Full-Time Educator – Summit Support Specialist (One Year Position), Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA [SY 2025-2026] at Salem Public Schools

Full-Time Educator – Summit Support Specialist (One Year Position), Salem Public Schools, Salem, MA [SY 2025-2026]

Location: On Point Building and Salem High School
Position Type: Full-Time, School-Year
Start Date: As soon as possible

Summit: Reaching the Top Through College and Career Readiness

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/.

Position Summary

The Summit Support Specialist provides targeted academic, social-emotional, and therapeutic support to middle and high school students who are at risk of dropping out, overage and under-accredited, court or law enforcement involved, and/or temporarily removed from school due to short-term or long-term suspensions.

This position delivers academic tutoring, counseling, and intervention services in a supportive setting, while also developing personalized transition plans that ensure students can successfully reintegrate into their home schools and programs. The Specialist also serves as a liaison to community resources, helping students and families access extracurricular programs, mental health supports, workforce opportunities, and wraparound services that promote stability and success.

Summit is an intensive, relationship-driven, skills-focused academic and social-emotional set of services at Salem High School and at the On-Point building at Palmer Cove. Summit seeks to re-engage learners who are at high risk of dropping out at the middle and high school level, helping them get back on track for graduation and post secondary success. 

We are seeking a dynamic educator who thrives in nontraditional settings and is deeply skilled at building trust with students who have struggled in conventional classrooms. 

Programmatic Details

• Target Population: Between 15-20 students at a time who have struggled in traditional school setting
• Urgency & Impact: Students are over-age, under-credited, and in danger of dropping out without strategic intervention
• Culture Shift: Program aims to reduce chronic absenteeism, behavior issues, and hopelessness through authentic connection and engagement
• Career Readiness: Students access CTE pathways and internship opportunities at Salem High School

Who We're Looking For

A mission-driven educator who:

• Builds deep trust with students and creates safe, inclusive learning spaces
• Sees student potential where others may see only risk
• Understands and embraces relationship-first teaching
• Has a track record of transforming disengaged learners into active participants
• Brings energy, commitment, and creativity to a collaborative team
• Is ready to challenge systemic norms to better serve vulnerable youth

Key Responsibilities

With Middle Schoolers

• Provide individualized and small group tutoring in core academic subjects to address credit recovery and skill gaps.
• Monitor student academic progress and adjust supports as needed.
• Collaborate with teachers and school staff to align tutoring with curriculum and graduation requirements.
• Deliver short-term counseling and social-emotional support services that help students manage challenges such as trauma, stress, behavioral needs, and conflict resolution.
• Implement evidence-based strategies to support positive behavior, motivation, and resilience.
• Develop individualized transition plans to guide each student’s return to their middle or high school.
• Serve as a point of contact between the student, family, school administrators, and teachers during the transition process.
• Provide follow-up support to ensure successful reintegration and ongoing progress.
• Collaborate with community organizations, law enforcement, and service providers to build a strong support network around each student.
  

With High Schoolers

• Deliver engaging, personalized instruction aligned with credit recovery and postsecondary readiness.
• Use transformative learning experiences to reconnect students to school and future possibilities.
• Create a learning environment rooted in trust, consistency, and high expectations.
• Track and support students’ academic, social-emotional, and behavioral growth.
• Collaborate closely with the SHS leadership team to ensure alignment, accountability, and impact.
• Contribute to a culture of innovation, reflection, and continuous improvement.
• Support career readiness by helping students access Career Technical Education pathways and internship opportunities.
• Reduce chronic absenteeism, behavior issues, and hopelessness through authentic connection and engagement.
• Foster strong two way communication with families.
• Facilitate post-secondary plans that involve student and family voice.
• Work with College and Career counselors to ensure implementation of graduation plans. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred
• Valid Massachusetts teaching and/or counseling license
• Minimum 5 years of successful classroom teaching experience
• Experience with alternative, urban, or dropout prevention programs highly preferred
• Demonstrated success working with high-needs youth and using trauma-informed practices
• Strong commitment to equity, inclusion, and culturally responsive pedagogy

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.