School Social Worker

Full-Time, Monday – Friday; 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Help Us Change Lives

We live by the motto that “There is a Student in Front of Everything We Do” and we are very passionate about it. Do you have a passion to work with students? If so, then this is an exciting opportunity for you! You’ll have the opportunity to work with a diverse group of students supporting their growth and development. Remember the person who made a difference in your life? Now it’s your turn.

Learn more about us at https://learn4life.org/

How You Will Make an Impact

In collaboration with site administration and student support team members, the School Social Worker provides leadership and support to the Learning Center. This Position will consult and work in partnership with the School Counselor to a) deliver school and community wide best practice b) create policies, procedures, and support that positively impact students lives c) help the Learning Center increase academic achievement d) support students social emotional needs and behavior, provide mental health awareness, create safe and diverse learning abilities e) support a positive school environment and f) strengthen the family school relationship.

RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES: This list is illustrative only and is not intended to be a comprehensive list of tasks performed by this classification. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

• Identify and assess academic barriers through exploration of factors impinging on student adjustment including factors in the home, school, and community
• Consult and collaborate with teachers, administrators, and other school staff on behavioral-emotional environmental issues affecting student participation in the learning process
• Provide one-on-one brief solution-focused individual and group counseling services to students
• Assist in the coordination and delivery of school based therapeutic support services
• Conduct workshops, social skills groups, and classroom presentations on identified areas of concern for the students
• Serve as a school site crisis intervention team member
• Provide staff development in the areas of behavioral-emotional-environmental issues affecting student participation in the learning process
• Assist in development of community awareness and partnerships
• Collaborate with School Counseling team, to meet the needs of identified foster/non-traditional housing youth and other at-promise student sub-groups (including parenting, gang affiliated, justice involved and LGBTQIA2S youth)
• Assist in development, coordination, and implementation of psycho-educational workshops
• Collaborate with School Counselors, Student Retention Support, School Psychologist, Community Liaisons, and staff
• Collaborate with county social workers, probation officers, case managers and/or service providers to ensure student success
• Serve as preceptor for Social Worker Internships
• Support School Counseling events, activities, and initiatives
• Attend meetings and professional development activities as required
• Administrative duties, responsibilities, and activities may be assigned or changed from time to time

Foster Youth and Students in Non Traditional Housing emphasis:

• Facilitate meetings with all foster/homeless youth identified in assigned school site(s)
• Assess student educational needs and make appropriate referrals and intervention recommendations
• Collaborate with School Counselors, Student Retention, and Community Liaisons to connect and support students to educational and/or vocational programs, including tutoring, mentoring, job training, college prep/fairs, etc.
• Collaborate with caseworkers/social workers and/or service providers to coordinate family, school, and community resources to ensure student success

Community/Parent Support:

• Assist in development of community awareness and partnerships
• Assist in development, coordination, and implementation of psycho-educational workshops

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES, LICENSES, CERTIFICATION, ETC.

• An understanding of how to navigate the structure of educational systems
• Knowledge and understanding of State and National School Social Work Standards (NASW) and applicable laws, regulations and policies related to student welfare
• Knowledge of current trends and concerns in education directly impacting at-promise students and drop out prevention
• Ability to connect with people from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, foster/non-traditionally housed youth, and other at-promise student sub-groups (including parenting, gang affiliated, justice involved and LGBTQIA2S youth)
• Collaborative decision-making and conflict resolution skills; Ability to problem solve
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong facilitation and presentation skills
• Organizational skills and ability to handle multiple tasks
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative and collaborative working relationship with a variety of professionals and stakeholders
• Ability to work within a multidisciplinary team
• Strong time management skills and ability to work effectively and efficiently
• Maintain legal ethical and confidentiality requirements as it adheres to the NASW code of ethics

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Masters' degree in Social Work required
• Valid California Pupil Personnel Services(PPS) Credential with Specialization in School Social Work required, Child Welfare Attendance (CWA) preferred
• Experience coordinating comprehensive support systems to students
• Experience providing case management, facilitating support groups, and delivering mental health interventions in an academic setting
• Proficient in student information database
• Skill in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)

TRAVEL: Ability to travel in performance of job duties is required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Mental Demands: high workflow management, high project coordination, high people engagement
• Finger Dexterity: using primarily just the fingers to make small movements such as typing, picking up small objects, or pinching fingers together
• Talking: especially where one must convey detailed or important instructions or ideas accurately, loudly, or quickly
• Average Hearing: able to hear average or normal conversations and receive ordinary information
• Average Visual Abilities: ordinary acuity necessary to prepare or inspect documents or operate machinery
• Physical Strength: sedentary work. Sitting most of the time, and occasionally exerts up to 10 lbs. of force (almost all office jobs)
• Frequent multi-tasking, changing of task priorities, repetitious exacting work required
• Working in a noisy, distracting environment with frequent deadline pressures