Position Overview:

The Area Coordinator is responsible for the management and oversight of two early childhood classrooms and an assigned outdoor area at the University Child Development Center (UMCDC). This position models and demonstrates best practices, teaching approaches, strategies and methods with young children and  coaches teaching staff, student childcare workers, and practicum students. The Area Coordinator provides ongoing assessment of the classrooms, the teaching staff and play yard.  The Area Coordinator ensures full compliance with MN DHS licensing (Rule 3) statutes, MN Dept. of Education regulations, NAEYC accreditation standards, OSHA, USDA, and ADA/IDEA federal requirements applicable to the program and their classrooms.

This position monitors and oversees the development and implementation of classroom emergent curriculum, evaluates and supervises all teaching staff in the assigned classrooms, the scheduling and time management of the bungalow, including assessments and conferences of the children.  

Job Responsibilities:

Teaching Oversight and Implementation (40%)

• Routinely observe, provides feedback, and reflective supervision to support and lead the teaching staff.
• Provide a bridge of communication and content from the director and/or education coordinator to the staff.
• Develop and implement coaching plans that interface with UMCDC’s program plans and performance appraisal goals of teachers to ensure appropriate and effective delivery of emergent curriculum, documentation, guidance and teaching methods/processes.
• Oversee and incorporate early childhood best practices for children in the classrooms, foyer, flex, multi-purpose room and outdoor spaces to ensure activities and components are established for inter-active conversations and activities, are richly diverse, multi layered, sensory and offer exploration, exercise problem solving across domains, in motor, language, cognitive activities and social emotional development.  
• Model and demonstrate best practices with children, bridges professional development from initial orientation to ongoing training content to assigned classrooms, the Flex, and Multi-Purpose rooms and outdoors in the play yard to bungalow teaching staff, CCWs, and practicum students.
• Ability to lead a Bungalow and work collaboratively with colleagues using program and University techniques to resolve conflict, and to respect the diverse and global community of this University setting of families & children and its mission.
• Observe, identify, and document children’s challenging behavior(s) and/or special needs.  Shows and has oversight to ensure assessments enhance curriculum and individualize where needed.  Routinely monitor classroom implementation of IFSP’s or IEP’s and report concerns to the UMCDC Administration.  Fully support ADA/IDEA and the UMCDC Resource & Referral practices and policies.    Ability to work with families on these issues.
• Develop strategies in consultation with the parents, teaching staff, education coordinator, MN Help Me Grow and/or the appropriate “Service Provider” school districts, to oversee strategies implementation that address behavior and/or developmental concerns; and carry out IEPs and/or IFSPs and communicates need to update.  Joins conferences related to these.
• Read, bridge and implement content and practices from readings (assigned) and with direction from UMCDC Director and supervision of the Education Coordinator.
• Take initiative to bridge and implement content from professional development plan and trainings into the classrooms, play yards and other UMCDC areas to teaching staff to include modeling, demonstrating, reviewing, reflective supervision, coaching and to extend from where teaching staff is.
• Assist in the parent consent process with IRB approved projects through dialoguing with the parents, supporting and explaining the project, and answering questions. Provide support for children and track them when research projects are underway
• Communicate routinely with the Administration staff, Education Coordinator and Director as needed, implements message consonance with teaching staff, and parents in regard to UMCDC and University policies, practices and procedures.

Bungalow Management (40%)

• Develop and implement the weekly staff schedule to ensure requisite staff to child ratios (consisting of teachers, assistant teachers, and childcare workers) in each assigned classroom, per mandated licensing and NAEYC accreditation standards, accounting for planned and unplanned absences, while adhering to acceptable range of work hours permitted as per contract and office time.
• Develop and implement the daily staff schedule to provide scheduled staff breaks, office/admin time for assessment, curriculum development and documentation while maintaining state required staff to child ratios in each assigned classroom and adhering to University policies and work rules.
• Create agenda for bungalow and implementing all Staff Development Days Bungalow agenda (8 days per year), to meet requisites of Minnesota DHS Licensing, MDE, and NAEYC accreditation and ethics.
• Provide ongoing daily feedback in child development, leads in-service training for student workers each semester. Maintain compliance with FERPA guidelines in regard to students.
• Adhere to and apply UMCDC’s Minnesota state mandated “Risk Reduction” plan (annually and as needed) to take preventive measures. Inspect materials, furniture, play equipment for regular maintenance, and repair to ensure a healthy, safe, comfortable and attractive environment for children and staff and report into UMCDC work order log.
• Perform daily health and safety checks for all indoor and outdoor environments, as assigned.
• Schedule and deliver Bungalow intake to new families enrolling to UMCDC’s services and get family input information from the “Family Intake Form”, explain the assessment plan, conferences, and the parent input form.
• Communicate with parents while ensuring consonance with UMCDC’s policies and procedures, through building an effective relationship with parents as partners and knowing and implementing the Parent Handbook.
• Schedule and oversee for timely management of staff to complete 60-day and biyearly assessments parent-teacher conferences to meet guidelines.

Compliance (10%)

• Create the weekly summary report of staffing schedule, demonstrating the actual versus projected staff and hours worked to maintain hours allotted within a week for budget purposes. 
• Record, maintain and track staff professional development days, for hours of in-service or CEU’s as per licensure DHS and MDE requirements licensure requirements.
• Maintain, model and demonstrate full daily compliance with NAEYC Accreditation, Minnesota DHS Licensing, MN Department of Education, US Department of Agriculture, ADA/IDEA, retain all applicable paperwork, portfolios, and documentation.
• Attend weekly Area Coordinator meetings, Staff Development Days, teaching staff meetings for training, bridging of content, and leading in the implementation in the assigned classrooms for quality assurance.  Takes direction from the Director and/or Education Coordinator).

Supervision (10%)

• Full supervisory authority for 4 full time teaching staff and 5-12 U of M undergraduate student childcare workers.  Monitoring of ICD students in the Bungalow, and play yard.
• Provide classroom orientation, ongoing feedback, reflective supervision and support to assigned teaching staff and CCW’s as applicable to Bungalow classrooms and other assigned areas, following the UMCDC Orientation Guidelines for teaching staff and CCW’s.
• Supervisory monitoring and implementation of UMCDC timelines as required e.g. in regard to NAEYC accreditation, MN DHS Licensing, labor contracts, reports, assessments, resource and referral and conferences.
• Complete and deliver timely employee performance and probationary evaluations; coach and issue disciplinary action when warranted, following U of M progressive management.
• Plan agenda and lead weekly team meetings to bridge, and monitor content to practice, to provide information, ensure message consonance, review compliance and other updates, procedural changes, expectations, and professionalism.
• Align conduct and supervise as per University policies, (e.g. FERPA and Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action) practices, employee work rules, professionalism and employee group governing documents.