Responsive recruiter

Summary

Position is responsible for assisting the Head Start 0-5 Program Director in the on-going planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of the Head Start 0-5 Program’s Mental Health and Disability services. This position will provide oversight of delivering a high-quality, outcomes-based program of early childhood education. The Mental Health and Disabilities Director will lead in the supervision, guidance, data management and evaluation of the Mental Health and Disabilities components and the provision of effective and efficient services for children, families, and teaching staff. This position will ensure full compliance and continuous quality improvement with all aspects of Head Start performance standards, and state and local licensing regulations.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Program Planning & Service System Design: Responsible for the development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and assessment of the Mental Health and Disabilities components while maintaining quality standards to include, but not limited to, curricula, child assessments, referrals for services, therapy services, and policies and procedures. Recommends and ensures implementation of improvements and ongoing progress of annual service plans while ensuring compliance with the Head Start Performance Standards and licensing requirements.

2. Data and Evaluation: Systematically collects and analyzes data as the basis for providing information for decision making. Collect and use quality data to support the use of effective practices and to show progress towards desired program, child, and family outcomes. Participate in the planning, implementation, and reporting of the

Program Information Report (PIR) and annual report, and Health Services Advisory Committee (HSAC).

3. Community and Self-Assessment: Will work collaboratively to analyze and implement educational and mental health and disability practices that meet community needs as identified in the CNA and self-assessment. This position will lead the mental health and disability team in ensuring current practices can be measured for effectiveness.

4. Fiscal Management: Will ensure that program planning aligns with budgets as it pertains to the mental health and disabilities components of the Head Start Program. Fiscal management will align with the program's work plan and timeline.

5. Communication Systems: Develops and maintains collaborative relationships with parents and community partners, especially ECI and LEAs to enhance delivery of comprehensive referrals and services to children and families. This position shall ensure at least 10% of its total funded enrollment is filled by children eligible for services under IDEA; if not, develop and submit a waiver to the appropriate HHS official. Maintain, update, and attain appropriate signatures of Memorandum of Understandings with school districts, ECI, LEAs, and providers of services.

6. Ongoing Monitoring and CQI: Ensure ongoing monitoring, tracking, follow-up and analysis of mental health and disability services, high quality inclusion practices, and student assessment data that includes behavior screening and other related assessments for progress monitoring and continuous quality improvement.

7. Training and Professional Development: Responsible for the development of a training and professional development plan which includes onboarding, new hire training, individualized professional development according to CLASS scores, classroom and children assessment scores and any other relevant data, as necessary.

8. Record Keeping and Reporting: Position is responsible for reporting on Mental Health and Disabilities to the Policy Council, including participation in meetings in accordance with regulations and PC bylaws. The Mental Health and Disabilities Director will develop and present monthly programmatic dashboards to the PC and Board of Directors as requested by the Program Director or Executive Director.

9. Human Resources: Responsible for the supervision of LPCs, LPC-As, Disabilities Coordinators and Mental Health Coordinators. Supervision includes, but is not limited to: pre-hiring, hiring, counseling, new hire training, professional development, monitoring, conducting performance coaching/evaluations, delegation of duties, conflict resolution, appraising job tasks and recommending disciplinary action for employees.

10. Facilities and Learning Environments: Responsible for ensuring facilities (indoors and outdoors) meet and/or exceed health and safety standards through the development, implementation, and oversight of facility management systems. Ensures learning environments meet the needs of all children, especially those with special needs, and are conducive to high quality learning environments.

11. Technology and Information Systems: Works collaboratively with the Instructional Technology Specialist and/or assigned Information Technology staff to ensure that data is accurately entered, monitored and evaluated through the selected program software system to ensure efficient data analysis practices while maintaining confidential information, which includes, but is not limited to: health records, personal information, employee records, student and family records and income information.

12. Communication: Develops an effective communication system that channels communication to all classrooms,

content areas, leadership, and collaboration partners effectively and efficiently. Communicates vision to motivate the team to meet desired organizational and program outcomes. Promotes an environment of teamwork and cooperation and is accessible to employees.

13. Perform all other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required

Master's Degree in early childhood education, special education or a related field?
Must attend 24 clock hours of professional development and staff training per year to include: active supervision, safety practices, training that improves child and family outcomes, training on methods to handle suspected or known child abuse and neglect cases that comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and any other trainings as outlined by the Head Start Performance Standards and Child Care Regulation from the State of Texas.
Valid Texas Driver's License.
Must pass DFPS background check.
Must pass an annual physical.

Preferred Qualifications

Required education plus additional licenses and/or certifications related to Mental Health and/or Disabilities

Work Experience
Required

Extensive knowledge and understanding of child development theories and practices;
3+ Years experience in supervision and management;
Experience in policy and procedure development;
Experience in developing Behavior Intervention Plans and evaluation of the developed plan;
Experience in providing training on mental health and disabilities;
Experience in facilitating ARDs
Experience developing outcome indicators for assessing the effectiveness of programming
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
Excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills.

Preferred

At least 3 years’ experience in a pre-school setting, and/or experience with special education and/or mental health in a pre-school or school setting no higher than elementary school.
Experience in budget management;
English/Spanish bi-lingual fluency

Skills

Skill in motivating, teaching and guiding staff.
Ability to supervise and ensure a safe learning environment for children in a classroom setting.
Ability to respond to and remain calm in an emergency or crisis situation.
Ability to establish and maintain professional relationships with individuals of varying social and cultural backgrounds and with co-workers at all levels;
Ability to respect the dignity of children, each family, culture, customs and beliefs;
Ability to maintain confidentiality;
Ability to be persuasive and tactful in controversial situations;
Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions;
Ability to learn new tasks quickly and efficiently;
Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and meet deadlines.

Physical Requirements

If a preliminary offer of employment is extended, a physical will be required before the offer can be accepted.

Able to perform the following physical requirements of the position with or without reasonable accommodation: critical sensory requirements include general vision; specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. Hear or listen in the normal range (corrected) and speak and give directions clearly. Able to walk, sit, stand, kneel, crouch, crawl, reach, lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects up to 10 lbs., and occasionally lift and/or move up to 30 pounds.

Welcome to Community Action Corporation of South Texas (CACOST)!

CACOST is a private non-profit organization established in 1971 and funded through federal, state and local grants. CACOST currently serves 16 counties via a wide variety of community programs and services. CACOST lives its mission each day, which is to continuously improve the lives of South Texans by providing high quality health care, education, housing and economic opportunities to reduce poverty through services and partnerships.

CACOST is looking for employees who are interested in accomplishing our mission, which can be both rewarding and challenging. We count on our employees to contribute directly to the growth and success of our agency. Because the quality of our staff is the key to our success, we carefully select our new employees. Apply today to join our CACOST family and take pride in being a member of our team.

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