Assistant Preschool Teacher

Job Description

Title: Assistant Preschool Teacher – 3-5-year-olds

Dept.: Childhood Services (ELC)

Reports to: Early Learning Program Supervisor

Wage: $23.81 - $24.78 per hour*

Type: Full-Time/40 hours per week

Location: 1900 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA; on-site (WA residency required)

To Apply:

Go to: https://wellspringfs.org/about/careers and click on “Career Center” to apply.

Note: $3,000 sign-on bonus available for external candidates. See below for details.

Who We Are:

Our Vision: A community in which every child has a safe and stable home.

Our Purpose: To prevent and address homelessness by connecting families and individuals in crisis to the support and resources they need to regain stability.

For over 130 years, Wellspring Family Services has worked to end family homelessness by making it easy for families and employees in crisis to access the services they need to regain stability. A non-profit, multi-service agency, Wellspring serves children, youth, and families throughout King County.

Wellspring has four primary programs. The Housing Services division provides eviction prevention and rehousing services to vulnerable populations in three counties. The Early Learning Center delivers trauma-informed early childhood education to children, ages 1 to 5, who have experienced homelessness. The Family Store supplies clothing, toiletries, toys, diapers, and baby equipment to low-income families so they can better afford rent and other basic needs. Our Employee Assistance Program connects employees with the resources they need to address crises, retain housing, and remain employed.

Wellspring Family Services is committed to a diverse and accessible workplace. Everyone is welcome. We strongly encourage applicants from under-represented communities, including BIPOC, non-conforming gender identities & sexual orientation, people with lived experience of homelessness, veterans, immigrants, and people with disabilities.

All applications are reviewed by a real person. To request disability accommodation in the application or interview process, please contact hr@wellspringfs[dot]org.

Position Purpose:

The Assistant Preschool Teacher, under the guidance of the Lead Preschool Teacher, assists the Lead Preschool Teacher in delivering specialized early learning services through a trauma-informed care approach and providing parent support and advocacy to children and families experiencing challenges in their lives.

Essential Functions:

• Curriculum Implementation: Assists with planning developmentally appropriate curriculum that is responsive to individual children that fosters their emotional, physical, cognitive, language, and social development. Prepares materials needed daily for the curriculum. Schedules field trips as necessary to support the curriculum.
• Classroom Management: Assists with setting standards of conduct and organization for the classroom. Assists Lead Preschool Teacher in classroom management and preparation. Conducts teacher team meetings and guides volunteers. Uses time effectively to complete tasks. Organizes and sets up classroom environment. Monitors condition of classroom and playground materials. Ensures that children are always supervised.
• Parental Support: Assists with maintaining open lines of communication with parents. Develops and implements parent/child events. Respects cultural differences in child rearing practices. Recognizes individual needs of parents and works cooperatively with parents to try to meet those needs. Consults with parents regarding issues related to health, development, safety, nutrition, and education in collaboration with ELC team. Plans and conducts parent-teacher conferences.
• Effective Discipline and Guidance: Assists with providing and explaining consistent and clear rules to children, redirects inappropriate behavior through positive reinforcement, helps children to deal with anger and frustration, conducts smooth transitions, sets realistic limits, and plans ahead to prevent behavioral issues. Uses Trauma-informed Care approach to guide children’s behaviors.
• Administrative: Assists with conducting child assessments, written observations of children and determines progress of each child. Prepares monthly classroom newsletter, notes and other written documents to parents as needed. Submits required documents to supervisor in a timely manner.
• Child Health Care Needs: Assists with observing children for indication of neglect, abuse, illness, or developmental delays and collaborates with ELC team during case consultations to develop a plan to meet children’s needs. Actively supports nutritional needs of children during mealtimes.
• Collaboration: Works effectively with supervisor and other team members to deliver the best possible education and care to the children. Willingly shares ideas and opinions and encourages other team members to do the same. Listens and communicates with others in a respectful way, avoiding listening blocks and contaminated messages. Does not allow conflict with another team member to interfere with the responsibility to the children, meeting the needs of the children first and dealing with the conflict separately and in private as soon as feasible.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Compliance: Adheres to licensing requirements as well as agency and program policies. Displays consistency and reliability with attendance.
• ELC Representation: Welcomes and assists children, visitors, and staff in a helpful and professional manner. Act in a manner consistent with Wellspring’s values at all times.
• Professional Development: Demonstrates a commitment to continuous learning by seeking out professional development and ongoing training opportunities. Demonstrates a commitment to self-reflection and the ongoing development of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Works closely with Early Childhood Mental Health Clinical Supervisor and Early Learning Program Supervisor to build one’s reflective capacity.
• Advocacy: Advocates for children to receive additional services related to behavioral or developmental concerns.
• Support and act in a manner consistent with Wellspring’s values.
• Additional tasks and projects may be assigned as needed.

Requirements:

Candidates must meet all of the following qualifications to be considered for this position:

• Education: Washington State ECE Initial Certificate or current CDA or 12 ECE (Early Childhood Education) credits. Candidates who do not meet this requirement will be asked to go on an education plan to attain a Washington State ECE Initial Certificate or CDA or 12 ECE credits.
• Experience: One year of experience working in a licensed early learning center with children ages one to five. Experience working with diverse staff, clients, and vulnerable populations (e.g., children who have experienced trauma, homelessness, or other significant adversity). Experience with anti-bias teaching practices.
• Upon Employment: TB test results, proof of MMR vaccine, successful completion of WA State/DCYF Background Check in MERIT.
• Within 30 Days of Hire: Food Handler’s Card, First Aid Certification, Infant/Child CPR Certification, AIDS/HIV Training, Bloodborne Pathogens Training.
• Highly developed awareness of diversity, equity and inclusion, with evolved ability to practice appropriate, relevant and thoughtful strategies for working with diverse populations.

Preferred Qualifications:

The following qualifications have been identified as particularly beneficial and candidates who have attained them will be preferred in the hiring process. The successful candidate who meets one or more of these qualifications will be eligible for starting pay rate premium:

• A.A. in ECE or A.A. in any field and 20 ECE credits MERIT verified: $24.78/hr. starting pay

* Wellspring does not engage in pay negotiation as this practice contributes to pay inequity. Salary for the successful candidate is calculated by Wellspring. Premiums may be applied for candidates that are able to verify their achievement of preferred qualifications.

Physical & Mental Requirements:

• Washington State resident at start date
• Proof of MMR vaccination or qualification for exemption.
• This position requires regular and predictable attendance.
• This position involves occasionally ascending/descending a ladder or stepstool to hang classroom materials or access supplies.
• This position requires focused mental activity over a significant portion of the workday.
• This position involves contact with children who are ill and/or contagious and the person in this position must take precautions to ensure the health and safety of all children, parents and staff, as well as him/herself/themselves.
• This position involves manual dexterity and motor coordination to serve food and handle dishes/trays with agility and speed. Serving may involve repetitive wrist motion.
• This position involves expressing or exchanging ideas through verbal means (oral or electronic) to convey detailed or important information to clients and co-workers, in person or over the telephone. Must be able to exchange accurate information in high-stress situations.
• This position requires a person who can reason and apply logic and knowledge of various options in an environment requiring speedy, high-quality decisions.
• This position requires a person capable of responding promptly to accidents and emergencies in an effective manner.
• This position requires the ability to lift, carry or move children or equipment up to 40 pounds.
• This position requires working in a noisy environment with many separate activities happening all at once.
• This position involves occasional work in outdoor weather conditions.
• This position involves substantial movements of the wrists, hands and/or fingers, as in keyboard use or other means of silently recording information on computers.
• This position involves experiencing smells associated with toileting and ill children.
• This position requires spending time sitting on the floor or on child-sized furniture.
• This position requires responding in a high-demand environment with people in varying degrees of distress.

Please note that employees should expect to perform some tasks that are outside the scope of the job description.

Employee Benefits:

Sign-On Bonus - Successful external candidates will be eligible for a $3,000 bonus for their first year of satisfactory service in the role described above. The payments will be distributed in two parts, the first payment of $1,500 will be paid after 90 days, and the second payment of $1,500 will be paid after their 6-month anniversary. Employees must be in good standing at the time of payout.

Choice of 3 Medical Plans • 30 days paid time off per year, plus 10 paid employee holidays • Dental • Vision • Life Insurance • Long-Term Disability • 403b Retirement Plan • Flexible Spending Accounts • Health Savings Account • Employee Assistance Program • Employee Resource Groups • Counseling Session Reimbursement • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility (DEIA) Training

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Wellspring employees may use their time with us toward their participation in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF).

Assistant Preschool Teacher

Pay Premiums

Standard Hourly Pay: $23.81 per hour

The successful candidate must demonstrate to Wellspring’s satisfaction that they meet one or more of the preferred qualifications before a premium can be added to the standard salary. Final salary is defined by Wellspring based on verifiable information and documentation provided by the candidate during the recruitment process.

Wellspring does not engage in wage negotiation as it contributes to pay inequity.

Education Premiums (all certifications which expire must be current)

• A.A. in ECE or A.A. in any field and 20 ECE credits MERIT verified: $24.78/hr. starting pay