SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER VACANCY CIRCULAR NO 36 DECE     2024 2025

(SUBJECT TO FUNDING AVAILABILITY)

 

POSITION:

SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER-Division of Early Childhood Education (DECE)

(FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CANDIDATES)

(ONE YEAR POSITION)

LOCATION:

Citywide Pre-K Programs, District, and Early Childhood Centers

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

• Master of Social Work Degree
• At least 3 years of satisfactory related professional experience
• Satisfactory rating required for current NYCPS appointed school social workers
• NYS School Social Worker Certification (Provisional or Permanent Certification)
• New York State Licensed Master Social Worker (Preferred)
• Prior NYC school social work experience (Preferred)

SELECTION CRITERIA:

• Demonstrated potential to develop relationships and work collaboratively with other disciplines and community partners to develop effective systems of prevention and support to meet the differentiated needs of clients
• Demonstrated experience working with children birth to 5 and/or families
• Demonstrated excellence in oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to be flexible to meet the needs of the client
• Demonstrated potential to engage programmatic leaders about their vision for mental health and wellness, including planning with program leaders around need assessments, goal setting, implementation of strategies and outcome measurement
• Demonstrated ability to use reflective skills when working with clients and supervisors
• Willingness and ability to travel to school assignments within and across districts
• Acknowledgement that is a city wide position and social workers can be placed in any borough or district based on the need
• Acknowledgement this position is not eligible for clinical hours
• Ability to deliver professional development to peers, school leaders, teachers and community groups
• Ability to deliver engaging, informative family workshops, based on the social emotional or mental health needs of children and families
• Evidence of strong presentation skills, critical thinking, problem solving and organization skills
• Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to use Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Demonstrated ability to conduct and address a mental health needs assessment
• Demonstrated ability to create individualized goals in collaboration with clients
• Demonstrated ability to use data to set goals and develop strategies to achieve those goals, including the ability to refine goals after reflection and review
• Demonstrated ability to manage and organize time, and to submit documentation in a timely manner

 

PREFERRED

• Demonstrated skill in developing appropriate strategies to support the development of social and emotionally responsive classrooms, knowledge of pro-active behavior management systems to support children with a full range of abilities and disabilities including basic knowledge of the Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) processes
• Familiarity with pre-k/3k in public schools and Community Based Organizations (CBO) in high priority areas
• Understanding of best practices in early childhood family engagement and curriculum, and/or willingness to build knowledge and skills in these areas
• Understanding of Head Start Performance Standards

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Serving birth to 5 programs across different settings provide focused, on-site supports and resources to families, teachers and leaders

• Manage caseload of multiple programs-Birth to 5
• Collaborate regularly with DECE support teams to provide a holistic capacity building and case management approach to supporting programs to meet the needs of children and families.  Support to program will involve:
  • Differentiating strategies and methods of support for programs based on individual program needs
  • Varying levels of support to school leadership, teacher and families to effectively respond to coal and emotional needs of students and families

• Collaborate with school and program leaders DECE colleagues to identify needs of assigned programs, and to develop goals and implement strategies that are supportive of children and families.  This may include but is not limited to:
  • Engaging school and program leaders in conversations about supporting the developmental and learning needs of children and families through data-informed, evidence based practices
  • Applying Division of Early Childhood Framework (EFQ) and NYS Next Generation Early Learning Standards to facilitate team and individual meetings with teachers on best practices to support the social and emotional development of young children
  • Facilitate team and individual meetings with teachers to enhance teacher’s capacity to implement positive behavioral strategies, and increase teachers understanding of how and when to leverage the CPSE process in supporting a child’s learning needs
  • Direct provision of recommendations to teachers/families on behavior management strategies and supports; including conducting classroom observations as needed
  • Collaborating with school leaders and school-based teams to strengthen family engagement practices that enhance capacity of families to effectively support their child’s learning and development
  • Assisting in the implementation of successful transition continuity experiences for children, their families and staff as children move to subsequent grades, including creating strong linkages between district and CBO programs
  • Leading the implementation of family engagement activities that support families to build the skills and knowledge to effectively support their children’s learning in and out of the classroom
  • Providing ongoing consultation to families to build their knowledge and skills to support their children’s education, including connecting families to community resources and services, understanding the developmental stages of their pre-k, and understanding the CPSE process
  • Supporting crisis intervention and strategies for programs, children and families as needed
• Effectively manage and support incidents as needed.
• Support Program/Delegate leaders in understanding how to implement the Head Start Performance standards related Mental Health, Social Emotional Development, and Family Empowerment by:
  • Assessing and providing feedback about their implementation

• Build program leadership and staff capacity to improve upon their implementation of Head Start Standards through Mental Health Consultation, Training, and other Technical Assistance.

• Collaborate with colleagues to collect and analyze data, and to develop support strategies informed by data
• Read, evaluate and conduct site visits associated with the Request for Proposals process related to Pre-K for All and other DECE initiatives, as needed
• Plan and facilitate professional development sessions in collaboration with other Early Childhood colleagues, including on-site, city-wide, and virtual sessions
• Actively participate in a city-wide, support team of borough and central office specific structures and initiative (e.g. team meetings, family engagement)
• Timely submission and accurate record keeping of all documents required by the DECE including but not limited to, timesheets, logs, escalation documentation

 

SALARY/HOURS: 

As per the UFT Collective Bargaining Agreement

 

WORK SCHEDULE: 

As per the UFT Collective Bargaining Agreement

 

APPLICATION:

Please apply via the Teacher Support Network (TSN) system: https://nyc.teacherssupportnetwork.com/Home.do?CareerPath=PPS