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 across our 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. Over the next three years (2023-2026), we are committed to the work outlined by the four core priorities in our strategic plan : 1) Elevate Learning; 2) Empower Educators; 3) Center Belonging; and 4) Strengthen Our Foundation. 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. Applicants who have experience working in urban schools and settings and are bilingual are strongly encouraged to apply.
What You’ll Do
An ideal Library & Digital Learning Specialist in Salem’s elementary schools will create and manage a learning commons that is the “heart of the school”, where students, educators, and members of the community will feel welcome and inspired to commune, collaborate, and acquire and create new knowledge. This candidate will perform the duties of a librarian, a PreK-5 technology teacher, and an instructional technology consultant, all towards ensuring that students have the skills to safely and independently access information and content without barriers but with healthy skepticism. With the guidance of their Library/Digital Learning Specialist, these students will learn to see their world with diverse lenses, learn to work harmoniously and productively with others, and create new and significant knowledge within both print and digital environments.
Role Responsibilities
- Teaching and Learning
- Inspire a love of reading and lifelong learning.
- Model, promote, and instruct in the ethical use of information (copyright law) and the importance of safe and responsible use of technology.
- Collaborate with educators in the instructional process by planning engaging and challenging lessons and assignments that lead to the effective use of print and digital library resources.
- Collaborate with educators to design, teach, and assess learning that incorporates project-based learning, information literacies in different formats, critical thinking, and self-assessment.
- Promote the use of online databases while providing research skills instruction in the effective and ethical use of these and other resources by students and educators.
- Design and facilitate educator trainings on subjects and tools that support student learning.
- Collection Development and Information Access
- Develop a collections curation plan that provides content that is relevant to the curriculum and aligns to the district/school mission and values
- Research, review, maintain, and promote use of digital databases
- Assist educators in the selection of books and other instructional materials; proactively build materials collections that support instruction
- Catalog all print and digital resources using the district/school’s library system, and provide instruction to educators and students in its use for both academic and recreational use
- Program Administration and Library Management
- Create the “heart of the school” with a welcoming, student-centered, flexible learning commons environment that supports a variety of collaborative, creative learning opportunities and social activities
- Host, facilitate and collaborate with faculty colleagues to offer a variety of diverse cultural and learning opportunities
- Maintain the school library’s online presence, including webpage and other online resources
- Promote and highlight activity in the learning commons using digital platforms
- Under the guidance of the Director of Digital Learning, prepare and manage the school’s library budget
- Technology
- Provide direct assistance and support with technological tools and resources to students and educators.
- Perform basic troubleshooting and repair on student Chromebooks
- Manage an intake and redeployment system technology support in conjunction with the school’s Technology Support Analyst
- Maintain an accurate inventory of Chromebooks for each classroom
- Perform technical training in both 1:1 and whole staff scenarios
- Collaborate with educators and staff to assist with and support best practices in the use of the instructional technology.
- Leadership and Professional Practice
- Stay current in professional practices and educational research and maintain active professional memberships.
- Collect and analyze data to improve instruction and the quality of collections.
- Maintain reputable and innovative resources for continued professional growth
- Additional duties as assigned
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 failure, using mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback.
Job Requirements
- Bachelor’s Degree Required; Master’s Degree preferred
- Required Massachusetts certification as a Library Media Specialist
- Massachusetts teaching certification/licensure in Technology Integration Specialist (all grades) or in the process of licensure a plus
- Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement (Required within 1-year of start date)
- Ability to meet the expectations of the Massachusetts Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice
- Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) proficiency a plus
- Bilingual candidates and candidates of color strongly encouraged to apply
- Current authorization to work in the United States
Work Year: Teachers in Salem Public Schools work a 185 day school year (180 student contact days plus 5 professional development days. Please visit www.salemk12.org to view the 2023-24 district and/or school calendar.
Salary: Teacher salaries in the Salem Public Schools are determined by the Salem Teachers Union collective bargaining agreement . Salary information can be found in Appendix A. Use our new Salem Teacher Salary estimator here .
Benefits: The City of Salem offers Group Insurance Commission (GIC) benefits to all full-time employees. Click here for more information about our health benefits.
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.