Lead Educator/Program Coordinator (Holway ECC-Rockwell)

JOB DESCRIPTION - LEAD EDUCATOR/PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Purpose:  To provide all children with a warm, nurturing, safe and loving environment where self-concepts are enhanced, independence encouraged and individuality respected. To uphold and support the philosophy of the center at all times. To support and lead team members where needed.

Reports to:  Executive Director

Key Responsibilities:

To offer a program that meets the emotional, physical, intellectual and social needs of both the individual child and the group.

To interact with the children and to encourage their involvement in activities.  Need to be a balance between Educator initiated and child-initiated activities/social interactions.

To prepare, with team support, a warm and safe environment that is orderly, clean and appealing and permits the child to grow and to explore.  This includes sharing in daily set-up, maintenance and clean-up of the environment.

To be responsible for making sure that all Center common areas that apply to the Lead Educator/Program Coordinator and his/her team are in order according to the common area's description.  This includes that all duties are executed in a timely manner.

To provide student assistants and other appropriate personnel such as parent volunteers, substitutes and specialists with support and input to the program, in consultation with other team members and/or Director.

To support and meet the standards of the Hygiene/Dress Code Policy in Staff Handbook.

To plan weekly with team members developmentally appropriate curriculum for the classroom, and to work together cooperatively as a member of the teaching team. To change and enrich the environment regularly.

To change the environment and materials in all learning centers at least monthly but no more than bimonthly.

To make sure a newsletter is published at the beginning of each month.  The newsletter needs to be educationally sound, helping parents understand their child's developmental needs and how we go about meeting them. 

To conduct oneself in a professional manner so as to be an appropriate role model for Lasell students and for all team members.

To supervise train and evaluate Lasell students, and to work with/conference with college supervisors.

To establish and maintain good communication with parents through parent conferences twice a year and on a daily informal basis.

To maintain professional attitudes and loyalty to the school and parents at all times. This includes dealing with personal and family issues of our center families, including refraining from gossip and judgmental statements. To cooperate with and respect all team members, parents, staff and children in the school community.

To observe, record and report significant individual and group behavior regularly to team members and administration.  Prepare all reports on children with team members.

Treating all children with dignity and respect as outlined in the Behavior Management Policy.

To use appropriate and positive discipline and to model methods so that all persons working with children may provide discipline that is consistent and developmentally appropriate and in accord with the center's philosophy and staff handbook.

To maintain all records and files as appropriate for their class:  parents' phone numbers, medication forms, attendance, evaluation reports and emergency numbers.

To keep team members informed of program goals and developments, with children, parents and administration.

To continue to grow within the profession by attending workshops, conferences, taking courses, or through in-service training opportunities. To bring their new findings back into the classrooms and share it with teaching staff.

To help with evaluation process, self evaluation process and set professional goals with administration.

To attend weekly team meeting and monthly staff meetings and other parent programs or conference evenings as scheduled.

To inform the administration of any ongoing classroom issue, or any scheduling or major environmental changes.

To arrive at the Barn promptly and ready to begin working in the classroom during hired shift. When a team member, including a substitute, arrives late it is the responsibility of the Lead Educator to speak with the team member and remind her of the center policy and report it to the Director.  It is the Lead Educator's responsibility to make sure the classroom is safely covered during that time.

To be resourceful within the Holway ECC community, knowing where to go for replenishing materials, for ordering new supplies and

equipment, petty cash etc.

To inform the Director when:

Leaving the building with children (and also notify staff member on floor)

• a child becomes ill in school
• a child has an accident at school
• ordering new equipment or supplies
• releasing a child to an unauthorized person
• needing to take time off
• wishing to refer a parent to outside resources (Director only)
• wishing to change working hours
• any incident that may involve anxiety in staff, parents or children (and also notify staff member on floor) 

• BA or BS in Early Childhood Education or related field required as well as
• EEC LEAD INFANT/TODDLER and/or PRESCHOOL EDUCATOR certification
• Experience working with appropriate age children
• Experience supervising students