Pre-K After-School Program Internship, Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA [SY 2025-2026] bei Salem Public Schools

Pre-K After-School Program Internship, Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA [SY 2025-2026]

About Salem Public Schools, where belonging leads to opportunity.

Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history.  Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district enrolling nearly 4,000 students in 11 schools. Our vision is to ensure that all students will be locally engaged, globally connected, and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world. We hold dear our core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity in everything we do. We seek individuals who are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement for all students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. We invite you to learn more about our strategic plan and core priorities on our website at https://salemk12.org/.

About the Program: The Pre-K After-School program operates in conjunction with the 2025-2026 school calendar, running from school dismissal until 5:00 p.m. (with no programming on scheduled half days). The program serves Pre-K students across four sites: Bentley, Horace Mann, Bates, and the Early Childhood Center, with each site hosting 1-2 students. Interns are expected to commit to 2-4 days per week. 

Pre-K program sites and hours:

• Bentley Academy Innovation School (BAIS)
• 25 Memorial Drive, Salem MA
• Program Time:  2:00-5:00 p.m.
• Daily: Monday- Friday 
• Early Childhood Center (ECC) 
• 25 Memorial Drive, Salem MA
• Program Time: 2:45-5:00 p.m.
• Daily: Monday- Friday
• Horace Mann Laboratory School (HMLS) 
• 79 Willson Street, Salem MA
• Time: 2:00-5:00 p.m.
• Daily: Monday- Friday
• Bates Elementary
• 53 Liberty Hill Ave, Salem MA
• Time: 2:00-5:00 p.m.
• Daily: Monday- Friday

What You’ll Do:

Salem Public Schools recognizes the critical role of wrap-around services in supporting students and their families. As part of this commitment, we provide Pre-K after-school programming focused on enhancing student engagement, fostering social-emotional learning, and offering reliable care for families.

We are seeking high school interns interested in early childhood education to serve as support staff in these programs. Interns will assist program staff in providing after-school care, helping create a collaborative and positive environment for students.

Typical program day includes: 

• Program check in and welcoming routines 
• Program snack and clean up
• Enrichment block- either with community partner or staff led
• Free play, which can include: outdoor play or choice blocks inside
• Parent pick up & dismissal routine

In addition to providing support, interns have the option to design and lead a 30-45 minute enrichment session during the enrichment block once a week, if desired. These enrichment activities can focus on areas such as:

• Fine and gross motor skills development
• Yoga, Pilates, or other physical activities
• Music, dance, or arts & crafts
• Social-emotional learning (SEL) through creative expression

Pre-K Intern Responsibilities Include:

• Supporting the after-school program by assisting staff with day-to-day activities and student supervision.
• Encouraging positive peer relationships and fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment for all students.
• Engaging with students in free play and enrichment activities
• Supporting staff with snack routines and program clean up 
• Collaborating with program staff to create adaptive activities that support students with varying abilities.
• If designing enrichments. modifying activities to meet individual student needs, including those with IEPs or non-English speakers.
• Communicating with program administrator around schedule or challenges as they arise

This internship is ideal for high school students interested in exploring a career in early childhood education while making a meaningful impact on young learners.

What You’ll Bring:

We are looking for candidates who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, are inspired by our mission, and are highly motivated to change children’s lives through education. You’ll be right at home here if you are a reflective practitioner who values collaboration with colleagues and pushes yourself, your work, and the people around you to the next level.  We expect our SPS employees to:

• Hold a deep commitment to students and families and value diversity - The SPS community is vibrant, diverse in background, ethnicity, language, and perspective. You embrace and affirm the backgrounds of all members of the SPS community and view our diversity as a powerful resource that supports us each in learning and doing our best work.

• Hold high expectations for yourself, students, and colleagues – You see potential in all, especially our SPS students, and maintain high expectations for achievement, while providing the support necessary to meet that bar. You hold yourself to high expectations, modeling SPS values and seeking opportunities to continuously improve.

• Build authentic, caring relationships with colleagues, students, and families – You build strong relationships across students, families, and colleagues that are collaborative in nature and contribute to the individual and collective success of SPS.  You partner with families and colleagues to make decisions in the best interest of students and learning.

• Embrace feedback – You are a reflective practitioner who learns from mistakes and challenges and uses them as opportunities for professional development. You model persistence and a growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally, we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.