Certificated Vacancy
The West Seneca Central School District is seeking a dynamic, visionary, and student-centered Lead School Counselor to help spearhead, grow, and manage the District Alternative Learning Center (ALC) High School Program located at East Senior High School.
The successful candidate will work hand-in-hand with the program administrator, instructional staff, and leadership teams at both district high schools to build a supportive academic program. This pivotal role combines direct student counseling and emotional learning support with critical administrative leadership, including playing point on student recommendations, managing the application and student onboarding processes to the program while maintaining effective ongoing communication between both high school teams, parents and guardians.
Salary and benefits are paid according to the West Seneca Teachers' Association collective bargaining agreement and commensurate with experience.
Key Duties & Responsibilities:
- Proactively work with both high school PPS teams to encourage prosocial and restorative practices; behaviors and building-wide initiatives.
- Work with program administrator to address student and parent/guardian concerns and arrange conferences with parents/guardians as necessary.
- Liaison between building principals and district initiatives.
- Collaborate with program administrator for effective parent outreach and communication to families.
- Facilitate/ coordinate programs and events.
- Partner with PPS teams and clerks to review attendance processes, letters, home visits, etc.
Program Growth, Vetting & Admissions Leadership
- Admissions & Onboarding Lead: Work collaboratively with program administrator and high school teams to review new student recommendations for the ALC program; manage the end-to-end student application, screening, and onboarding processes.
- Program Strategy & Scaling: Collaborate directly with the program administrator, instructional team, and building leaders at both high schools to create a safe and supportive learning environment and strategically grow and scale the ALC program.
- Transition Coordination: Facilitate and coordinate seamless transitions for students entering or exiting the ALC program, ensuring aligned academic and emotional tracking between both district high schools.
Academic & Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS)
- Graduation Pathways Expert: Maintain a deep, updated understanding of evolving New York State graduation requirements to ensure all ALC students are accurately tracked toward timely graduation.
- MTSS/RTI Core Member: Serve as a foundational member of the MTSS/RTI team, leading data collection, analysis, and discussions to design targeted academic and behavioral interventions for students in the program and other students that may be recommended for the program.
- Data-Driven Practice: Participate in building-based and district staff development days to analyze and distribute progress metrics regarding ALC student performance.
Social-Emotional Learning & Restorative Culture
- Therapeutic Support: Provide direct short-term counseling, crisis intervention, and robust social-emotional learning (SEL) support tailored to high school students in an alternative setting. Instruct SEL lessons to address specific student needs.
- Trauma-Informed & Restorative Frameworks: Proactively model and implement trauma-informed care and restorative practices to cultivate a safe, inclusive, and positive program culture.
- Behavioral Consultation: Facilitate and coordinate consultation meetings with high school teams, teachers, and other specialists, translating recommendations into actionable program strategies through coaching and modeling for students and the instructional team (this may include outside practitioners and resources).
Collaboration & Stakeholder Outreach
- Parent & Community Partnership: Lead proactive outreach, arrange conferences, and maintain open, supportive lines of communication with parents/guardians regarding student progress and attendance.
- Dual-High School Liaison: Act as a critical bridge between the ALC program, East Senior High School staff, and West Senior High School teams to ensure district-wide equity and collaboration.
- Administrative Liaison: Serve as a key liaison between all stakeholders: the program staff, building principals, and district leadership. Act as head liaison for the program.
- Operational Support: Assist with program scheduling (daily class configurations, testing, and student schedules) and general supervision needs as required to ensure safety, stability and compliance with local and state exams, high school graduation requirements and the changing NYS Pathways.
Reports to: Designated Program Administrator and Building Principal