Summary

Social Workers (SW) at NMSD (1) have integral roles in education and are essential members of school faculty, (2) help students meet the performance standards of NMSD and the state by assuming a range of responsibilities, (3) work in partnership with others to meet students' needs, and (4) provide direction in defining their roles and responsibilities and in ensuring appropriate services to students. It is anticipated and expected that all functions of this position will be performed in a positive and receptive manner, while helping to advance the mission and vision of New Mexico School for the Deaf.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities (Other duties may be assigned)

• Supports problem solving in application to a student’s living situation that affect the child’s adjustment in school.
• Provides group and individual counseling.
• Provides families and caregivers as well as students with support in a variety of ways.
• Mobilizes family, school and community resources to enable the child to learn as effectively as possible in his or her educational program.
• Utilizes crisis intervention strategies when needed.
• Works with students on conflict resolution and anger management.
• Helps students develop appropriate social interaction skills.
• Assists students in understanding and accepting themselves and others.
• Works with parents to facilitate their support in their child’s school adjustment.
• Provides support in ways that alleviate family stress to enable the child to function more effectively in school.
• Directly supports staff and provides essential information to help them better understand factors affecting a student’s performance and behavior including, cultural, societal, economic familial, and health.
• Assesses students with mental health concerns.
• Works with the Job Preparation Program to support students preparing for post-graduation.
• Develops and provides staff in-service training.
• Obtains and coordinates community resources to meet students’ needs.
• Assists parents in accessing and utilizing school and community resources, including medical services.
• Helps the school receive adequate support from social and mental health agencies in the community.
• Identifies and reports child abuse and neglect.
• Provides case management for students and families requiring multiple resources.
• Keeps current on best practices and current research in the field.
• Works with students ranging in age from 18 months-22 years of age.
• Creates and implements individual educational plans for students with the educational team.
• Works with the educational team to create and implement plans to support and improve function including helping children to prepare for and perform important learning and school-related activities and to fulfill their role as students, support academic and non-academic outcomes, including social skills, math, reading and writing (i.e., literacy), behavior management, recess, participation in sports, self-help skills, and prevocational/vocational participation.
• Integrates services into the classroom and other school settings, when appropriate.
• Trains teachers, educational assistants, parents, other staff members, and caregivers regarding educating students with diverse learning needs
• May be expected to travel during work time using NMSD provided vehicles to other sites including NMSD’s Albuquerque preschool campus on a regular basis to provide services.
• Travels within New Mexico the meet with families, other agencies, and so forth.
• Adheres to NMSD’s Vision, Mission and Belief statements.

Competencies: To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies:

Ability and commit to represent the vision, mission, and beliefs of NMSD

• Job Knowledge - Competent in required job skills and knowledge; exhibits ability to learn and apply new skills; keeps abreast of current developments; requires minimal supervision; displays understanding of how job relates to others; uses resources effectively.
• Analytical - Synthesizes complex or diverse information; collects and researches data; uses intuition and experience to complement data; designs work flows and procedures. Continuous Learning - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; seeks feedback to improve performance; pursues training and development opportunities; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; shares expertise with others.
• Planning/Organizations - Prioritizes and plans work activities; uses time efficiently; plans for additional resources; sets goals and objectives; organizes or schedules other people and their tasks. Must be organized and detail-oriented. Must be able to complete work within deadlines. Must be able to plan and carry out plans/units efficiently, utilizing the entire tasks.
• Continuous Learning - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; seeks feedback to improve performance; pursues training and development opportunities; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; shares expertise with others.
• Attendance/Punctuality - Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent;
• Cooperation - Establishes and maintains effective relations; exhibits tact and consideration; offers assistance and support to co-workers; works cooperatively in group situations; works actively to resolve conflicts.
• Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; puts success of team above own interests; supports everyone's efforts to succeed.
• Initiative - Volunteers readily; undertakes self-development activities; asks for and offers help when needed.
• Innovation - Displays original thinking and creativity; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas; presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention.
• Judgment - Supports and explains reasoning for decisions; includes appropriate people in decision-making process.
• Achievement Focus - Demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles.
• Conflict Resolution - Confronts difficult situations; maintains objectivity; keeps emotions under control.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Delegation - Delegates work assignments; matches the responsibility to the person; sets expectations and monitors delegated activities.
• Dependability - Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; commits to long hours of work when necessary to reach goals.
• Compassion – Demonstrates a general knowledge of the history and significance of Deaf and other minority communities in New Mexico.
• Personal Appearance - Dresses appropriately for position; keeps self well groomed; is mindful of visual needs when selecting clothing/accessories.
• Cultural Sensitivity – Demonstrates an understanding for diverse family dynamics, eye contact conventions, and gender roles in various cultures and how these cultural differences potentially might influence a communicated message.
• Humility – Demonstrates an openness to learning; never assumes her/his expertise excludes her/him from having to learn about other cultures.
• Multiculturalism ­– Possesses general knowledge about Deaf education and attitudes toward Deafness; Demonstrates an ability to apply American cultural values to business norms, such as punctuality and conciseness in communication, and apply Deaf cultural values to interpreting and other interactions, via attitude and demonstration of consideration and respect. Experience working with New Mexico Hispanic and Native American cultures is preferred.
• Diversity - Shows respect and sensitivity for cultural differences; educates others on the value of diversity; incorporates multi-cultural viewpoints into instruction and materials.
• Ethics - Treats people with respect; keeps commitments; inspires the trust of others; works with integrity and principles; upholds organizational values.
• Language – Possesses adeptness in working across a wide range of registers, genres, and variations of English and ASL; demonstrates flexibility, using language free of regionalisms when interpreting for a consumer who does not share the same variety of English or ASL; Demonstrates ability to identify English-speaking and Deaf consumers’ language use and accommodate with appropriate target language form.
• Communications/ Written Communications - Exhibits good listening and comprehension; keeps others adequately informed; selects and uses appropriate communication methods; listens and gets clarification; responds well to questions; participates in meetings. Writes clearly and informatively; varies writing style to meet needs. Ensures that communication with clearly presented and grammatically correct.
• Visionary Leadership/ Leadership - Displays passion and optimism; inspires respect and trust. Inspires and motivates others to perform well; accepts feedback from others; gives appropriate recognition to others.
• Problem Solving - Gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; works well with supervisors and other specialists.
• Strategic Thinking - Develops strategies to achieve organizational goals; understands organization's strengths & weaknesses; identifies external threats and opportunities; adapts strategy to changing conditions.
• Achievement Focus - Demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles.
• Quality/ Quantity - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality. Completes work in timely manner; strives to increase productivity.
• Quality Management - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Project Management – Completes projects on time.
• Organizational Support - Follows policies and procedures; completes tasks correctly and on time; supports organization's goals and values.
• Customer Service - Responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments.
• Use of Technology - Adapts to new technologies; troubleshoots technological problems; uses technology to increase productivity; utilizes technology and software to enhance learning.
• Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures; determines appropriate action beyond guidelines; reports potentially unsafe conditions; uses equipment and materials properly; manages area environment for safety and security.

Qualifications: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Education and/or Experience: Master’s Degree in Social Work. At least two years of experience and a progressive and directly related experience with children who are deaf or hard of hearing, preferred. At least two years of experience working with families from a variety of cultures in the southwestern part of the United States required.

• License: LCSW preferred or LMSW. Please contact the New Mexico Board of Social Work Examiners for more information. Public Education Department State Licensure is required. Ability to obtain a New Mexico driver’s license.

• Language Skills: Ability to read, analyze, and interpret occupational therapy periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations. Ability to write evaluations and business correspondence. Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from teachers and parents.

• Sign Language: American Sign Language skills at hire are favorable. The applicant must have some sign language skills and will be required to demonstrate progressive sign language acquisition and if needed participate in sign language classes offered at NMSD.

• Spanish Language: Fluent Spanish speaking skills are preferred.

• Mathematical Skills: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalents for evaluations based on standardization charts. 

• Reasoning Ability: Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

• Computer Skills: To perform this job successfully, an individual should have working knowledge of Microsoft Windows, as well as various software packages including Microsoft Office. 

• Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, and play on the floor with students. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and peripheral vision. 

• Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

NMSD conforms to all the laws, statutes, and regulations concerning equal employment opportunities and affirmative action. We strongly encourage women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply to all of our job openings. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, age, disability status, Genetic Information & Testing, Family & Medical Leave, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.