Happy Steps Preschool Assistant Director & Lead Teacher Job Description
The Assistant Director will also function as our Lead Teacher, working closely with the Director to
Create developmentally-appropriate and child-centered curriculum activities.
Observe our students, create goal plans, assist with the bi-annual progress reports.
Substitute for the Director/run the program when she is doing her office hours or is away from the program.
Maintain the program and facility in a way that ensures the quality, cleanliness, organization, efficiency, and integrity of the preschool and prevents any and all licensing violations. It is mandatory to understand the rules we have to follow and always ensure that we're acting in accordance with them. A digital copy can be found here: https://www.oregon.gov/delc/providers/CCLD_Library/CCLD-0085-Rules-for-Certified-Family-Child-Care-Homes-EN.pdf
Assist in all matters of day-to-day operations.
Train new hires, interns, substitutes, and volunteers (including giving orientations).
Keep up-to-date records for staff and children, including accurate daily timesheets.
Supervise the Director's employees, interns, substitutes, volunteers, and visitors.
Communicate any needs, requests, information from staff and/or families to and from the Director.
Communicate to the Director any repairs, changes, or improvements needed to the program, facility, materials, etc.
Other Key Responsibilities & Duties
A strong understanding of child development, being child-centered, and being trauma-informed.
Consistently nurturing and emotionally regulated with children and their families.
Follow the policies and procedures, philosophies, values, schedule, and routines of our program.
Maintain confidentiality for students and their families.
Maintain a professional appearance and demeanor.
Be punctual and with limited attendance issues.
Work effectively with the team.
Lead by example, modeling teacher excellence (providing coaching/mentoring for other staff as needed).
Model respect, kindness, and integrity for all students.
Interact with all students in a safe, trustworthy, attentive, supportive, nurturing, child-centered way.
Prioritize the needs and well-being of the children at all times.
Foster strong socio-emotional and relational health support for all students.
Ensure a healthy, clean, safe, trustworthy program environment for our students.
Meet the standards and expectations outlined in the employee manual.
Consistently demonstrate inclusivity for children, families, and staff of all ethnicities, cultures, genders, sexual orientation, age, ability.
Supervise children at all times, performing head counts and knowing how many children are in care at all times.
Keep us in ratio at all times.
Honor our policy of being secular. We do not teach religion, and we honor each family choosing which beliefs are best for their family.
Honor our policy of being fragrance-free at all times on the premises.
Follow our daily opening and closing policies and procedures, including completing daily tasks, cleaning, organizing, etc.
Check with the Director before making any changes to the program.
Additional Skills & Experience Required
Minimum age 25.
Minimum of 3 years of professional child care experience.
Minimum of 1 year as a Director or Assistant Director in a licensed CC or CF.
ORO step 7 or higher.
Strong oral and written skills.
Excellent leadership, organizational, and interpersonal, and executive functioning skills.
Teacher qualified (current on the Central Background Registry, with all required trainings completed and up-to-date in ORO).
MUST be available between 7:25 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. Monday through Friday to substitute for staff when needed.
Compensation & Benefits Package
40 hours of sick/personal PTO available annually; any unused PTO is paid out in the December 20th paycheck.
5 weeks of paid vacation during the weeks that Happy Steps is closed after successful six-month probationary period.
12 paid holidays, annually.
15% tuition discount for your child.
$25-$28 per hour DOE.
Annual raises after one year of employment.
Annual anniversary bonuses.
Teacher appreciation bonuses.
All weekends off with the option of a weekday or half day off. This position offers a 32-38 hour work week, employee's choice of how many hours!
OregonSaves Roth IRA for retirement savings. (Employee can opt out or change how much they want withheld from pay.)
Four paid in-service days annually to catch up on curriculum planning, goal planning, deep cleaning, CE hours, and more.
Your current résumé AND references for the organizations/people listed on it.
Your CBR number and expiration date.
Your letter of interest in joining the Happy Steps team, including why you'd be an excellent assistant director for our program.
What you love most about working with children.
Your availability, the length of time you're hoping to work with us, your preferred amount of hours per week/scheduling needs or requests, and if you agree to being available during our open hours to sub for other staff members.
You must be teacher qualified before beginning (meaning you are current on all the required certifications, like pediatric CPR & 1st Aid, Reporting Abuse & Neglect, Food Handler's Card, etc.), and set to Aide 2 and Substitute by the licensing division by your 10th day of employment. You must maintain your required certifications and 15+ continuing education (CE) training hours every year. Find the required trainings at https://www.oregon.gov/delc/providers/pages/required-training.aspx