SY26-27 Forest Park Middle School Student Support Specialist

SY26-27 Forest Park Student Support Senior Specialist

Position type: Full Time

Start Date: Immediate Opening

Salary: TBD; commensurate with experience

About the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership:

While Massachusetts is consistently ranked as one of the top states for education results in the country, we have one of the highest and most persistent opportunity gaps. The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) - established in 2015 as a collaboration between Springfield Public Schools (SPS), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the Springfield Education Association (SEA) – seeks to improve the longitudinal life outcomes of the more than 5,000 students in our 16 middle and high schools.

As a “zone” of schools within the city of Springfield, SEZP’s approach draws on a deep and embedded partnership with the school district and local teachers’ union, while harnessing the flexibility and innovation found in autonomous school models. As a result, each school within SEZP is accorded significant school-based autonomies - in curriculum, talent, calendar, schedule, and budget – while being held accountable for realizing achievement gains for historically marginalized students. In all of our work, SEZP is in pursuit of equity and anti-racism acknowledging the systemic oppression our students and families encounter daily and working to disrupt these provision gaps urgently and courageously.

Program Details

The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) is committed to building anti-racist schools by ensuring the work of equity is fully inclusive of and focused on our students of color, exceptional learners, emerging bilinguals, and all families across our schools. A central SEZP strategy for disrupting institutionalized racism lives in our innovation around Early College for high school students. The SEZP pioneered the “fifth year” graduation deferment option for high school seniors to provide enough time for scholars to earn an Associate’s degree or to amass an equivalent number of college credits, thereby significantly increasing the odds of college matriculation and retention, and drastically reducing the financial burdens of higher education on families. The SEZP supports multiple models of early college programming, including wall-to-wall, dual enrollment, and pathways-focused options. This deeply impactful work is made possible through the most robust college partnership strategy in the state, engaging multiple institutions of higher education in course delivery and degree attainment. Our partners include Worcester State University, Springfield Technical Community College, Quinsigamond Community College, Westfield State University, and Holyoke Community College. 

The SEZP calls upon skilled and passionate professionals to trailblaze a new model of early college instruction in which they are dually employed as both an adjunct faculty member of Worcester State University and our SEZP high schools. 

Student Support Specialist Responsibilities:

The Student Support Specialist will work with a team to ensure that students demonstrate dramatic student achievement gains and internalize the school’s values. The Student Support Coordinator will help lead the school’s efforts to create a positive, structured, consistent, caring, and disciplined school culture.

Responsibilities of this position may include:

• Assist in supporting student behavior in hallways and classrooms
• Assist in escorting students throughout the building
• Assist in monitoring hallways.
• Assist with monitoring students at breakfast, lunch and dismissal 

We are seeking team players committed to the SEZP mission, high expectations, and their own professional growth. 

Qualifications:

• Associate's degree from an accredited college or university (preferred)
• 1-2 years of relevant work experience;
• A deep desire to work with educationally underserved student populations and their families;
• An unwavering commitment to the academic success and personal development of our students;
• An eagerness to set ambitious, challenging, and tangible goals, and a relentless drive to achieve them; 
• An ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and a capacity to remain calm and focused when faced with unexpected challenges; 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including strong public speaking skills; 
• A sense of humility;
• Experience in an urban setting

If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or reach out for more information. We know that historically marginalized groups – including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ – are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from educators with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities. 

We encourage you to reach out to Emily Burdick at burdicke@springfieldpublicschools.com if you have questions about the role or your qualifications. We are happy to help you feel ready to apply!

Benefits

Selection as an analyst in the SEZP recognizes an individual for their outstanding vision, capacity, and commitment to anti-racist school communities.

NONDISCRIMINATION EMPLOYMENT STATEMENT

The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, pregnancy or pregnancy related conditions, ancestry, age, disability, veteran status, or marital status.

NOTICE OF SEX NONDISCRIMINATION

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, in any education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and its regulations, including in admission and employment.

Inquiries about Title IX may be referred to the Springfield Public Schools’ Title IX Coordinator, titleix@springfieldpublicschools.com, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights at https://ocrcas.ed.gov/contact-ocr, or both.

The Springfield Public Schools Title IX Coordinator is Jeremy Saint Laurent, Chief Legal Counsel of Legal Services, 1550 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103, 413-787-7100 ext. 55325, titleix@springfieldpublicschools.com.     

Springfield Public School’s sex nondiscrimination policy and grievance procedures can be located on the Springfield Public Schools website, www.springfieldpublicschools.com/non-discrimination

To report information about conduct that may constitute sex discrimination or make a complaint of sex discrimination under Title IX, please refer to titleix@springfieldpublicschools.com

Salary : $22 - $30