Front Desk Paraprofessional, Salem High School, Salem Public Schools SY2023-2024

Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:25 - 3:55 (40 hours/week)

Application Due Date: Open Until Filled

Position Start Date: effective immediately

About Salem Public Schools

Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Salem Public School educators are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. We seek individuals who are able to serve all of our students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. Salem Public Schools has a clear equity statement and core values that guide and drive our work as an anti-racist organization. Applicants who have experienced working in urban schools and have bilingual skills are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You’ll Do

Under the direction of the Principal, the Front Desk Clerical Paraprofessional is responsible for completing light clerical tasks and assisting with the monitoring of student attendance.

Role Responsibilities

• Monitors comings and goings of Salem High School staff and students, as well as visitors to the school
• Monitors students leaving the building during school hours to ensure they have appropriate authorization
• Assists with monitoring of student attendance by entering attendance, tardies, and dismissals manually in Aspen each day and by making phone calls home when necessary
• Supports tardy student check-ins
• Receives phone calls from classrooms and informs appropriate staff
• Assists with light clerical work including photocopying, creating and hanging signs, data entry, answering the phone and taking messages, managing a simple student database in Google Spreadsheets, and checking voice mail daily
• Follows direction of supervisor and assures safety of students at all times
• Additional duties as assigned by the Principal

What You’ll Bring:

We are looking for candidates who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, are inspired by our mission and are highly motivated to change children’s lives through education. You’ll be right at home here if you are a reflective practitioner who values collaboration with colleagues and pushes yourself, your work and the people around you to the next level. We expect our SPS employees to:

• Hold a deep commitment to students and families and value diversity - The SPS community is vibrant, diverse in background, ethnicity, language, and perspective. You embrace and affirm the backgrounds of all members of the SPS community and view our diversity as a powerful resource that supports us each in learning and doing our best work.
• Hold high expectations for yourself, students, and colleagues – You see potential in all, especially our SPS students, and maintain high expectations for achievement, while providing the support necessary to meet that bar. You hold yourself to high expectations, modeling SPS values and seeking opportunities to continuously improve.
• Build authentic, caring relationships with colleagues, students, and families – You build strong relationships across students, families, and colleagues that are collaborative in nature and contribute to the individual and collective success of SPS. You partner with families and colleagues to make decisions in the best interest of students and learning.
• Embrace feedback – You are a reflective practitioner who learns from mistakes and challenges and uses them as opportunities for professional development. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.

Job Requirements:

• Is able to develop positive relationships with teenagers
• Has excellent attention to detail and organization skills
• Has the ability to multi-task and work under pressure to meet deadlines
• Expresses self clearly, both orally and in writing, including conveying and receiving messages clearly
• Practices exceptional telephone and e-mail etiquette
• Has basic computer skills, experience with Google docs a plus
• Accepts, seeks and/or takes initiative for new responsibilities, assignments and/or projects and initiates and takes action for improvements
• Responds confidently to the demands of work when confronted with change, adversity or other challenges (adapts well to change in the work environment)
• Positively represents the district; exhibits professional demeanor
• Prior clerical experience working in a school setting preferred
• Must have positive interpersonal skills and be able to work effectively with a variety of individuals
• Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) proficiency a plus
• Bilingual candidates and candidates of color strongly encouraged to apply
• Current authorization to work in the United States

Paraprofessionals are district-wide employees and subject to the negotiated Paraprofessional Contract, as well as the rules and regulations of Salem Public Schools.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally, we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.