Position Title: Social Worker

Term of Employment: 10 month

Reports To: Executive Director of Student Services and Athletics

Pay Information: State Salary Scale + local supplement

General Statement of Job

Promotes maximum development of all students by prevention/alleviation of problems that interfere

with the tasks of learning through knowledge of human behavior, social systems and social work

skills. May supervise professionals, social work interns, paraprofessionals, and clerical staff.

Reports to Supervisor of Social Services.

Essential Job Functions

• Intervene, using social work methods, in situations affecting student educational progress.  
• Provide crisis intervention services.  
• Assist families with interpretation of school policies and procedures.  
• Provide appropriate services/referrals for homeless families.  
• Work with students and families to identify steps that promote school attendance. 
• Investigate, as prescribed by law, violators of the compulsory attendance law. 
• Strengthen home, school, and community connections by identifying essential components to create learning environments for students.  
• Participate in case conferences with student services personnel.  
• Collaborate with community agencies.  
• Assess the school and community needs.  
• Implement appropriate programs, groups and initiatives that target at-risk populations.  
• Plan individual school and system-wide programs to promote a positive and caring climate. 
• Ensure students’ educational, social, emotional, and physical needs are met in accordance with established laws and regulations.  
• Utilize skills that respect issues of cultural and ethnic diversity and equity for every student and family.  Address child abuse and neglect, family functioning, parent involvement, school attendance. 
• Maintain working relationships with students/families, staff, administrators, and community agency staff.  
• Adhere to the values and ethics of the social work profession.  
• Organize time and workload to meet the needs of students in assigned schools.  
• Maintain accurate case records and documentation.  Understand and practice in accordance with federal, state, and local laws, and/or policies that relate to students and families. 
• Determine how community resources may be beneficial to student, family, and family’s involvement in the academic process.  
• Perform other professional responsibilities as assigned by the supervisor.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Extensive knowledge of human behavior, social systems and social work skills.
• Understanding of how trauma impacts students, families, and systems.  
• Excellent rapport building and advocacy skills.  
• General knowledge of the principles of organization and administration. 
• General knowledge of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.  
• Skill in counseling, motivating students and talking with parents. 
• Ability to manage culturally sensitive topics. 
• Ability to coordinate the efforts of support services personnel and outside agencies.  
• Ability to maintain complete and accurate records and statistics and to develop meaningful reports from that information.

Minimum Training and Experience

• BA or Master’s Degree in Social Work from a CSW (Council on Social Work) accredited University.
• Must be licensed in the State of North Carolina in social work, counseling or in a related teaching area. Must be eligible or possess Social Work Certification.

Minimum Qualifications or Standards Required to Perform Essential Job Functions

• Physical Requirements: Must be physically able to operate a variety of equipment includingcomputers, copies, etc. Must be physically able to operate a motor vehicle. Must be able to exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to lift, carry, push, and pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Light work usually requires walking or standing to a significant degree.
• Data Conception: Requires the ability to compare and/or judge the readily observable, functional, structural or composite characteristics (whether similar or divergent from obvious standards) of data, people or things.
• Interpersonal Communication: Requires the ability to speak and/or signal people to convey or exchange information. Includes receiving instructions, assignments or directions to subordinates or assistants.
• Language Ability: Requires the ability to read a variety of correspondence, reports, forms, articles, proposals, contracts, etc. Requires the ability to prepare correspondence, reports, forms, evaluations, contracts, policies, handbooks, budgets, etc., using prescribed formats and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style. Requires the ability to speak before groups of people with poise, voice control and confidence.
• Intelligence: Requires the ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions; to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagrammatic form; and to deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
• Verbal Aptitude: Requires the ability to record and deliver information, to explain procedures, to give oral and written instructions. Must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in a variety of technical or professional languages including educational and legal terminology.
• Numerical Aptitude: Requires the ability to utilize mathematical formulas; to add and subtract; multiply and divide; utilize decimals and percentages; and to apply the principles of descriptive statistics, statistical inference and statistical theory.
• Form/Spatial Aptitude: Requires the ability to inspect items for proper length, width and shape.
• Motor Coordination: Requires the ability to coordinate hands and eyes rapidly and accurately in using office equipment.
• Manual Dexterity: Requires the ability to handle a variety of items such as office equipment and hand tools. Must have minimal levels of eye/hand/foot coordination.
• Color Discrimination: Does not require the ability to differentiate between colors and shades of color.
• Interpersonal Temperament: Requires the ability to deal with people beyond giving and receiving instructions. Must be adaptable to performing under stress and when confronted with emergency situations.
• Physical Communication: Requires the ability to talk and hear: (Talking: expressing or exchanging ideas by means of spoken words. Hearing: perceiving nature of sounds by ear.) Must be able to communicate via telephone.

Disclaimer

The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to this job.