary. While not guaranteed, those opportunities currently include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced and Master Teacher positions: These are awarded following an application process that typically takes place each winter, and come with salaries of up to $87,000
• Expanded Learning Time stipends at some schools, based on the yearly schedule
• Annual stipends for Capstone Projects associated with national-level professional development opportunities, following an application and selection process
• Empowerment Academies: Intervention and instruction opportunities we implement during February, April, and summer breaks, following an application and selection process

Positions will be filled on a rolling basis; applicants are encouraged to apply immediately. Please contact sezp@springfieldempowerment.org with any questions.

About the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership

While Massachusetts is consistently ranked as one of the top states for education results in the country, we have one of the highest and most persistent opportunity gaps. The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) - established in 2015 as a collaboration between Springfield Public Schools (SPS), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the Springfield Education Association (SEA) – seeks to improve the longitudinal life outcomes of the more than 5,000 students in our eleven middle and high schools.

As a “zone” of schools within the city of Springfield, SEZP’s approach draws on a deep and embedded partnership with the school district and local teachers’ union, while harnessing the flexibility and innovation found in autonomous school models. As a result, each school within SEZP is accorded significant school-based autonomies - in curriculum, talent, calendar, schedule, and budget – while being held accountable for realizing achievement gains for historically marginalized students. In all of our work, SEZP is in pursuit of equity and anti-racism – acknowledging the systemic oppression our students and families encounter daily and working to disrupt these provision gaps urgently and courageously.

Nondiscrimination Statement

The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, age, disability or military service or marital status. The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in admission to, access or treatment in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, disability or homelessness.

Title IX Notice of Nondiscrimination

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. Springfield Public Schools is required by Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 not to discrimination on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. The Senior Administrator of Human Resources, Kathleen O’Sullivan, Springfield Public Schools, 1550 Main St. Springfield MA, 011103, 413-787-7100, ext. 55428, has been designated as the employee responsible for coordinating Springfield Public Schools efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under Title IX. Inquiries concerning the application of Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 to Springfield Public Schools may be referred to Kathleen O’Sullivan or to U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 400 Maryland Ave., SW Washington, DC 20202-1100, telephone 800-421-3481.