After-School Program Staff Lead (Arts & Crafts)

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nDescription:\nAbout EduCare Foundation\n\nAt EduCare Foundation, we believe that love is the foundation of education and that every young person deserves the opportunity to learn, lead, and thrive.\n\nThrough expanded learning, academic enrichment, social-emotional learning, and student-support programs, we partner with schools and communities across Los Angeles County to help young people build confidence, discover their strengths, and reach their full potential.\n\nOur mission is to inspire and empower young people to become responsible global citizens, courageous and compassionate leaders, and to live their dreams. Guided by our Heartset® Education approach, our employees create safe, caring, and engaging spaces where students feel seen, supported, and inspired.\n\nWhen you join EduCare, you are not simply accepting a job—you are becoming part of a mission-driven community committed to shaping brighter futures.\n\nPosition Summary\n\nThe After-School Program Staff Lead helps bring EduCare Foundation’s mission to life by supporting the daily operation of a safe, organized, engaging, and student-centered middle school after-school program.\n\nWorking closely with the Site Coordinator, the Staff Lead combines direct student programming with administrative support and day-to-day staff guidance. This position generally dedicates approximately two hours each workday to office, attendance, compliance, and program-support responsibilities while also facilitating academic, enrichment, or physical-recreation activities for students.\n\nThe Staff Lead serves as a dependable resource for students, families, school personnel, and program employees. The position receives training to provide temporary school-site coverage when the Site Coordinator is absent and helps ensure that program expectations, safety requirements, and EduCare procedures are followed consistently.\n\nWhy Join EduCare?\n\nAs an After-School Program Staff Lead, you will have the opportunity to expand your leadership skills while continuing to work directly with young people. You will help create the organization, consistency, and caring relationships that allow students and after-school programs to thrive.\n\nIn this role, you will have the opportunity to:\n\n Make a meaningful difference in the lives of middle school students.\n Lead engaging academic, enrichment, and physical-recreation activities.\n Serve as a mentor and positive role model for students.\n Develop practical experience in staff leadership, school-site administration, compliance, and program operations.\n Help create a safe and welcoming environment where students feel connected and supported.\n Strengthen your skills through training, coaching, collaboration, and professional development.\n Prepare for future advancement into school-site or expanded-learning leadership roles.\n Work alongside colleagues who believe in leading with empathy, integrity, and heart.\n\nIf you are dependable, organized, compassionate, and ready to grow as a leader while remaining connected to students, we would love to learn more about you.\n\nWhat You’ll Do\n\nIn this role, you will combine student engagement, program facilitation, administrative support, and day-to-day staff leadership. Your primary responsibilities will include:\n\nSite Administration and Compliance\n\n Support the Site Coordinator with the daily administration and operation of the assigned after-school program.\n Dedicate approximately two hours each workday to assigned office, administrative, attendance, compliance, and program-support responsibilities.\n Collect, review, enter, and maintain accurate attendance, incident, registration, and other required program records.\n Ensure required documentation is complete, organized, and submitted by established deadlines.\n Support student sign-in and sign-out procedures and promptly address or report attendance discrepancies.\n Help maintain program calendars, schedules, rosters, activity plans, and other school-site documents.\n Monitor program supplies and equipment and ensure materials are properly organized, stored, and maintained.\n Promptly report missing, damaged, or malfunctioning supplies and equipment to the Site Coordinator.\n Follow applicable grant requirements and all EduCare, school-site, and district policies and procedures.\n Protect confidential student, family, and employee information.\n\nStaff Leadership and Program Support\n\n Provide day-to-day guidance and support to assigned frontline employees under the direction of the Site Coordinator.\n Help employees understand daily assignments, schedules, program expectations, safety procedures, and documentation requirements.\n Monitor program implementation and communicate observations, successes, concerns, and support needs to the Site Coordinator.\n Reinforce consistent adherence to EduCare, school-site, district, grant, and program requirements.\n Support positive teamwork, communication, accountability, and collaboration among school-site employees.\n Assist employees with questions and routine program challenges within the scope of the position.\n Promptly refer significant employee-performance, conduct, safety, or compliance concerns to the Site Coordinator or other appropriate leader.\n Help identify opportunities to strengthen student engagement, program quality, and school-site operations.\n Support adjustments to activities, schedules, staffing assignments, and program processes as directed.\n\nTemporary Site Coverage\n\n Complete assigned training to provide temporary school-site coverage when the Site Coordinator is absent.\n Help coordinate daily program operations, employee assignments, attendance, student supervision, communication, and safety procedures during temporary coverage.\n Serve as a point of contact for employees, students, families, and school personnel within the authority delegated by program leadership.\n Promptly communicate significant student, employee, safety, compliance, or operational concerns to the appropriate program leader.\n Document and communicate important activities, decisions, incidents, and follow-up needs to the Site Coordinator or designated supervisor.\n Recognize the limits of delegated authority and seek leadership guidance when a situation requires approval or escalation.\n\nProgram Facilitation and Student Engagement\n\n Develop and facilitate engaging, age-appropriate academic, enrichment, and physical-recreation activities.\n Prepare and maintain activity or lesson plans for assigned programs.\n Provide students with clear instructions, guidance, encouragement, and constructive feedback.\n Build meaningful relationships with students and serve as a positive mentor and role model.\n Encourage students to explore their interests, develop new skills, build confidence, and participate fully.\n Promote creativity, self-expression, teamwork, leadership, positive relationships, and social-emotional development.\n Maintain active supervision of students during programs, events, transitions, and field trips.\n Establish and consistently reinforce appropriate behavioral and safety expectations.\n Respond appropriately to student needs and promptly report behavioral, safety, attendance, or program concerns requiring additional support.\n Adjust activities based on students’ ages, abilities, needs, interests, participation, and feedback.\n\nFamily, School, and Community Communication\n\n Communicate professionally and respectfully with students, parents and guardians, school administrators, school-site employees, district representatives, community partners, and EduCare employees.\n Provide families with appropriate program updates and refer sensitive, confidential, or escalated concerns to the Site Coordinator.\n Coordinate with school personnel to support smooth program operations and alignment with school-site expectations.\n Build collaborative relationships that strengthen student participation, family engagement, and program quality.\n Represent EduCare Foundation professionally in all school-site and community interactions.\n\nProgram Quality and Safety\n\n Help monitor program effectiveness, student participation, and activity quality.\n Share observations and recommendations with the Site Coordinator and support approved program improvements.\n Participate in required program observations, emergency drills, meetings, training sessions, coaching, and professional-development activities.\n Help maintain a physically and emotionally safe, inclusive, organized, and welcoming program environment.\n Follow and reinforce all EduCare, school-site, and district safety and security procedures.\n Promptly report incidents, injuries, hazards, suspected policy violations, or unsafe conditions.\n Use program equipment, technology, and materials responsibly.\n Perform other related duties and projects as assigned.\n\nSupervisory Responsibilities\n\nThe After-School Program Staff Lead provides day-to-day work direction, guidance, and support to frontline employees under the supervision of the Site Coordinator. The Staff Lead may coordinate assignments, reinforce procedures, monitor program implementation, and provide temporary site coverage when authorized.\n\nUnless specifically delegated in writing, this position does not independently hire, terminate, discipline, evaluate, or make compensation decisions regarding employees. Formal employment decisions remain the responsibility of designated management and Human Resources.\n\nThe Staff Lead is also responsible for actively supervising, mentoring, and supporting students during after-school programs, activities, events, transitions, and field trips.\n\nAdditional Responsibilities\n\nThe duties listed above describe the primary responsibilities of the position but are not intended to be an exhaustive list. The After-School Program Staff Lead may perform other related duties and projects as assigned to support students, employees, the school community, and EduCare Foundation’s mission.Requirements:\nWhat You’ll Bring\n\nWe are looking for a dependable, organized, and compassionate emerging leader who believes in the potential of every young person. The ideal candidate has experience working directly with students, earns the trust of colleagues, communicates clearly, and can balance program facilitation with administrative, compliance, and day-to-day leadership responsibilities.\n\nRequired Qualifications\n\nEducation\n\n High school diploma or equivalent.\n Must meet any educational or instructional-aide requirements established by the assigned school district, grant, or program.\n An associate degree, completion of at least two years of college-level coursework, or progress toward a degree in education, child development, recreation, social sciences, or a related field is preferred.\n\nExperience\n\n At least two years of experience working in an after-school, youth-development, educational, recreation, or community-based program.\n Experience teaching, facilitating, mentoring, or supporting middle school students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.\n Experience developing and facilitating academic, enrichment, or physical-recreation activities.\n Experience providing day-to-day guidance, training, peer leadership, or support to other employees is preferred.\n Administrative, attendance-tracking, compliance, data-entry, scheduling, or recordkeeping experience is preferred.\n Experience supporting program events, field trips, family communication, or school-site operations is preferred.\n\nKnowledge, Skills, and Abilities\n\n Ability to develop and facilitate engaging, age-appropriate academic, enrichment, and physical-recreation activities.\n Ability to prepare clear and organized activity or lesson plans.\n Ability to build meaningful relationships with students and contribute to a safe, caring, inclusive, and engaging environment.\n Ability to actively supervise students and consistently reinforce behavioral and safety expectations.\n Ability to provide employees with clear day-to-day guidance, instructions, encouragement, and constructive feedback.\n Ability to support team accountability while maintaining positive and respectful working relationships.\n Ability to recognize the limits of the Staff Lead’s authority and refer employee-relations, disciplinary, safety, or compliance concerns to the Site Coordinator or other appropriate leader.\n Strong administrative, organizational, time-management, and recordkeeping skills.\n Ability to collect, review, enter, and maintain accurate attendance, incident, registration, and compliance documentation.\n Strong attention to detail and commitment to completing assignments accurately and on time.\n Strong verbal and written communication skills.\n Ability to communicate with empathy, professionalism, and respect.\n Ability to communicate appropriately with students, families, school personnel, district representatives, community partners, and EduCare employees.\n Ability to provide routine program updates to families while referring sensitive or confidential matters to the Site Coordinator.\n Ability to manage multiple responsibilities, deadlines, interruptions, and changing priorities.\n Ability to remain calm, focused, and solutions-oriented during unexpected situations.\n Ability to understand and follow written, verbal, and electronic instructions.\n Sound judgment, initiative, discretion, and problem-solving skills.\n Ability to work independently while contributing to a collaborative and supportive team.\n Ability to coordinate work and accomplish tasks through employees over whom the Staff Lead may not have formal supervisory authority.\n Ability to receive and apply coaching, feedback, and program direction.\n Ability to adapt to changing schedules, student needs, staffing conditions, program priorities, and school-site assignments.\n Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.\n Proficiency with Google Workspace and shared-document platforms.\n Ability to learn and use databases, attendance-tracking systems, scheduling tools, timekeeping applications, and other workplace technology.\n Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish is preferred.\n\nWhat Success Looks Like at EduCare\n\nLeading with Heart\nApproaches students, families, colleagues, and school communities with empathy, patience, authenticity, and respect. Helps create an environment where people feel seen, heard, valued, and supported.\n\nStudent Connection and Belonging\nBuilds positive relationships with students and encourages participation, creativity, self-expression, confidence, leadership, and social-emotional growth. Recognizes that every interaction is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference.\n\nEmerging Leadership\nLeads by example, earns the trust of students and colleagues, communicates expectations clearly, and supports others in completing their responsibilities successfully.\n\nStaff Guidance and Support\nProvides respectful day-to-day direction, reinforces established procedures, responds appropriately to routine q