School Social Worker for 2024-2025

Job Summary

• To assist students, parents/guardians and staff with methods and resources that effectively address issues of achievement, social emotional adjustment and attendance in the school setting. 
• To increase student engagement and success through student support and supervision, attendance, social-emotional behavior support, and collaboration with staff, students, families and community. 
• To assist the school administration and student support staff in the areas of student support, including building supervision (arrival, dismissal, lunch, etc.). 

Job Functions
 
Services to Students: 

• Provides direct social-emotional behavior interventions and data collection to individuals and groups of students through Tier 2 and Tier 3 of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) process. 
• Collaborates with the school counselor to teach Tier 1 guidance and social-emotional learning lessons. 
• Provides crisis and behavior intervention services including intervening in problematic student behaviors at the earliest stages possible and contributing to the District’s development of proactive preventative strategies intended to help address and alleviate such behaviors. 
• Completes student risk assessments and threat assessments and develops safety plans to prevent harm.
• Implements or assists in implementing a safe school climate that results in academic and personal success for each student.
• Assists with accessing outside resources needed to help students become personally and academically successful. 
• Monitors student attendance including truancy reporting and interventions for students and their families. As needed, works with the students/parents and staff to improve student attendance and/or behavioral problems both within and outside of school. 
• Co-teaches social skills groups in special education self-contained classrooms and/or provides services as identified on student IEPs in special situations. 
• Leads and models restorative practice circles between students and/or staff. 
• Gathers and tracks data on student progress. 

Services to Families: 

• Assists families in accessing and utilizing school and community resources. 
• Collaborates with the Community 360 workers and other student support staff such as counselors or school psychologists to support families who are experiencing social/emotional/behavioral challenges, attendance issues, homelessness and/or resource disparities. 
• Collaborates with the co-located community mental health therapists to assist students and families with receiving mental health support. 
• Develops positive and collaborative working relationships with parents and caregivers to encourage parent-teacher-administrator communication.

Services to School Personnel: 

• Assists with the consultation of teachers as it relates to student behavior concerns. 
• Provides staff with essential information to better understand factors (cultural, societal, economic, familial, trauma, health, etc.) affecting a student’s performance and behavior.
• Designs and leads staff professional development training programs.
• Participates in school improvement activities including the MTSS process, child find/child study, the BARR process, school safety/crisis team, and PBIS
• Participates in special education assessment meetings as well as Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings as appropriate
• Prepares a social or developmental history on a child with a disability for special education evaluations. 
• Attends student, staff and parent meetings as deemed appropriate.
• Consults and collaborates effectively with parents/guardians, teachers, administrators and other educational/community resources regarding students with identified concerns and needs.

Related Duties: 

• Ensures alignment of practice decisions with District policies so that work responsibilities can be performed purposefully, confidently, and independently. 
• Ensures compliance and accurate documentation of social work case notes, homeless and highly mobile forms, attendance letters, ADSIS grant reporting, and Dakota County truancy and child protection reporting. 
• Ensure timely and accurate documentation in the student information system. 
• Establishes and maintains effective communication with school and district-wide social work departments. 
• Adheres to all district policies and procedures.
• Supports the district’s mission, vision and values.
• Other duties as assigned by building and district administrators. 

 
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, lift, use hands for fingering, grasping and feeling, wrists, hands and/or fingers for repetitive motions. The employee is required to kneel, reach, stand and walk. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. The employee is occasionally required to lift and/or move up to and over 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

• Current Minnesota School Social Work Licensure required
• Knowledge and experience with trauma informed approaches to student and parent engagement 
• Knowledge and experience with implementing MTSS systems and supports 
• Knowledge and experience with restorative practices
• Knowledge of principles of effective leadership 
• Ability to develop rapport with students, parents, and colleagues
• Knowledge of protocols and procedures related to ensuring child safety (e.g. suicidality, self-harm, and child protective services)
• Commitment to working effectively with culturally, economically and socially diverse students and families.
• Ability to create and implement academic and behavioral interventions
• Knowledge of the law as pertaining to schools.
• Knowledge of at-risk behaviors and intervention strategies.
• Requires significant confidentiality responsibilities.
• Excellent technology skills.
• Demonstrate prompt, regular and reliable attendance.

 
Physical Requirements
Regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, operate a computer and other office equipment, reach with hands and arms, and must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Vision abilities required include close vision.