Special Education Teacher for Middle School Therapeutic Support Program, SY2024-2025

Collins Middle School

About Salem Public Schools, where belonging leads to opportunity.

Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district enrolling nearly 4,000 students across our 11 schools. Our vision is to ensure that all students will be locally engaged, globally connected, and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world. We hold dear our core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity in everything we do. Over the next three years (2023-2026), we are committed to the work outlined by the four core priorities in our strategic plan: 1) Elevate Learning; 2) Empower Educators; 3) Center Belonging; and 4) Strengthen Our Foundation. We seek individuals who are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement for all students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. Applicants who have experience working in urban schools and settings and are bilingual are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You’ll Do:

As a collaborative member of the Special Education team at Collins Middle School, you will be responsible for collaborating with the administration and team of other special education staff to create a therapeutic setting for students on IEPs with social and emotional disabilities. This includes creating a welcoming environment, designing engaging learning experiences, and supporting students in the general education setting. The teacher must have a working knowledge of grade level curriculum standards and will consult with support staff, instructional coaches, and general education teams to ensure implementation of IEPs. 

Role Responsibilities:

• Establish a welcoming learning environment and classroom routines to support the specific needs of students with significant social/emotional disabilities
• Use innovative approaches, and instructional strategies to support student learning and engagement.
• Modify/adapt curriculum and materials to deliver grade level lessons 
• Develop and implement IEP goals, and when applicable, participate in developing transition plans
• When required, support data collection for Functional Behavioral Assessments and the resulting development of individual behavior support plans.
• Complete and provide trimester progress reports for student assigned to caseload
• Collaborate with school personnel, parents and various community agencies for the purpose of improving the quality of student experiences and outcomes.
• Supervise and direct program paraprofessionals with resources, tools, and modeling of instructional techniques and methodology to support IEP accommodations and goals.
• Assure accommodations are consistently delivered in the sub-separate and/or inclusive settings, according to students’ IEPs
• Present evidence of student progress toward goals and objectives through routine, written progress-monitoring and formal presentations at IEP meetings
• Additional duties as assigned by the Special Education Supervisor, Principal and Executive Director of Special Education

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 failure, using mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.

Job Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree (Required); Master’s Degree (Preferred)
• Required Massachusetts teaching certification/licensure in Special Education
• Experience with Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs preferred
• Ability to meet the expectations of the Massachusetts Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice
• Safety Care Trained, or willing to be trained (District provides)
• 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

Work Year: Teachers in Salem Public Schools work a 185 day school year (180 student contact days plus 5 professional development days. Please visit www.salemk12.org to view the 2023-24 district and/or school calendar.

Salary: Teacher salaries in the Salem Public Schools are determined by the Salem Teachers Union collective bargaining agreement. Salary information can be found in Appendix A. Use our new Salem Teacher Salary estimator here. Collins Middle School teachers receive an additional 4% differential on top of their base salary for a slightly longer (7 hour) school day.

Hiring Stipend

Veteran teachers are encouraged to apply, and if eligible, may receive an additional stipend for teaching in Collins MS.

Benefits: The City of Salem offers Group Insurance Commission (GIC) benefits to all full-time employees. Click here for more information about our health benefits.

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.