WELCOME TO INDIANAPOLIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
At IPS, we believe in the transformative power of education. We work collectively every day to prepare our students for success in the classroom and in life by providing equitable, high-quality educational experiences across our family of schools. IPS is a place to make an impact, grow your career, and ensure every student has access to a high quality education, all while earning a good living in a district on the move. While the work is challenging, it is deeply meaningful and impactful. We seek innovators and trailblazers who bring varying experiences and expertise and share our belief that every child deserves access to an exceptional education. As part of TeamIPS, you'll create lasting connections, find a sense of belonging, and feel supported to make a meaningful difference in students' lives.
In return, no matter your role here, we expect a commitment to excellence and accountability. You'll be held to high standards. Resilience and passion are key-you must be adaptable, handling adversity with flexibility while putting students at the heart of everything you do. Ethical conduct, clear communication, and mutual respect are fundamental. Being a dependable, collaborative team player who builds meaningful relationships is essential.
Together, we are Proving What's Possible by building a community where everyone belongs and each student has the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
A Career in IPS Offers...
Purpose and Impact
- Essential Contributions: In every non-teaching and non-leadership role, your work directly supports the success of IPS students and schools. Whether you're maintaining facilities, providing student services, or managing administrative operations, you play a key part in ensuring an equitable and high-quality educational environment.
- Belonging and Community: IPS is a place where every employee is valued. You'll join a supportive community that promotes respect, teamwork, and a shared commitment to serving students and families.
Professional and Personal Growth
- Training and Development Opportunities: IPS offers a variety of training programs to help staff build new skills and grow professionally. This includes access to development opportunities for administrative, technical, and operational roles, as well as pathways to becoming a certified teacher.
- Skill Enhancement: Whether you're new to your role or seeking to deepen your expertise, IPS provides resources and support for continuous improvement.
Comprehensive Compensation And Benefits
- Fair Compensation: IPS ensures competitive wages and regularly reviews pay structures to maintain equity.
- Extensive Benefits Package: Employees enjoy comprehensive health coverage, dental and vision plans, life insurance, disability insurance, and retirement plans. Additional financial benefits include flexible spending accounts and eligibility for federal loan forgiveness programs.
Work-Life Balance And Well-being
- Generous Leave Policies: IPS offers vacation, personal, and sick leave, along with paid holidays. Twelve-month employees benefit from floating holidays, and unused personal leave rolls into the sick leave balance.
- Wellness Programs: IPS prioritizes staff well-being with access to wellness initiatives, including health screenings and an employee assistance program for confidential support and counseling.
What We Expect
- Professionalism and Reliability: Every role at IPS is vital to the district's success. We expect staff to demonstrate professionalism, dependability, and a commitment to providing excellent service to students, educators, and families.
- Collaboration and Communication: IPS values teamwork. Working collaboratively with your colleagues ensures a supportive environment for all. Clear communication and mutual respect are key to maintaining this culture.
- Flexibility and Problem-Solving: As a large, dynamic district, IPS needs staff who are adaptable and proactive in solving problems to meet the ever-changing needs of students and schools.
JOIN US!
Indianapolis Public Schools is more than a workplace; it's a community where purpose, impact, and belonging come together to help Prove What's Possible - in your career and in your school. If you're ready to embrace challenges, strive for excellence, and make a meaningful impact, IPS is the place for you.
Summary Of Opportunity
Performs a variety of duties in support of, and to ensure, a high-quality McKinney Vento Homeless program that is student and family-focused, data-driven, effectively delivered, best-practice oriented, and that meets State and District compliance. This is a 12-month position with 50% of the work week dedicated to the IPS McKinney Vento Homeless program and 50% of the work week devoted to the support of the McKinney Vento Homeless Initiative Consortium. The Consortium is a multi-District group of external stakeholders who collectively manage service delivery for homeless students and families in their school districts.
What You'll Do
- Provide courteous, friendly and equitable professional customer service to all students and families, school personnel and external stakeholders.
- Maintain a positive, energetic, solution-driven demeanor in all interactions with parents, District and school staff, and external stakeholders.
- Consistently take on challenging situations and believe in ability to effect change.
- Demonstrate strict standards of confidentiality, following the guidelines of the Family Rights and Privacy Act. Adheres to laws, policies, procedures, and ethical standards of McKinney Vento Homeless Act.
- Participate in professional development at local, state and federal levels in areas of trauma-informed care, increased academic success, social and emotional learning, effective operations, and regulation compliance.
- Working with Unified Operations Coordinator, provide weekly time and duty management plan, keeping documentation to support both the McKinney Vento Consortium and the IPS McKinney Vento program.
- Fifty percent of the duties and time supports the McKinney Vento Homeless Consortium, a collective of Districts (including IPS) brought together in an IDOE/State supported funding and service model to provide and strengthen services in the Consortium participating Districts. These duties include:
- Develop strong communication and support of Consortium McKinney Vento Liaisons.
- Collect, compile, and manage data related to McKinney Vento Consortium activities that may include but is not limited to homeless documentation and provision of services, social and emotional learning, mental health, disproportionality, and medical services.
- Utilizing various data collection systems and processes and other resources, respond to requests from Consortium members for data reporting and analysis.
- Create, manage, and maintain databases for Consortium for longitudinal examinations of Consortium data.
- Develop monthly communication strategy for Consortium data, engaging in best practice research and technology initiatives to ensure most up to date presentation and assessment of student data and grant budget. Attend and take notes for monthly Consortium meeting.
- Work with IPS IT and other District departments to maintain accurate district data to meet state requirements.
- Assist in keeping up to date with State and Federal compliance regulations for IDOE Consortium grant process and activities.
- Assist Consortium members in meeting timelines for contracted services and professional development activities.
- Collect and facilitate Consortium member orders and reimbursements per the McKinney Vento Consortium grant in accordance with budget.
- Set and manage communication for monthly meetings, agendas, google docs, etc. Maintain monthly meeting notes, attendance, and electronic files for warehousing data.
- Aid in development and maintenance of the USS digital newsletter for internal and external stakeholders.
- Assist in disseminating Consortium posters, brochures, and other awareness materials explaining educational rights, programs, and related services in schools and other locations where homeless children and youth receive services (such as soup kitchens, health clinics, shelters, transitional living projects for youth, street outreach teams, youth drop-in centers, motels, campgrounds, public laundries, and faith based organizations.
- Perform other related duties as assigned by Consortium Coordinator.
- Fifty percent of the duties supports the Indianapolis Public Schools McKinney Vento Homeless Program. These duties include:
- Assist the McKinney Vento Liaison in the enrollment process and elimination of barriers for students experiencing homelessness.
- Develop and update outcome-driven contact log (phone, visits, email) providing weekly updates to Liaison and Operations Coordinator.
- Assist Liaison in ensuring that parents, guardians and unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness are fully informed of all transportation services provided under the McKinney-Vento Act, including transportation to the school of origin, and are assisted in accessing these services.
- Input information in PowerSchool and the transportation portal, tracking student status and ensuring bus transportation. Work directly with IPS Transportation Services, Schools, and IT to ensure that transportation needs are met as efficiently and effectively as possible meeting state mandated timelines.
- Assist Liaison in providing education for school personnel, service providers, and advocates who work with families in homeless situations about the duties of the local homeless education liaison.
- In tandem with Liaison, develop collaborative relationships with community social service providers, including shelters, soup kitchens, food banks, transitional living projects for youth, street outreach teams, youth drop-in centers, community action agencies, welfare departments, housing departments, public health departments, and faith-based organizations.
- In tandem with Liaison, develop relationships with key school district personnel, including administrators, principals, secretaries, registrars, counselors, social workers, transportation staff, food services staff, school nurses, truancy officers, and teachers. Inform these personnel about the causes and struggles of homelessness, common signs of homelessness, the duties of the local liaison, the responsibilities of the school district, and rights of students and families in homeless situations.
- Communicate with school social workers, school counselors, school office administrative associates, school FACE, Transportation Department staff, Enroll Indy, other school staff (inside and outside IPS) and service providers regarding students and families who are homeless.
- Organize and maintain file system; files correspondence and other records and apply effective organizational skills to all work projects.
WHAT YOU'll BRING: SKILLS AND MINDSETS:
- Adaptability - Adapts to change in the work environment. Able to deal with frequent change, delays or unexpected events.
- Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations. Responds promptly to customer needs and requests for service and assistance.
- Dependability - Follows instructions and responds to management direction. Takes responsibility for own actions.
- Ethics - Treats people with respect. Works with integrity. Upholds organizational values.
- Initiative - Volunteers readily. Asks for and offers help when needed.
- Innovation - Displays original thinking and creativity. Meets challenges with resourcefulness. Generates suggestions for improving work.
- Interpersonal - Focuses on solving conflict. Maintains confidentiality. Listens to others without interrupting. Keeps emotions under control. Remains open to others' ideas and tries new things.
- Professionalism - Approaches others in a tactful manner. Reacts well under pressure. Treats others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position.
- Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures.
- Teamwork - Exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views. Gives and welcomes feedback. Contributes to building a positive team spirit.
- Technical Skills - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses. Pursues training and development opportunities. Strives to continuously build knowledge and skills.
- Quality - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality.
- Quantity - Meets productivity standards.
Education, Certification, And Licensure Requirements
High School Diploma required; college preferred. School student data systems knowledge preferred. Two years related experience (social service program support and/or financial services) or equivalent combination of education and experience. Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) required. Google docs expertise or within three months required. Bi-lingual preferred.
ELIGIBILITY FOR REMOTE WORK
Not eligible
Physical Requirements
The physical requirements 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 individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand and walk. The employee is occasionally required to sit; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.
EEOC STATEMENT
Indianapolis Public Schools, in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies, will not discriminate in its programs, facilities, or employment or educational opportunities on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, homelessness or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations, or ordinances. Indianapolis Public Schools does not tolerate any form of retaliation or bias-based intimidation, threat, or harassment that demeans individuals' dignity or interferes with their ability to learn or work.
DISCLAIMER
Essential functions, as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, may include any of the above representative duties, knowledge, and skills. This job description is illustrative only, and is not a comprehensive list of all essential functions and duties performed by the occupant of this position. Factors such as regular and punctual attendance are not routinely listed in job descriptions, but are an essential function.
https://myips.org/employment/employee-benefits-and-resources/
