School Overview

St. Louis Voices Academy of Media Arts is a new, innovative charter public school that will open in fall 2022 to serve students and families within the boundaries of St. Louis City. The school will start with kindergarten through first grade and add a grade each year, growing to kindergarten through fifth grade. St. Louis Voices Academy is a public charter school that leverages media arts and storytelling to equip students with the agency to excel academically, author their own futures, and make meaningful contributions in their communities. St. Louis Voices Academy is committed to media and storytelling, whole-child development, real-world inquiry, and progressive learner autonomy as design elements that allow the school to fulfill its mission.

Role Overview

As a member of the school leadership team, the DSCI holds primary responsibility for shaping our school culture through SEL, restorative practices, and school routines and procedures. The DSCI collaborates with the Director of Teaching and Learning, teachers, support staff, and parents to ensure that all students receive the social-emotional support they need to succeed in St. Louis Voices Academy’s educational program. The DSCI works closely with the DSO to ensure that our school culture is optimized through SEL and Restorative Practices and the implementation of schoolwide routines and procedures. The Dean of School Culture and Intervention is responsible for monitoring and evaluating school culture and climate as well as managing discipline and providing support to students with behavior concerns. The DSCI helps lead the school’s creation of a positive, structured, consistent, caring, and disciplined school culture.

Mission Alignment

Mission-aligned members of the St. Louis Voices Academy community share the following dispositions: 

• Dedication to the school’s mission, vision, values, and graduate outcomes; 
• Understanding that relationships are essential to working with students who have experienced the effects of poverty or trauma; 
• Belief that our students have strengths and assets and build on these strengths in their work;
• A positive attitude and a solution-based approach to challenges in the workplace;
• Commitment to restorative justice as a means of addressing conflicts or challenges in the community, whether between students, staff members, or students and staff members;
• Commitment to inclusive excellence, including a willingness to engage in conversations about privilege, power, equity, and diversity and to invest time in community-building and professional development based on inclusive excellence;
• Active participants in a supportive and demanding professional community that fosters respect, trust, honesty, risk-taking, open-mindedness, flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. 

Responsibilities

• Works closely with the Head of Schools to establish a positive, structured, achievement-oriented, and creative school culture
• Supports teachers to hold all students to high and consistent behavioral expectations
• Serves as the point person for dealing with behavioral crisis intervention and acute behavioral issues
• Acts as a resource to teachers in their instructional practice, especially as it relates to issues of discipline, relationships with students, classroom management, and school culture
• Assists teachers, students, and parents in the effective creation and implementation of individual behavior plans
• Leads staff efforts to ensure all students have excellent attendance and arrive at school on time and works with students and parents to ensure excellent attendance
• May participate in home visits highlighting the responsibilities of parents, teachers, and students.
• Helps reinforce the effective use of a school-wide behavior plan, including managing the school’s incentives and rubric systems
• Serves as the point person for discipline/culture issues
• Ensures that the physical environment of the school reinforces school culture and facilitates student achievement
• Is highly present and visible during school hours, relentlessly ensuring the school has an exceptional school culture
• Proactively monitors classrooms and hallways during the day to gain valuable context on student behavior and help support positive school culture 
• Monitors behavioral pull-out and in-school suspensions
• Models the school’s values and the standard for professional behavior
• Coordinates Restorative Circles and culture messages at Schoolwide Morning Meetings
• Supervises breakfast, lunch, in-between class transitions, enrichment, and dismissal, making sure students are always where they are supposed to be and ensuring a professional school culture at these times
• Keeps accurate student discipline records, documenting all conferences, suspensions, and phone calls for behavior
• Teaches at least one whole or small-group class
• Tracks behavior on the school bus, ensuring students are exemplary bus riders to and from school.

Other

• Perform all duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree is required; a Master’s degree preferred
• Minimum of two years of teaching experience in an urban district or charter school setting.
• Drive to improve the minds and lives of students in and out of the classroom
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, and strong interpersonal skills with students, parents, colleagues, and community members
• Evidence of alignment with school’s mission: leveraging media and storytelling to equip students with the agency to excel academically, author their own futures, and make meaningful contributions to the communities
• Evidence of alignment with St. Louis Voices Academy’s core values: community, commitment, courage, confidence, compassion, and celebration
• Demonstrated commitment to educational equity and a deep understanding of drivers of the opportunity gap
• Passion for improving the minds, characters, and lives of students both in and out of school
• Ability to think strategically and innovatively to continuously improve school operations
• Proactive, strategic problem-solver who is able to work successfully in a fast-paced environment, often while balancing competing priorities
• Personal responsibility and commitment to continual professional growth

Additional Information

St. Louis Voices Academy offers competitive salaries commensurate with experience and a comprehensive benefits package. Aside from extensive professional development, all our staff members are equipped with laptops, email, and all necessary supplies. Performance is evaluated by the Director of School Operations in accordance with St. Louis Voices Academy’s human resources policy.

St. Louis Voices Academy believes in the importance of being a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization that enables our students and staff to thrive. We are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. At the same time, we work to ensure an inclusive community by creating a space for meaningful dialogue about issues of race and identity for our staff and students. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or disability.