Program Assistant Jobs in Dover, PA (NOW HIRING)

Job Description
EXTENDED DAY CARE PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Part-Time (5 hours per week) starting in August 2026
City & State: New Freedom, PA
School: St. John the Baptist Catholic School
Payroll Grade: 14                   FLSA Status: Exempt
Nature of Position: The Director is responsible for providing an appropriately safe, caring, and enriching environment for the children enrolled in the extended day program. Directors are responsible for conducting themselves in an appropriate manner, setting an example for children, parents, and coworkers by reflecting the church's core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility.
Reports to: Principal
Duties & Responsibilities:
General Job Functions:

• Work in a team environment and encourage open communication regarding concerns/issues with children, parents, or coworkers.
• Initiate and maintain positive relationships with school staff, including the principal, secretaries, custodial staff, and teachers of key importance to the extended day program.
• Keep a consistent headcount of all children present at the site; communicate changes with all other staff.
• Assist in maintaining clean-up schedules, including janitorial duties necessary to maintain the cleanliness of the school facility.
• Maintain accurate documentation of attendance, absences, and emergency information on each child.
• Comply with all emergency procedures appropriate to the site and in conformity with procedures adopted by emergency service authorities to ensure the safety of the children and staff.
• Maintain all supplies, equipment, and materials; inform the Principal when new/additional supplies are needed.
• Ensure that all staff and children are respectful of school property; ensure all school rules are followed.
• Prepare weekly billing for parents and schedule staff.

Responsibilities When Interacting With Children:

• Consistently demonstrate positive interaction with all children; talk to them and treat them with dignity and respect.
• Consistently demonstrate positive discipline; teach and redirect rather than scolding or reprimanding them; firmly and consistently enforce the rules; ensure that the punishment fits the crime.
• Express clear expectations and hold children accountable for adhering to them.
• Help children develop positive self-esteem and a sense of self-worth.
• Consistently demonstrate and reinforce the values of caring, respect, honesty, and responsibility.

Responsibilities When Interacting With Parents:

• Positively identify guardians before releasing children (via picture IDs until you can personally identify them).
• Introduce yourself to parents and communicate with them regularly regarding program information, such as schedule changes.
• Communicate daily regarding the behavior of their children, positive and negative (make sure to have parents review and sign corrective behavior reports).
• Express appreciation for their interest in their child(s) participation in the program.

Operations Management: Directors manage the operations of the extended day program, from ensuring that the staff have the tools and equipment they need to do their jobs to monitoring the environment for health and safety hazards. In some cases, the director may also be involved with the financial management of the organization, in terms of budgeting, purchasing, and accounts payable.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Meet deadlines in the planning and implementation of calendars for programs, which include creation and daily adherence to engaging and enriching programming.
• Responsibly supervise all aides and ensure all are adhering to the appropriate program policies and procedures.
• Be a support for aides; impartial and fair; create a team environment and encourage open communication regarding concerns/issues with children, parents, or coworkers.
• Communicate clearly the expectations to staff and follow up to ensure compliance.
• Communicate with the Principal to discuss general progress of the program; immediately regarding incident/behavior reports on children or with staff concerns; relay pertinent information promptly to all aides at your program.
• Assist the Principal by witnessing and documenting personnel matters; assist with assigned administrative tasks, including documentation of procedures and policies.
• Create a "checks and balances" to ensure that clean-up is done EVERY DAY, without exception, and that the responsibilities are distributed equally among all staff (including directors).
• Maintain accurate documentation of attendance, absences, and emergency information on each child; maintain all other records regarding schedule changes, behavior, and incident reports.
• Effectively implement emergency procedures appropriate to the site and in conformity with procedures adopted by emergency service authorities to ensure the safety of the children and staff
• Take care of all supplies, equipment, and materials; be respectful of school property; ensure all school rules are followed.
• Invoice parents for payment by logging hours in the tuition program. 

Qualifications/Requirements:
Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree or higher, preferably in Early Childhood Education. Other acceptable fields include child care, recreation, social work, program administration, psychology, and sociology.
• Verifiable experience working with children of varied ages required.
• Managerial or supervisory experience preferred.

Abilities - must demonstrate competency in the following areas:

• Planning and implementing age-appropriate, enriching activities.
• Supervising youth and presenting positive role modeling in all interactions with program participants.
• Meeting program goals as outlined in the Childcare Policies and Procedures Manual.
• Keeping confidences and loyalties, and maintaining professionalism.
• Being reliable and dependable.
• Working with budgets and program administration.
• Working a flexible schedule to meet program staffing and planning needs.
• Exercising mature judgment and sound decision-making.
• Communicating effectively both orally and in writing.
• Learning, following, and enforcing local and national guidelines related to internal policies.

Physical Demands:

• Lift 35 pounds using proper technique.
• Must have adequate vision to effectively review documents in varied formats, i.e., paper and digital.
• Must have adequate hearing to respond to members and interact with the public.
• Ability to stand for up to 3 hours.
• Currently have excellent health and am free of communicable diseases.

Other Requirements:

• Must be a practicing Catholic.
• Must comply with PA state clearance requirements.