McKinney-Vento Administrative Specialist

SUMMARY OF ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS :

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.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following :

• 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.

Qualifications : To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to carry out each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and / or ability needed to successfully perform the functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and / or Experience : 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.

Competencies : To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following :

Language Skills : Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, short correspondence and memos. Ability to write simple correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to customers, clients, and other employees of the organization.

Mathematical Skills : Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

Reasoning Ability : Ability to apply common sense and understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations : None.

Supervisory Responsibilities : None.

Physical Demands : The physical demands 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 enable an individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle or feel. The employee frequently is required to talk and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, 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, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment : The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.