The WISD's Mission is to educate, serve, and advocate with students, families, schools, and the community. We disrupt racial inequities, build just educational systems, and expand access for all learners. We value human potential while striving to support current and future generations of Washtenaw County to enrich as many lives as we possibly can.

The WISD’s Vision is to be a leader in empowering, facilitating, and delivering high-quality, boundary-spanning, educational system that educates all children through an equitable, inclusive, and holistic approach.

SUMMARY:
The Family and Community Partnerships position of the Head Start program is an integral part of the larger system of services provided by Head Start and supports the goals of the program in many ways. This position is responsible for oversight and development of systems to provide opportunities for and support the growth of Head Start families so they may identify their own strengths, needs and interests; that they may find their own solutions.

Developing a parent and community volunteer program and developing relationships with community partners, to whom families can be referred for services, is a key function of this position. This position is responsible for ensuring Family and Community Partnership services are supported by staff and/or consultants with training and experience in field(s) related to social, human, or family services. The Family and Community Partnership Specialist role oversees and manages the area of Program Governance for the Head Start program including supporting the Parent Policy Council. The position is responsible for collaborating on the development and implementation of the program, tracking and recordkeeping, community relations and outreach.

May be assigned a caseload of families based on program needs. Caseload will be no more than 25 families.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Demonstrates a strong commitment to equity, social justice, and inclusion in all practices and position responsibilities.
Demonstrates the ability to examine how his/her/their position (directly or indirectly) impacts educational inequities in student achievement outcomes.
Engages in reflection and ongoing learning and development on critical concepts and terms identified in the Washtenaw ISD Educational Equity Policy including concepts such as cultural proficiency, racial equity, and systemic and structural inequities.
Establishes policies and procedures for the family and community partnership portion of the program that supports the effective implementation of services to families.
Keeps up-to-date and informed of Head Start Program Performance Standards and related regulations, with specific knowledge of Family and Community Partnerships.
Develops a system for the provision of case management and referral for social services to Head Start families in cooperation with other social services, health and mental health agencies and providers through community partnership agreements.
Develops and implements a plan and system of continuous monitoring and evaluation to ensure that policies and procedures are being followed and that programs address families’ needs.
Maintains system of direct services that includes the Family Partnership Agreement process, case management process, and referral and follow-up activities.
Ensures that the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework is understood and followed by staff.
Establishes relationships with community partners and identifies resources that can be made available to families.
Initiates and tracks community partnership agreements.
Establishes partnerships and connections to local universities and community colleges.
Collaborates with coordinators and assists with facilitates meetings and events to address the collective training needs of the family services staff and home visiting staff.
Meets with Family Support Specialist staff monthly.
Coordinates and facilitates monthly Policy Council meetings.
Works with the managers, specialists, coordinators, and directors to maintain the child tracking system, which includes implementation of family partnership agreements and the tracking of referrals, individual contacts, and follow-ups (Child Plus).
Provides reports and documents to Head Start Policy Council and supports the Policy Council Chair in the facilitation of meetings.
Monitors Policy Council attendance and representation from sites.
Attends and supports Parent Policy Committee work/meetings at sites.
Attends community networks and other community organization meetings for the purpose of sharing information and establishing linkages.
Assists managers, specialists, coordinators, directors, and teaching staff with transition of Head Start children to kindergarten, and children transitioning into Head Start.
Designs, implements, and monitors volunteer programs to include the recruitment and orientation of parent and community volunteers for the program.
Supports the site directors and classroom staff in ensuring Parent Committee activities and Family Nights are coordinated and offered monthly.
Submits verbal and/or written reports on monitoring and follow up to supervisor and/or Program Director on the area activities and status as needed.
Assists the staff person responsible to track data and provide accurate information for the annual Program Information Report (PIR) as well as for monthly reports.
Works in collaboration with the Health Specialist to establish a system for providing health and nutrition education to families through workshops, parent meetings, handouts, etc.
Provides resource information to staff and families on an as-needed basis.
Assists in providing current information for the Community Resource Guide.
Provides direct Family Support Specialist services to partner programs as needed.
Maintains regular and predicable attendance.
OTHER RELATED DUTIES MAY BE ASSIGNED.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

N/A

QUALIFICATIONS:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Alternative requirements that may be appropriate and acceptable to the Board of Education may be considered. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

REQUIRED:

Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood, Social Work or related field is required.
Three (3) years or more of relevant experience in early childhood, social work or a related field is required.
Three (3) years or more experience with Head Start is required.

PREFERRED:

Bilingual is preferred

LANGUAGE SKILLS:

Demonstrates ability to communicate ideas and instructions orally and in writing.
Demonstrates ability to communicate clearly and concisely both in oral and written form.
Demonstrates ability to write reports and business correspondence.
Demonstrates ability to read, analyze, and interpret general social services related to journals and technical procedures.
Demonstrates ability to speak before groups of individuals

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Demonstrates ability to work with computer programs as they relate to program responsibilities.
Demonstrates ability to follow data collection to support program goals.
Demonstrates ability to accurately use district-wide electronic reporting systems (Child Plus, MICR, Power-school).
Demonstrates ability to use a personal computer (PC) in a networked environment to utilize the internet and other electronic communications mechanisms, such as email conferencing or messaging boards, perform research and data management.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS:

Demonstrates ability to work within the contractual budget.
Demonstrates ability to calculate figures and amounts such as percentages.
Demonstrates ability to produce and interpret graphs, charts, spreadsheets, and other mathematical reports.

REASONING ABILITY:

Demonstrates ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
Demonstrates ability to interpret an extensive variety of instructions.
Demonstrates ability to summarize conclusions and instructions, then make recommendations and develop implementation strategies.
Demonstrates ability to perform duties with awareness of all district requirements and Board of Education policies.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS:

Demonstrates ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with children, families, and the community.
Demonstrates ability to build rapport with others and to serve diverse publics.
Demonstrates ability to take initiative; work well with others as a collaborative team member and exhibit good communication skills.
Demonstrates ability to work effectively and collaboratively with other departments, agencies, and individuals.

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 accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:

Stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; talk or hear.
Travel by car, bus, airplane, or train associated with attendance at conferences, meetings, and other duties carried out at distant locations in and out of state and in some cases where overnight travel may be required.
May be required to lift up to 25 pounds.
Some exposure to communicable diseases.
Noise level in work environment may be moderate to loud.
Work is generally performed in a classroom setting or in an office environment, involving face-to-face communication.
Some evenings and weekend work is required for events such as home visits, parent-teacher conferences, Parent Committee meetings, Family Nights, socializations and other Head Start/Early Head Start activities including social and community activities.

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

The noise level in the work environment is quiet to loud depending upon the activity in the particular part of the day. The employee may be required to be outdoors for periods of time, and therefore subject to varying weather conditions, for purposes of accomplishing the essential functions of this job.

FUNCTIONS OF POSITION DESCRIPTION:
This position description has been prepared to define the general duties of the position, provide examples of work and to detail the required knowledge, skills and ability as well as the acceptable experience and training for the position. The description is not intended to limit or modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct and control the duties of employees under supervision. The WISD retains and reserves any and all rights to change, modify, amend, add to or delete from any portion of this description in its sole judgment.

This position description is not a contract for employment.

The WISD is an equal opportunity employer, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The District will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

TERMS:
Salary and other employment conditions to be established by the Board of Education as reflected in the Non-Affiliated and Early Childhood Personnel 2025-2028 Manual. Starting Salary ranging from (dependent upon experience) $50,322 - $61,857.

The WISD is an equal opportunity employer, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The District will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and will encourage both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.

Washtenaw Intermediate School District is a drug-free workplace.

It is the policy and commitment of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, age, height, weight, familial status, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation or any legally protected characteristic, in its educational programs, activities, admissions, or employment policies in accordance with Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments, executive order 11246 as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and all other pertinent state and Federal regulations.

Family and Community Partnerships Specialist