SY25-26 Forest Park Middle School Student Support Specialist

Location: Forest Park Middle School

Grade Level: 6-8

Start Date: Immediate

About The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership

In 2015, the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Springfield Public Schools partnered to form the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP). SEZP is committed to ensuring that the middle and high schools in “The Zone” are engaging environments where teachers receive the supports they need to grow professionally, and students have the opportunity to acquire the academic and personal skills to succeed in the college or career of their choice.

Each SEZP school has the autonomy to craft and implement its own, unique vision for success and receives support from an ecosystem of national-caliber partners. Furthermore, Teacher Leadership Teams at each school ensure that teacher voice is heard and that there is strong communication between school administration and staff.

Student Support Specialist Responsibilities:

The Student Support Specialist will work with a team to ensure that students demonstrate dramatic student achievement gains and internalize the school’s values. The Student Support Coordinator will help lead the school’s efforts to create a positive, structured, consistent, caring, and disciplined school culture.

Responsibilities Of This Position May Include:

• Assist in supporting student behavior in hallways and classrooms
• Assist in escorting students throughout the building
• Assist in monitoring hallways.
• Assist with monitoring students at breakfast, lunch and dismissal

We are seeking team players committed to the SEZP mission, high expectations, and their own professional growth.

Qualifications:

• Associate's degree from an accredited college or university (preferred)
• 1-2 years of relevant work experience;
• A deep desire to work with educationally underserved student populations and their families;
• An unwavering commitment to the academic success and personal development of our students;
• An eagerness to set ambitious, challenging, and tangible goals, and a relentless drive to achieve them;
• An ability to thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and a capacity to remain calm and focused when faced with unexpected challenges;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including strong public speaking skills;
• A sense of humility;
• Experience in an urban setting

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. We are actively seeking educators of color.

Positions will be filled on a rolling basis; applicants are encouraged to apply immediately. Please contact [email protected] 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.

NOTICE OF SEX NONDISCRIMINATION

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment, in any education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and its regulations, including in admission and employment.

Inquiries about Title IX may be referred to the Springfield Public Schools’ Title IX Coordinator, [email protected], the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights at or both.

The Springfield Public Schools Title IX Coordinator is Katie O’Sullivan, Senior Administrator of Human Resources, 1550 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103, 413-787-7100 ext. 55428, [email protected].

Springfield Public School’s sex nondiscrimination policy and grievance procedures can be located on the Springfield Public Schools website,

To report information about conduct that may constitute sex discrimination or make a complaint of sex discrimination under Title IX, please refer to [email protected]