JDE: 4.21

School Social Worker

Purpose Statement

The position of School Social Worker was established to support the process of serving as a professional with specific responsibilities of coordinating services for students and their families that impede student success in educational programs and life; provide direct services to students which increase student success; collaborating with teachers, other professional staff, and administrators, parents, community members, and others in addressing student issues; and responding to a wide range of inquiries from students, their parents or guardians and colleagues regarding overall student well being.

Job Title: School Social Worker

Salary: See Teacher Salary Schedule

Benefit Summary: C

Reports To: Building Principal

Wage/Hour Status: Exempt

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW Certification is required)
• Experience with community services, schools, and families
• Position related experience, preferred.
• Current and past leadership positions including but not limited to Lighthouse Coordinator, Leader In Me (LIM) action team member, ILT, CAT/CLT, mentor; preferred
• High school experience preferred, mental health background beneficial

Education Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Social Work (MSW Certification is required)

Essential Functions

• Maintains regular contact with school personnel to identify students in need of assistance, including crisis intervention.
• Coordinates resources and programs for the purpose of improving student social/emotional, academic and family situations, including coordinating family involvement with agencies and services required to address student-specific needs.
• Researches, selects, implements, and evaluates student and family strategies and resources focused on improvement of student social/emotional, academic, and family needs.
• Assesses student needs and/or goals for the purpose of providing feedback to students, parents, and administration, and inform next steps for support.
• Advises parents and/or legal guardians for the purpose of communicating resources, support organizations, and developing methods for improvement and/or reinforcing needs and/or goals in the home environment.
• Serves as a liaison between schools, community based social services and families.
• Research, identify, develop, and/or offer social/emotional professional development opportunities for staff.
• Supports student behavior for the purpose of providing a safe and optimal learning environment.
• Responds to inquiries from a variety of sources (e.g. other teachers, parents, administrators, etc.) for the purpose of resolving issues, providing information and/or direction.
• Participates in a variety of meetings, including parent teacher conferences, PLCs, lEPs, 504 meetings, etc for the purpose of conveying and/or gathering information to support students and families.
• Prepares a variety of written materials for the purpose of documenting student progress and meeting mandated requirements.
• Reports incidents (e.g., behavior infractions, suspected child abuse, suspected substance abuse, etc.) for the purpose of maintaining personal safety of students, providing a positive learning environment and adhering to state and federal laws and school board policies.
• Develops and maintains an effective level of communication with appropriate personnel.
• Maintains accurate records.
• Serves as the homeless liaison representative for the building(s) identified to support.

Other Functions

• Responds to emergency situations for the purpose of resolving immediate safety concerns and/or directing to appropriate personnel for resolution.
• Demonstrates integrity and maintains confidentiality.
• Works well with others, maintaining positive and effective communication with school personnel and works well with other custodians on jobs that require more than one person.
• Is respectful and appropriately interacts with staff, students, and visitors.
• Upholds and adheres to safety rules and policies of the Ankeny Community School District safety program.
• Supports the goals and objectives of the school district and follow all district policies.
• Demonstrates the ability to attend work on a regular and routine basis to avoid disruption to district operations.
• Perform all duties in a safe manner to avoid injury to oneself and/or others.
• Performs other related duties, as assigned, for the purpose of ensuring the efficient and effective functioning of the work unit.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Specific knowledge based competencies required to satisfactorily perform the functions of the job include:
• Appropriate codes, policies, regulations, and/or laws
• Age appropriate activities
• Instruction and assessment practices
• Behavioral management strategies
• Child development, brain development, and best practices in education
• Curriculum development
• Safety practices and procedures
• Conflict resolution
• Crisis de-escalation techniques
• Specific skill based competencies required to satisfactorily perform the functions of the job include:
• Interacting effectively with students, teachers/staff, the community and parents
• Adhering to safety practices
• Operating standard office equipment including using pertinent software applications
• Preparing and maintaining accurate records
• Using district approved crisis intervention techniques
• Specific ability based competencies required to satisfactorily perform the functions of the job include:
• Establishing and maintaining constructive relationships
• Ability to schedule activities, meetings, and/or events
• Gather collate, and/or classify data
• Flexibility is required to independently work with others in a wide variety of circumstances
• Ability to work with a significant diversity of individuals and/or groups
• Ability to problem solve
• Exhibiting tact and patience
• Adaptability to changing work priorities
• Maintaining confidentiality


Working Environment

Mental Demands/Physical Demands/Environmental Factors:

The usual and customary methods of performing the position functions require the following physical demands: significant lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, climbing, reaching, driving, standing and walking. Working conditions may include extreme temperatures and humidity. Hazards may include exposure to communicable diseases. This position requires one to maintain emotional control under stress.


Responsibility

Responsibilities include working under limited supervision using standardized practices and/or methods. Utilization of some resources from other work units is often required to perform position functions. There is some opportunity to significantly impact the organization’s services.


Terms of Employment

Work year established by the Superintendent; Salary according to schedule adopted annually.


Clearances

Criminal Justice Fingerprint/Background Clearance


Evaluation

Job performance will be evaluated annually, as per district policies and procedures


The foregoing statements describe the general purpose and responsibilities assigned to this job and are not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties that may be assigned or skills that may be required.


Approved by: Justin Mohr Date: September 6th, 2023


Ankeny Community School District is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. It is the policy of the District to provide equal employment opportunities and not to illegally discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, age or marital status in its employment and personnel practices. The job categories where the representative groups are underrepresented.