Family Access & Engagement Specialist

DISTRICT OVERVIEW

Holyoke Public Schools is a PreK-12 public school district serving nearly 4800 students of whom 80 percent are Latino/Latina in 11 schools. We employ nearly 1300 people who together educate and support a richly diverse community of learners. We are committed to recruiting and retaining top-quality educators who believe all children can and will learn and who strive daily to make school a joyful place of discovery support and belonging.

Holyoke Public Schools strategic plan Moving Forward Together builds on the strengths of our past while serving as a call to action to accelerate student learning by thinking differently about how we teach how we work together and how we support students well-being.

Many successes contributed to Holyokes return to local governance after 10 years in state receivership. These include:

• The highest graduation rate on record of 77.1 percent an increase of more than 15-points over 10 years
• Meaningful applied learning opportunities for high school students including theme-based academies career vocational technical education programming work-based learning and advanced coursework
• A comprehensive approach to early literacy that includes strong core instruction and one-on-one tutoring contributing to more students reading at grade level
• A thriving dual language English/Spanish program where nearly 900 students are on their path to becoming bilingual biliterate and bicultural

• More than one-third of Holyoke teachers identify as people of color a 19-point increase over 10 years. Many partnership programs support staff to earn licensure or additional certification.

Please visit the Holyoke Public Schools website to learn more about us our recent accomplishments and our commitment to equity.

-

PERSPECTIVA GENERAL DEL DISTRITO

Las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke son un distrito escolar público que cuenta con 11 escuelas de prekínder a 12. grado y acoge a casi 4 800 estudiantes de los cuales el 80 % se identifica como latino o latina. Empleamos a casi 1 300 personas que en conjunto educan y apoyan a una comunidad de estudiantes altamente diversa. Estamos comprometidos a contratar y retener educadores de alta calidad que creen firmemente que todos los niños pueden aprender y aprenderán y que se esfuerzan diariamente por hacer de la escuela un lugar alegre de descubrimiento apoyo y pertenencia.

El plan estratégico de las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke Avanzando Juntos se basa en nuestras fortalezas previas y al mismo tiempo sirve como un llamado a la acción para acelerar el aprendizaje estudiantil a través de una nueva perspectiva sobre cómo enseñamos cómo trabajamos en colaboración y cómo apoyamos el bienestar de los estudiantes.

Existen numerosos logros que permitieron a Holyoke recuperar el control local después de 10 años de administración judicial. Entre estos logros se encuentran:

• La tasa de graduación más alta registrada del 77.1 % lo que representa un aumento de más de 15 puntos porcentuales en 10 años
• Oportunidades significativas de aprendizaje práctico para estudiantes de secundaria que incluyen academias temáticas programas de educación técnica y vocacional aprendizaje basado en el trabajo y cursos avanzados
• Un enfoque integral de la alfabetización temprana que combina una sólida instrucción básica con tutorías individuales lo cual ha contribuido a que más estudiantes lean a nivel de grado
• Un próspero programa bilingüe de inglés/español en el que casi 900 estudiantes avanzan hacia el bilingüismo la biliteracidad y la biculturalidad.

• Más de un tercio de los maestros de Holyoke se identifican como personas de etnicidad diversa lo que representa un aumento de 19 puntos porcentuales en 10 años. Diversas colaboraciones con programas que han contribuido a que miembros del personal obtengan sus certificaciones o credenciales adicionales.

Visite el sitio web de las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke para obtener más información sobre nuestra comunidad nuestros logros recientes y nuestro compromiso con la equidad.

The Family Access & EngagementSpecialistwill build school and district capacity to expand and deepen relationships with families develop key community partnerships to enhance family-school relationships as well as support parent involvement voice and leadership development. A key goal of this position will be to support parents in strengthening their efforts at home to support their childs learning and to support school staff in strengthening parent involvement and communications. The HPS turnaround plan requires the implementation of a cohesive district-wide strategy to rebuild trust and strengthen the relationship with HPS families including increasing opportunities for parent voice and leadership.

The Family Access & Engagement Specialist will report to the Director of the Family Student and Community Engagement Department. They will work in collaboration with school-based leaders (e.g. principals teachers culture and climate teams etc.) and with other FSCE team members (e.g. School Family Promoters Attendance Officer). Each Family Access & Engagement Coordinator is expected to work with multiple locations most likely two separate schools in a flexible schedule which will require adaptability resourcefulness and excellent organizational communication and teamwork skills.

As this position is a highly visible position serving the school community and interfacing with families and outside agencies knowledge of general school office or professional office environment is required. This position requires an appreciation consistent practice and understanding of customer service time management positive inter-personal relationships and multi-tasking in a service-oriented environment.

Responsibilities

• Identify and implement capacity-building strategies to support teachers school leaders and other school staff to expand or strengthen family engagement efforts and mechanisms to enhance parent voice leadership and feedback
• Support teachers and other school staff to understand family and community context and resource
• Support school communications with families (including translation and interpretation of parent communications excluding IEPs) as well as family involvement in school activities
• Conduct home visits as required to support specific cases and coordinate and support home visits by teachers and school leaders
• Manage and support parent volunteers to address school needs and initiatives and develop their leadership skills
• Lead educational workshops and coaching for parents and volunteers on different subjects particularly around early literacy educational policy and regulations special education ELL parent leadership etc.
• Assist designated groups of families in need of special support through light case management referrals and liaison work with community agencie
• Assist in the implementation of the attendance policy and communicating with families regarding attendance and punctuality issues
• Implement and strengthen a robust system for regular communications with families particularly related to navigating the school system district policies and procedures events and opportunities for parent involvement
• Maintain updated HPS resource and information sites as part of the district-wide family resource information system
• Participation as needed in Student Support Team and Climate and Culture Team or other instances that require family engagement or involvement at each school
• Collect document and input all data and necessary information requested by school and district administration in an accurate and timely manner
• Attend training and workshops deemed necessary to perform duties
• Maintain confidentiality of student data and information
• Demonstrate positive interpersonal relationships with students staff parents and community members
• Demonstrate punctuality good attendance and work ethic for all duties assigned
• Attend staff school and district meetings as required
• File maintain and set up all in-school family engagement files
• Organize the workspace area for efficiency safety and appearance
• Collect document and analyze data related to family engagement
• Other duties as assigned by the FSCE Director

Skills Abilities and Traits of Top Performers

• Belief and commitment in HPS values
• Solid commitment to support HPS families lifelong learning and strengthen their trust in and connection to the schools
• Working knowledge of community conditions in Holyoke and the region and of the needs of the diverse families residing in Holyoke
• Ability to mobilize community resources to support families
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate well persuade others and work well with others as part of different teams (school staff parents community leaders)
• Ability and willingness to learn a wide variety of tasks required in the promotion of school-family relationships and school office operations
• Highly developed organizational and work planning skills
• Ability to multi-task and flexibility to meet the varying needs of parents school staff students community partners and office visitors
• Extraordinary attention to detail and follow through to meet deadlines and commitments
• Commitment to accuracy timeliness and attention to detail regarding reporting of attendance punctuality and family engagement activities and services
• Excellent computer skills and working knowledge of electronic communication word processing and spreadsheets and ability to navigate student database software as well as general office equipment operation such as phones fax copier etc.
• Ability and commitment to maintain confidentiality for students parents and staff interactions
• Ability to exercise judgment decisiveness and creativity required in situations involving evaluation of information against measurable or verifiable criteria
• Commitment to high performance standards and unwavering belief that all students can excel

Requirements

• Bachelors degree strongly preferred or 2 years of college-level coursework with 3 years of highly relevant experience or equivalent training in a school early education or community agency setting which provides the required knowledge skills and abilities to perform essential job functions.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of community dynamics resources services leaders and partners
• Knowledge of community conditions in Holyoke and of the needs of the diverse families residing in Holyoke
• Direct experience working with families family programming and community outreach
• Demonstrated dedication to family-school partnerships
• Cultural competence in Puerto Rican/Latino communities
• Warm and engaging personality plus solid interpersonal skills and abilities to develop leadership skills in others
• Excellent proactive oral and written communication skills
• Abilities to work independently and be a self-initiator
• Demonstrated ability to be flexible and to work and deliver results as part of multiple teams
• Knowledge of word processing spreadsheets student database and other office software preferred.
• Bilingual abilities (English/Spanish) preferred

Required Experience:

IC