Preschool Assistant Director

West End United Methodist Church

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Job Summary

This person is to work closely with the Executive Director to develop and maintain a high quality early childhood program through curriculum development, oversight of policies and procedures, and DHS and Licensing standards.  To supervise the educators, their planning and implementation of the curriculum, and the classroom experiences. To be knowledgeable in all areas of program management and ready to fill in for Executive Director when needed.

Job Responsibilities

Principle duties and Responsibilities include:

Administrative

• Know and maintain all accreditation and licensing standards.
• With the Director, guide the school through the accreditation and licensing processes.
• Keep the Annual Goals of the Preschool in mind when making decisions.
• With Exec. Director, ensure that the Employee Handbook is up to date with new policies.
• Insure facility is safe and well equipped.
• With Director, complete wage increase status forms when due that are based on Performance Evaluations

Hiring

• Work with the Executive Director to employ and dismiss educators in consultation with the Weekday Preschool Ministries Committee.
• Post openings, conduct first interviews, Exc. Director will conduct second interviews and together they will make decisions.

Training

• With Exec. Director, plan and implement an annual training plan which includes: monthly staff meetings, Professional Development Days, choosing outside training, insure coverage of annual DHS and HR trainings, CPR & First Aid for those needing it, and extra training as needed by educators to improve performance.
• Coordinate new hire orientation to ensure each educator is thoroughly trained in Preschool policies outlined in Employee Handbook, ITERS & ECERS, personal safety requirements, DHS rules, TN-ELDS, accreditation criteria.

Staffing

• Assist with any staffing changes that need to be made during the day, possibly going into the classroom when needed.

Supervision of educators

• Oversee educators in implementing policies for challenging behaviors and support them with parent communications
• Give frequent feedback to educators on their performance based on observation in classrooms.
• Assist with curriculum ideas, and trainings in curriculum.
• Assist educators with classroom management skills.
• Implement Progressive Discipline of educators when warranted
• With Director, annually evaluate performance of educators.

Parents

• Assist in touring prospective families when Director unavailable
• Articulate programs to parents, church, and community.
• With Director, plan and implement Parent Seminars annually
• Assist with preschool fundraisers as needed
• Assist Educators with parent conferences and sensitive parent meetings.

Curriculum

• Be a resource for interesting articles, learning materials and activities to promote a Project/Inquiry based curriculum
• Review lesson plans and children’s portfolios and classroom newsletters for quality.
• Supervise implementation of Personal Safety Curriculum annually and maintain records for licensing.
• Stay current in research on brain growth, child development  and curriculum models and train educators
• Maintain uncluttered, homelike, rich environments

Other Duties as Assigned

 

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required: 

Education Required:   Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Early Childhood Education, Child Development & Family Relations, Education or Special Education or Other Field of Study paired with specialized Early Childhood training.

Experience Required: A minimum of three years’ experience teaching children in accredited or 3 star quality program. Must have prior knowledge of TDHS licensing, ITERS/ECERS and NAEYC Accreditation standards. Previous supervisory experience preferred.

Abilities Required:

• Abilities to make independent decisions and apply established procedures to individual and specific situations pertaining to children in a non-biased manner. 
• Must keep personal information about staff, children and parents confidential.
• Must have effective communication, interpersonal skills; be conscientious and able to efficiently handle multiple tasks.
• Must attain a minimum of 20 training hours per year.
• Excellent writing and computer skills needed.
• Must be able to read, understand and fully implement the standards of our governing bodies, DHS, ITERS/ECERS, NAEYC and Creative Curriculum.

Working Conditions, Physical Demands and Requirements: 

• Must be able to meet DHS requirements with a medical statement indicating that your general physical and mental condition permits you to direct and actively participate in activities with children, parents and staff. 
• Must have the physical capacity to quickly and safely evacuate a classroom should the need arise.  Must be able to think and move quickly, to remain physically active throughout the day to address the needs of children and staff.
• Must be able to coordinate work, constantly move about, able to stand, walk, sit, use hands to finger, handle or feel, reach with hands and arms (occasionally overhead), stoop, kneel,  talk to and hear staff and parent requests, and also occasionally lift or carry or otherwise move and position objects weighing up to 40 pounds. 

 

Additional Information

Benefits

How to Apply

Please visit our website to apply at: http://www.westendumc.org/about/job-openings

Please contact Melanie Paulson if you request a paper application at (615) 321-8500

West End UMC is an equal opportunity employer.

Details

• Date Posted: October 21, 2020
• Type: Full-Time
• Job Function: Educator
• Service Area: Education
• Start Date: 01/01/2021
• Working Hours: 40 hrs/wk; M-F. Evening and weekends as needed.