SY20-21 Springfield Lyceum College Prep Middle School Performing Arts Teacher

Located on the campus of Chestnut Middle School

Start Date: August 3, 2020

Teaching in SEZP

SEZP is seeking educators who are excited and ready to make an impact in a collaborative, engaging, diverse, and high energy environment. We are seeking educators who believe teachers are activists - promising instructional access, rigor, advocacy, and a tenacious commitment to anti-racism for all students. SEZP teachers are expected to:

• Create a safe, purposeful classroom environment that prioritizes learning for all students
• Collaborate with other teachers, instructional leaders, and partners to ensure instruction is meeting the needs of all students
• Assess students regularly, analyze data, and determine appropriate next steps for instruction
• Ensure that instruction meets the needs of all students, including students with special needs, English Language Learners, and students performing below grade level
• Build relationships and communicate regularly with students and their families to solicit input and share academic progress
• Engage in learning about issues of racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion in education to examine your own biases; reflect on how those biases affect you, your students, and their families; and plan and deliver instruction in a culturally responsive way
• Participate in and learn from regular professional development opportunities before and during the school year

About Springfield Lyceum College Prep

Springfield Lyceum College Preparatory will provide a college preparatory education to students in grades 6-8 through academic rigor, a multilingual program, and character development that will ensure students succeed in high school, college, and beyond.

Grounded in the belief that all students can learn and achieve at high levels when provided with the right levels of support, we expect the following to be true in every Springfield Lyceum College Prep (“SLCP”) classroom:

• Students will be engaged in reading authentic and relevant literature that is purposeful and culturally diverse. Every day, students will write across content areas, expressing themselves clearly and concisely.
• Students will approach rigorous scientific and mathematical concepts with curiosity and zeal and apply their learning to solve complex real-world problems.
• Students will speak more than one language, learning and solidifying the bilingual skills that are assets in our modern, interconnected world while also gaining a deep understanding and pride in their own native language and culture.
• Students will be engaged in rigorous discussions of current affairs from a social justice angle that is grounded in our school’s core values of courage, empathy, and teamwork.
• Students will eagerly express their opinions, support their opinions with evidence, and incorporate new learning and insights from their peers.
• Teachers will be masters of their craft, knowledgeable of their content areas, and well versed in small group instruction. They will effectively differentiate content and instruction for students at all levels while ensuring that every student is challenged by rigorous instruction and curriculum. Teachers will be obsessed with gathering data and will use it to effectively drive instruction to close academic gaps and ensure all students are prepared to succeed in high school, college, and beyond.

To meet this ambitious mission and vision, SLCP teachers will work an extended day (typically 7:10am-4:10pm) and school year, beginning with 3 weeks (15 days) of Professional Development in August before students arrive. Teachers will also attend family events and a set of Saturday academy intervention sessions throughout the year as part of their regular schedule. For this additional time, teachers will earn an Expanded Learning Time stipend, as outlined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Qualifications

• Experience teaching Performing Arts / Theater at the middle and/or high school level preferred
• Appropriate content/program area educator license (Theater, Dance) and grade level licensure from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education preferred
• Bilingual Education Endorsement from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education preferred
• Experience as an active anti-racist or advocate for equity preferred
• Bilingual in English and Spanish or another language preferred
• Bachelor’s degree required 

If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or to reach out for more information. We know that historically marginalized groups – including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ – are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities, even if all of these qualifications have not been attained.

We encourage you to reach out to SEZP@springfieldempowerment.org if you have questions about the role or your qualifications. We are happy to help you feel ready to apply!

Benefits

SEZP offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience; salaries for new teachers start at $50,500. Teachers in SEZP qualify for benefits (personal/sick days, retirement, health insurance, etc.) offered to other teachers in the Springfield Public Schools.

In addition, there are several opportunities unique to SEZP schools to increase earnings above base salary. While not guaranteed, those opportunities currently include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced and Master Teacher positions: These are awarded following an application process that typically takes place each winter, and come with salaries of up to $87,000
• Expanded Learning Time stipends at some schools, based on the yearly schedule
• Annual stipends for Capstone Projects associated with national-level professional development opportunities, following an application and selection process
• Empowerment Academies: Intervention and instruction opportunities we implement during February, April, and summer breaks, following an application and selection process

Positions will be filled on a rolling basis; applicants are encouraged to apply immediately. Please contact sezp@springfieldempowerment.org with any questions.

About the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership

While Massachusetts is consistently ranked as one of the top states for education results in the country, we have one of the highest and most persistent opportunity gaps. The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) - established in 2015 as a collaboration between Springfield Public Schools (SPS), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the Springfield Education Association (SEA) – seeks to improve the longitudinal life outcomes of the more than 5,000 students in our eleven middle and high schools.

As a “zone” of schools within the city of Springfield, SEZP’s approach draws on a deep and embedded partnership with the school district and local teachers’ union, while harnessing the flexibility and innovation found in autonomous school models. As a result, each school within SEZP is accorded significant school-based autonomies - in curriculum, talent, calendar, schedule, and budget – while being held accountable for realizing achievement gains for historically marginalized students. In all of our work, SEZP is in pursuit of equity and anti-racism – acknowledging the systemic oppression our students and families encounter daily and working to disrupt these provision gaps urgently and courageously.

Nondiscrimination Statement

The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, age, disability or military service or marital status. The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in admission to, access or treatment in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, disability or homelessness.

Title IX Notice of Nondiscrimination

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. Springfield Public Schools is required by Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 not to discrimination on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. The Senior Administrator of Human Resources, Kathleen O’Sullivan, Springfield Public Schools, 1550 Main St. Springfield MA, 011103, 413-787-7100, ext. 55428, has been designated as the employee responsible for coordinating Springfield Public Schools efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under Title IX. Inquiries concerning the application of Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 to Springfield Public Schools may be referred to Kathleen O’Sullivan or to U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 400 Maryland Ave., SW Washington, DC 20202-1100, telephone 800-421-3481.