Job Description
Job DescriptionDescription:
Temple Beth El of Boca Raton is the largest and most vibrant congregation in our area. Throughout our history we have sought to create a spirit of warmth, intimacy and vitality in all that we are and do, maintaining a culture of understanding work ethic and dedicated staff members. We strive to build a sense of community and improve the world around us. We are growing and excited to add team members like you to join our team.
We are currently searching for a caring and energetic Lead Preschool Teacher to join our team. If you have a passion for working with children, are dedicated to providing the best education and care, work collaboratively, and want to learn and grow, we want you to be part of our team.
**We support our full-time teachers with 100% Medical and Dental Coverage at the HMO level, complimentary congregational committment for you and your family, complimentary Religious School for your children, employee discounts on ELC tuition, paid holidays and PTO**
The Lead Teacher is responsible for monitoring the development and learning of the children, and for communicating this information to parents and the Director and Assistant Director. Beth El Early Learning Center believes in experiential learning, with a hands’ on approach. The Lead Teacher is responsible to provide a successful, safe and supervised educational setting for children while they are in the Early Learning Center environment (classroom, outdoor play area, and field trips).
JOB SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, which include the following:
Programming Functions
• Manage day-to-day classroom activities, plan and implement daily activity and instructional programs to meet the developmental needs of children.
• Responsible for creating and maintaining an environment that is cheerful, nurturing, healthy, clean, organized, and safe for all children.
• Monitor growth and development of each child and communicate progress and/or concerns with parents and Director/Assistant Director.
• Ensure consistency of the daily curriculum with the preschool values statement.
• Maintain documentation of daily needs, observations, and developmental milestones.
• Responsible for child assessments and facilitating parent-teacher conferences as needed/requested.
• Maintain a continuing dialogue with the teaching team with regards to the children and classroom environment.
• Maintain a professional self-image and project the values of the organization at all times.
• Implement and follow all safety and emergency procedures, including drills and first aid protocols.
• Attend and participate in required staff meetings, professional development, and training.
• Follow all licensing regulations, program policies, and ethical guidelines.
Interaction with Children
• Serve as a role model for the children in the areas of attitude, speech and actions on a daily basis.
• Treat each child with dignity and respect for his/her cultural background.
• Encourage children’s development in the areas of building self-confidence, problem solving, self-regulation, and taking responsibility for their actions.
• Offer physical and emotional support, including holding, rocking, or comforting Early Childhood students, while fostering a secure and nurturing environment.
• Assist children in embarking and disembarking from school and accompany them to their classrooms.
• Ensure constant supervision of children to maintain a safe environment at all times. Supervise children during lunchtime and ensure that their nutritional needs are fulfilled and they are safe.
• Oversee children to make sure that they are safe during outdoor activities and specials/enrichment programming.
• Provide direct care to children, including diapering, toileting assistance, and support during accidents or minor injuries, following all health and safety protocols.
• Lift, carry, and physically assist children as needed throughout the day, including for diaper changes, comfort during distress, transitions, and nap time routines.
• Supervise and engage in nap time routines, including helping children settle, repositioning as necessary, and monitoring for safety
• Ensure development of positive relationships with children with a view to promote self-esteem and self-discipline.
• Be consistent, but lovingly enforce classroom discipline plan using the Conscious Discipline approach. The Beth El Early Learning Center does not use “time out” as a discipline tool.
Administrative Functions
• Complete weekly lesson plans and goals according to policy (Must be submitted by Monday morning).
• Use observation and assessment tools to track developmental progress and adjust instruction accordingly
• Responsible for maintaining accurate attendance and daily activities using the Brightwheel App. Responsible for posting in the App according to our school’s Brightwheel policy.
• Maintain accurate records including attendance, incident reports, and developmental assessments.
• Responsible for returning all parent phone calls or emails according to the standards of the Early Learning Center.
• Supervise assistant teachers in the classroom and ensure they are following program policy and values of the organization at all times.
• Responsible for training new teachers and other staff assigned in the classroom and direct them as to what duties need to be carried out throughout the day.
• Maintain accidents/incidents reports. Ensure parents receive and sign reports.
• Establish a professional level of rapport with parents in order to provide quality care and excellent customer service.
• Maintain storage, organization, and cleanliness of classroom equipment and materials. Regularly update bulletin boards to reflect the changing curriculum units of study.
• Maintain clean and sanitized classroom environments, including toys, surfaces, and learning materials.
• Maintain a continuing dialogue with classroom team with regard to the children and classroom environment.
• Help to create parent and teacher programs to grow their understanding child development and developmentally appropriate practice.
• Must arrive to work on time, as scheduled, and maintain excellent attendance.
• Perform other job-related responsibilities as assigned by the Director.
WE SUPPORT OUR TEAM MEMBERS BY OFFERING
- Health/Dental/Vision Insurance Plans (HMO plans covered at 100%)
- Short- and Long-Term Disability
- 403(b) Retirement Plan
- Paid Time Off (PTO) • Holiday Pay • Employee Discounts including complimentary congregational commitment and Religious School for your children
Temple Beth El of Boca is an Equal Opportunity Employer and will not take into consideration the race, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, (or any other protected class) of any applicant for this position. For more information about our organization, please visit www.tbeboca.org.
Requirements:
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES:
• Excellent knowledge of child development and up-to-date education methods;
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills;
• Excellent problem solving, and attention to detail and strong interpersonal relationship skills;
• Comfortable with team-based work structure, ability to demonstrate flexibility on the job;
• Approachable with the ability to maintain positive relationships at all levels of the organization;
• Knowledge of Brightwheel or ability to learn;
• Knowledge of the Jewish community and Jewish customs is a plus;
• Ability to lead staff in implementing a developmentally appropriate curriculum;
• Ability to effectively plan, organize and implement educational activities;
• Ability to utilize computer skills and software to input developmental data;
• Ability to be creative, patient, flexible, loving and understanding when working with children;
• Ability to make decisions on behalf of children and protect their well-being;
• Ability to work with children from diverse backgrounds;
• Ability to meet Florida requirements for employment in a preschool setting;
• Attend school wide and class events such as meetings, parent meetings, and other special events;
• Attend and positively participate at all staff meetings and professional development trainings;
• Ability to work occasionally on nights and weekends; and
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of children and families according to policy.
EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:
• Associate’s degree in early childhood education or child development; CDA (Child Development Associate) Certification; or a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, child development or a child related field is preferred;
• At least two years of experience working with young children;
• 45 hours of Child Care Courses/training or willingness to acquire;
• Child CPR/First Aid certification or willingness to acquire;
• Knowledge of Jewish culture is a plus but not required;
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
This position has some supervisory responsibilities.
TRAVEL
Some travel may be required between Beth El campuses and to events.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Ability to read and interpret documents such as lesson plans, roasters, safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively with parents and employees of organization. Strong service-related people skills and problem-solving skills. Familiarly with Hebrew is a plus, but not required.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be physically able to use a computer with basic proficiency, lift a minimum of 50 pounds, and work indoors and outdoors. Consistently able to observe and respond to children’s needs, emergencies, and/or conflicts that might occur in the classroom, on the playground, and/or in common areas. Must be able to assume postures in low levels to allow physical and visual contact with children. The employee must have the ability to physically manage and support children when needed for safety in general outdoor activities.
This position requires constant readiness to respond physically to children's needs, including lifting. While reasonable accommodations may be made for other functions of the job, the lifting requirement is essential and non-negotiable due to the physical safety needs of the children in our care.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
The job is performed indoors/outdoors in a traditional school setting. The employee will be working in a busy and occasionally noisy environment. There may be a number of activities and situations happening at once, and the employee will have to supervise all children at all times. The employee may come into contact with children who are ill and/or contagious, and must take precautions to ensure the health and safety of all children, parents, staff and themselves. Depending on the particular workplace and job duties, personal protective equipment (PPE) may be recommended or required. PPE may include, for example, gloves, goggles, face shields, masks and/or other protection.
This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts or working conditions associated with this job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, the organization reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change.