School Social Worker - Minnesota Connections Academy

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Minnesota Connections Academy is seeking a full-time School Social Worker onsite in Saint Paul to support K-12 online students, with dropout prevention as a primary objective. You’ll strengthen home, school, and community partnerships, connect families to resources, participate in IEP teams, deliver virtual social work services, and help develop crisis prevention plans while ensuring compliant incident reporting and up-to-date knowledge of Minnesota regulations. Requirements include a Master’s in Social Work with ASW PPS or CLSW, experience with at-risk youth (special education preferred), willingness to travel occasionally, and comfort with two-step authentication. Salary starts at $44,000 to $62,000 with benefits. To apply, highlight experience in resource coordination, crisis intervention, regulatory compliance, and collaboration with educators.

School Summary

Minnesota Connections Academy (MNCA) is a tuition-free, online charter school for students in grades K-12 throughout Minnesota. MNCA’s program is operated through a contract with Connections Academy, LLC, to provide the educational program and other services. Connections Academy, a division of Connections Education, is accredited by AdvancED, and MNCA is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.

Position Summary and Responsibilities:

The School Social Worker will promote the academic mission by providing services that strengthen home/school/community partnerships and alleviate barriers to learning. The School Social Worker significantly contributes to the development of a healthy, safe, and caring environment by advancing the understanding of the emotional and social development of children and the influences of family, community, and cultural differences on student successes and by implementing effective intervention strategies. Dropout prevention will be the School Social Worker’s primary objective.

The School Social Worker will be responsible for the successful completion of the following tasks:

• Connect students and families with available community resources to fully develop each person’s individual potential;
• Implement programs for students and families related to interpersonal adjustment issues;
• Work with school teams to identify and help families access school and community resources, in order to remove barriers to attendance and academic success;
• Participate in the development of crisis prevention and management plans for the school
• Coordinate with teachers to help identify students who are “at risk” or “in crisis”;
• Act as the main point of contact for these students and families, communicating regularly with them;
• Report and refer critical incidents that jeopardize student well-being as obligated by law, administrative regulations, or ethical standards;
• Stay abreast of all state regulations relating to incident reporting and documentation;  
• Support professional development activities for teachers and school staff members;
• Attend trainings regarding child abuse and neglect, homelessness, foster care and other social work issues while also training staff on issues related to student safety and child welfare;
• Work as part of the IEP team to develop social goals and provide virtual social work services to help the student reach these goals; and
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Master’s Degree in Social Work required; ASW with PPS or CLSW required
• Experience and demonstrated interest in working with at-risk youth
• Experience with Special Education preferred
• Candidates should have knowledge and familiarity with specific Minnesota resources and agencies that will assist in the healthy social, mental, and academic development of students and families
• Willingness to travel on occasion for school events (may require occasional overnight travel)
• Please note 2-step authentication is required to set-up to login to all systems if given a job offer.

Note: The anticipated starting salary range for individuals expressing interest in this position begins at $44,000-$62,000 per year. Benefits available to eligible employees can be seen at Career Benefits - Connections Academy