Family and Student Specialist Job Description (PreK-2)

Hired by the Executive Director and The Principal

The role of the Family and Student Specialist is critical to supporting the academic, behavioral, and social emotional needs of our scholars. Family and Student Specialists work directly with students and their families. Additionally, the FSS is responsible for teaching and leading staff in the work of assessing, engaging and providing preventive services to scholars and families.

This individual should:

• Hold a Masters in Social Worker or related field
• Have a strong desire to work within an innovative, urban educational program
• Have a knowledge of the Foster Care system and mental health needs prevalent within that population
• Be familiar with treatment modalities for trauma intervention

Responsibilities:

Scholar and Family Work

• Provide wrap around services to scholars and families in assigned grades.
• Respond to and alleviate crises for scholars and families by following trauma protocol.
• Respond to Mental Health Crises, develop Safety Assessment Plans, and involve family and outside agencies as needed.
• Provide individual check in and group counseling to assigned scholars
• Provide services to to new and returning scholars at the beginning of the year.
• Use DESSA data to guide individual and group counseling work.
• Support with behavior and problem-solving on assigned grade level bands
• Conduct intake assessments with new families.
• Develop family partnerships through regular communication and assist families in obtaining community services and resources.
• Work with high-needs families to ensure improved attendance and stabilization of the family by providing family coaching.
• Support families around decisions with CSE and support appointments/meetings as needed.
• Support with family education (individual and workshops) around Special Education and mental health topics.
• Make referrals to outside services as needed and follow-up on referrals.
• Develop and lead Family Council to increase family voice within the community.
• Monitor attendance and correspond with families according to Attendance Policy.
• Conduct home visits and community visits before the school year starts and during the year as necessary.
• Provide attendance coaching to selected families/scholars and track data monitor improvement.
• Organize and lead at least 2 family events during the school year and support with other school wide activities (eg. color run, Scholastic Book Fair).

Classroom

• Develop Scope and Sequence as well as Unit Plans for weekly SELT lessons.
• Teach weekly SELT lessons in assigned classrooms.
• Work collaboratively with the teachers to plan and execute Social Emotional Learning lessons.
• Ensure that unit topics and Haven's SE approach is infused into the classroom and school wide community.
• Coordinate with instructional and behavioral staff on developing , maintaining, and evaluating behavioral plans for in-classroom and out-of-classroom behaviors.
• Support teachers as per trauma protocol in understanding impact of trauma and attachment in their classrooms.
• Organize and execute classroom and school wide incentives around attendance.
• Participate in Family Conferences to discuss social-emotional, behavioral, and / or academic needs.

Agency and Community

• Provide regular updates to agencies and meet with workers as needed.
• Develop agency relationships and increase partnerships with outside agencies.
• Advocate for increased services for our scholar population.
• Support with recruitment efforts to ensure we are recruiting Foster and Prevention Scholars by reaching out to agencies, presenting on our mission.
• Attend ACS/Agency meetings as needed and advocate/schedule meetings if necessary.
• Assist with recruitment by conducting sessions at various agencies.

School Support Services and Data Collections

• Maintain paperwork in timely fashion, including: MySchool records, clinical notes, collateral information, student folders, SIT forms, and group notes.
• Maintain data and records on Child Welfare Statistics and other relevant data related to service provision.
• Support teachers and staff in completing and understanding DESSA data.
• Participate in meetings that promote overall mission (eg. Social Emotional, SUM, Attendance, Committee).
• Facilitate professional development curriculum for peers and provide support and consultation on social emotional related issues to staff.
• Attend Professional Development opportunities as determined by interest and need.

Qualifications:

• Excellent oral and written communication/interpersonal skills as well as a desire to collaborate with various stakeholders to help develop a whole-school community
• Experience managing and developing family leadership
• Demonstrated ability to create and maintain a warm and orderly environment
• A strong sense of personal accountability for student achievement
• Unwavering conviction that all students can learn at a high level