SOCIAL WORKER

Summary:

The School Social Worker is primarily responsible for supporting the social, psychological, biological, and academic development of students.  The School Social Worker provides biological, psychological, and sociological assessment information for individual students; coordinates with all members of the educational community to develop and implement intervention strategies that address various student needs; and helps to promote a healthy, safe, and caring educational environment.  

Duties and Responsibilities:

Employee’s duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following

• Conducts assessments and evaluations in accordance with family and student rights;
• Uses data from many sources to identify needs that affect student learning and develop appropriate intervention for students, families, schools, and communities;
• Develops long-term and short-term intervention plans consistent with curriculum; students’ needs, strengths, diversity and life experiences; and social and emotional factors;
• Uses a variety of appropriate formal and informal tools and techniques including observations and interviews to evaluate the progress and performance of students and families;
• Addresses the needs of the school, student, families, and community by collaborating with team members from the Student Development Department and the schools to design a holistic approach to any barriers or problems with the educational process;
• Promotes family support of students’ learning experience within the context of multicultural understanding and competencies;
• Provides services to students in ways that build upon individual strengths and offers students maximum opportunities to participate in the planning and direction of their own learning experience;
• Develops and provides training and educational programs that address the goals and mission of the educational institution;
• Advocates for and facilitates change that effectively responds to the needs of students, families, and school systems using appropriate statutes, case law, policies, and procedures;
• Promotes services to students and their families within the context of multicultural understanding and competence that enhances families’ support of students learning experiences;
• Assists students and their families in gaining access to formal and informal community resources;
• Utilizes research and technologies to assist students, families, schools, and communities;
• Consults with stakeholders to facilitate an understanding of factors in the home, local education agency, and community that affect students’ educational experiences;
• Consults on such issues as attendance, diversity, mental health, behavior management, delinquency, crisis intervention, homelessness, child abuse, neglect, and the importance of confidentiality;
• Initiates and supports activities to overcome institutional barriers and gaps in services as leaders and members of interdisciplinary teams with the unique contribution of bringing the home, school, and community perspective to the interdisciplinary process;
• Works with internal and external individuals, groups, and organizations to develop programs or systems of care that support and enhance the health, social and emotional well-being, and safety of students;
• Promotes collaboration among community health and mental health service providers and facilitates student access to these services;
• Uses extensive knowledge of community resources, enabling the school social worker to play a critical role in facilitating the provision of community services in the local education agency. 
• Helps to build effective school-community teams and orients community providers to school climate, culture, structure, and to the laws and regulations governing practice in educational settings;
• Applies knowledge of environmental factors in planning programs, and conducts individual and/or system-wide surveys to assess the school and/or community needs and plan school- and/or system-wide programs to promote a safe, healthy, caring school climate that fosters academic success;
• Assists in the evaluation of effective departmental, school-based, system, community, and statewide programs;
• Conforms to the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics and Standards for School Social Work practice and maintains licensure, certifications, and professional memberships as required;
• Maintains accurate case records and documentation;
• Maintains current knowledge of federal and state laws and regulations and abides by said laws and regulations with emphasis on persons with disabilities, child welfare, mental health, confidentiality, and student and parent rights;
• Organizes time, resources, energy, and workload in order to meet responsibilities;
• Evaluates own practice and disseminates the findings to consumers, school districts, the community, and the profession in order to maximize the effectiveness of services and resources provided to students. By reflecting upon and evaluating one's practice, more effective services, and resources will be provided;
• Participates in appropriate professional development activities to improve knowledge and skills; and,
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Education/Experience:

• Hold a valid Michigan Social Worker license;   
• Must possess a master's degree from a graduate school of social work program approved my MDE. This includes 500-clock-hour supervised social work practicum and be able to receive a temporary approval from a Michigan school of social work training program;
• Strong communication skills, verbal and written;   
• Cohesive team ethic; ability to work with others to successfully complete multi-faceted projects;
• Proven success in implementing systems for record and case management;
• High level of proficiency with MS Office Suite including Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Desired Competencies:

• Friendly, outgoing personality that thrives on relationship building;   
• Highly-developed organizational, planning, and time management skills;
• Implements and follows through on simultaneous projects and tasks;  
• Displays pleasant, professional demeanor at all time;  
• Contributes to the development of a positive, supportive environment; and,
• Maintains knowledge of changing trends and best practices in the field of social work and puts this learning into action in the schools.