2024-2025 School Social Worker K4-8th Grade

Position:                                 Social Worker

Reports to:                             Principal

Job Summary:           

The school social worker is responsible for helping to create a culture of academic and social excellence at Milwaukee College Prep’s four campuses. The main responsibility will be assisting teachers and students by providing strategic services that identify and address the social-emotional-environmental issues that interfere with the educational process. Working with parents/guardians, teachers, school principal, and community based resources, the school social worker implements strategies that promote students’ positive school adjustment.

Essential Functions:

• Identifies and assesses academic problems through analysis of factors impinging on student adjustment including factors in the home, school, and community.
• Serves as a liaison between families and the school to positively promote collaborative processes in educational planning for students by encouraging parent/guardian participation in the school setting.
• Completes psychosocial assessments to assist in the determination of special education services.
• Determines and implements appropriate therapeutic strategies to effect changes in behavioral –social interactions of students and their families.
• Provides individual and group therapeutic counseling to students and their families.
• Provides parent/guardian educational workshops on identified issues related to child development, stress reduction, discipline and safety, and teacher/parent/student communication.
• Collaborates with school staff and other school system personnel in implementing strategies to promote student learning, including meeting with Deans of Students formally once per month to discuss behavior issues and strategies.
• Participate as a member of the IEP, RTI, and other school based teams to develop interventions for promoting students’ academic and behavioral success. Provide RTI behavioral interventions (Tiers 2 and 3) and complete progress monitoring documentation and/or support teachers to do the same.
• Serves on school-based committees to address educational issues, adjustment problems, safety issues, and program development for students.
• Provides crisis intervention services.
• Provides social work case management for students and families.
• Provides staff consultation on behavioral-emotional-environmental issues affecting student participation in the learning process.
• Conducts staff development on issues related to social-emotional-environmental factors that impact learning.
• Develops programs to address parent/guardian participation in the school and student engagement in the educational process.
• Conducts classroom meetings, psycho-educational social skills groups, and classroom presentations on identified areas of concern for the students.
• Maintains required clinical records and submits appropriate documents for statistical reports with adherence to program standards in school social work.
• Conducts home visits related to establishing communication and positive connections between the parent/guardian and school setting around identified issues.
• Completes risk assessments on referred students.
• Completes functional behavior assessments on identified students.
• Completes classroom observations.
• Serves as liaison with community agencies and assists in fostering communication between schools, parents/guardians, and community leaders.
• Locates and mobilizes community resources to support the educational program.
• Reviews daily attendance of students and monitors chronic attendance concerns.

Other Duties:

• Provide model for students of exemplary conduct.
• Attends meetings and professional development activities when required.
• Other duties as assigned by the principal.

Qualifications:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree and license in School Social Work required, Master’s preferred.  Ongoing professional development preferred.

Experience

• Prior experience working with children, preferably in a school setting preferred.

Licensing

• Must obtain Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting Certification annually prior to first day with scholars.

Skills/Attributes

• Must be in alignment with Milwaukee College Prep’s core beliefs and educational philosophy.
• Must be passionate about working with children and tenacious in ensuring each scholar’s success.
• Must exhibit enthusiasm and positivity.
• Physical demands/Working Conditions
• The majority of this job involves sitting, mostly indoors.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Successful candidates will utilize the following resources:

Professional Resources

• Marva Collins, Marva Collins Way (Tarcher, 1990)
• Jay Mathews, Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America (Algonquin Books, 2009)
• Rafe Esquith, There Are No Shortcuts (Anchor, 2004)
• Steven Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Free Press, 2004)
• Steven Covey, The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time (Free Press, 2009)
• Doug Lemov and Norman Atkins, Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College (Jossey-Bass, 2010)