Website Chinese American International School
Chinese American international school
This is an English language position; no Chinese language proficiency required
Exempt, full-time position
WELCOME!
Join the vibrant community at the Chinese American International School’s new Forever Home campus on 19th Avenue as a part of a dynamic team that supports Kindergarten through fourth grade students’ social and emotional well-being. Become part of a team striving to be the world’s most innovative, inspiring, and influential Chinese English dual-language immersion school. You will have a vital impact on children’s lives by offering support, guidance, mentorship, and intervention. Help children grow and develop into independent, self-aware individuals who utilize strategies to manage their emotions and regulate their minds and bodies. As a distinctive aspect of your work at CAIS, you will also help students navigate their way in a bilingual and bicultural school setting, guiding them to hone global skills and competencies and prepare to make a difference in the world around them.
OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE
The ideal candidate finds resonance with CAIS’s mission to Embrace Chinese, Become Our Best Selves, and Contribute to a Better World; our Core Values of Courage, Curiosity, Inclusion, Kindness, and Perseverance; and our Strategic Vision 2020-2025 to Reimagine CAIS, Reimagine Success. As CAIS aims to empower independent, caring, and inspired children, we look for a candidate adept at establishing deep and trusting rapport with students, nonjudgmental and supportive partnership with families, and collaborative and proactive teaching in the classroom alongside other faculty members. Our new team member will collaborate with our Education Leadership Team, our Student Support Team, and Chinese and English teachers, and will enjoy a wealth of professional development opportunities. Together with partners in the school, this candidate will help steward our school community’s emotional well-being and will help us continue to implement key tenets of Responsive Classroom and Social Thinking, scaled to a bilingual setting.
CAIS offers a dynamic dual culture setting in which faculty are immersed in a culture of language learners. We look for a candidate who will embrace CAIS’s work to create an equitable, inclusive environment where all faculty, students, and families are supported in their individual identities. We welcome all applicants who aim to actively support and participate in our diverse and inclusive community.
BENEFITS
The CAIS Board of Trustees and administration are expressly dedicated to ensuring that CAIS is a great place to work. The school is committed to attracting, developing, retaining, and rewarding top-tier faculty and excellent educators with a strong benefits package. CAIS has an established salary scale that recognizes experience and other qualifications including (but not limited to) education and training, leadership, and bilinguality. The salary range for this position is: $78,400 – $123,700. Please see here the final page for a full description of benefits.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES
Position responsibilities include (but are not limited to):
STUDENTS:
- Maintain a positive intellectual, emotional, and social environment within the school community in which all children feel valued and a sense of belonging
- Identify students in need of social emotional support in consultation with faculty members
- Provide social, emotional, and behavioral support for individual students as needed
- Create and facilitate support groups as needed
- Lead or facilitate lessons in classrooms, in collaboration with classroom teacher
- Conduct classroom observations of children referred to the Student Services Team
FAMILIES:
- Communicate effectively, promptly, and proactively with families
- Facilitate communication between families, outside professionals, and the school to effectively support students
- Curate resources and offer targeted support for families (written communication, parent education, etc) during times of need, such as surrounding difficult events in the news, community tragedy, and topics of relevance to K-4 parents (stress, body image, burgeoning adolescence, navigating social dynamics, etc)
COLLABORATION, PROGRAMMING, & OPERATIONS:
- Take the lead on our on-going events and partnerships with Responsive Classroom and Social Thinking organizations
- Collaborate with faculty members to implement social emotional curriculum and strategies in the classroom to support all students
- Work closely with the Early Childhood & Lower School Division Heads regarding student behavior
- Spend up to 2-hours per week with our Preschool, specific needs and timing to be determined in consultation with the Preschool Director
- Recommend effective classroom strategies for behavior
- Serve as a liaison and case manager between outside practitioners and school staff
- Maintain a detailed working file on each case, accessible to relevant parties
- Perform crisis intervention as needed
- Create and maintain a curated list of outside resources and referrals
- Coordinate with administration on any grade level-specific meetings for parents, students, or staff
- Actively support and collaborate on school initiatives, such as events and committee work
- Work collaboratively and maintain standards of respect, courtesy, and mutual consideration with the school community, including students, staff, and parents
- Attend faculty and division meetings and other school activities such as Back to School Night, parent educations events, etc, including required meetings/events before the beginning of the school year and during the term of employment
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS
- Master’s degree in Social Work, School Counseling, LCSW, MFT with license, or MS in Counseling
- At least 3 years of experience as a counselor (preferred)
- Experience working with early childhood and elementary school age populations, children, staff, and parents
- Experience screening students, providing sound recommendations, and making referrals
- Experience with teaching and implementation of social emotional skills curriculum and parent education
- Experience with Social Thinking and Responsive Classroom methodologies a plus
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with students, parents, and teachers
- Some teaching experience preferred
- Dedication to equity and inclusion and ability to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds
- Commitment to professional development and to the school’s mission, policies, and initiatives
ABOUT CAIS
As the nation’s first Mandarin Immersion Preschool through 8th grade school, CAIS embodies our mission by working continuously to maintain our role as a leader in immersion education. We value honest self-assessment, thoughtful self-reflection, intentional planning, and focused implementation. We are known as an ambitious school, and we are making substantial progress on our multi-year vision to reimagine immersion, reimagine our culture of learning, reimagine character and community, and reimagine our learning spaces. Since 2021, we have been using our new campus on 19th Avenue in San Francisco for athletics, arts, and community events. In September 2024, our entire community will begin the school year at our newly renovated Forever Home, which more than doubles our program space from our Hayes Valley locations and allows all divisions to be together on one spectacular campus.
TO APPLY
CAIS’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is central to our mission. People of color and LGBTQIA candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
Email cover letter, resume, and list of references to lower_school_jobs@cais.org, attention Kimberly Kaz. In the subject line please indicate: “School Counselor (K-4).” Please no calls.
