Early Childhood - Teacher Assistant/Aide

Job Description

Job Description

About This Role

The Teacher Assistant supports the Teachers and the Director by helping to create a caring and safe environment for the children and assisting in activities to improve the overall care and quality of education. S/he must be able to communicate, listen and work well with others in a team environment. Assisting the staff in implementing a quality educational program and in developing positive relationships with the children and their parents, the Teacher Assistant observes and documents children's interest and progress, and relays that information back to parents and staff. Teacher Assistant are responsible for implementing developmentally appropriate activities based on children's interests and needs under the direction of the Teacher and the Director.

• Assist in the implementation of curricula activities and encourage participation by children.
• Actively engage in activities; manage cleanliness, maintenance, and availability of classroom materials.
• Maintain frequent communications with parents through informal discussions and progress reports.
• Encourage self-help and good hygiene through behavior modeling.
• Help ensure smooth, daily transition from home to child care center.
• Follow all center policies and state regulations.
• Maintain personal professional development plan to ensure continuous quality improvement.

• Minimum of 1-2 years of professional child care experience preferred.
• High energy.
• Ability to work well with others.
• Strong oral and written communication skills and basic computer skills.
• An understanding of child development.
• Excellent leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Infant/child CPR and First Aid certification, SIDS and Abusive Head Trauma training.
• Must clear full background check and must pass health screening.

• All employees who work 38 hours per week are considered Full Time. You may use vacation time and holiday pay to reach the 38 hours and still accumulate full time vacation and personal time benefits on that week. You may use personal time to reach the 38 hours and accumulate full time vacation time on that week, but you do not accumulate personal time benefits on the personal time used for that week.

  Vacation and personal hours begin accumulating at hire, personal hours cannot be used until the probationary period of 60 days is successfully passed and vacation hours cannot be used until 1 year of employment has been achieved. Vacation and personal time will be added to make your payroll check up to 38 hours per week, if you are receiving full-time benefits. You may not take vacation or personal time to add up to more than 80 hours for the payroll period without prior approval. Accrued vacation time, up to 80 hours is payable when an employee leaves after fulfilling a proper two or four week's notice; whichever is required for their position. If the employee is fired or leaves without fulfilling their proper notice, no vacation pay will be paid. Personal time may accumulate to 80 hours maximum and is not payable when an employee leaves. Neither vacation nor personal time may be used for the two or four week's notice of termination of employment.

  Full-time: Benefits such as Health Insurance, Disability, Flexible Spending Accounts, and SIMPLE IRA will be offered to employees who work full-time hours on a regular basis. If you fail to have full-time hours more than 2 weeks in a row, you may lose your benefits.

  The following Holidays are paid at 8 hours to those currently working full-time: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. If the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the day before or after will be the paid holiday. If an employee calls in the day before or the day after a holiday or vacation, they will not be paid for the holiday or the day missed. Exceptions to this will be presented to the Board of Directors for review. Additional holidays may be taken off with advanced notice and personal or vacation time may be used.

  Benefits for hourly and salaried staff

  Funeral time will be paid for immediate family; this includes spouses, children, parents, grandparents, siblings and those of your spouse. You will be paid for the 3 consecutive days and times you are scheduled up to 24 hours.

  A Group Health Insurance policy is available. LLL will pay 55% of the least expensive single premium. Specific information is available upon request.

  Short Term Disability is paid for by LLL for all full-time employees. Based on a medical excuse, short term disability can be paid for up to 3 months.

  Long Term Disability is available . LLL pays for of Long Term Disability if the employee chooses to pay for the other 1/2. Specific information is available upon request. This will become effective when short term disability expires and the medical excuse still exists.

  Leave of Absence - an extended leave of absence will be negotiated on a case by case basis. Reasons may include but not be limited to, birth or adoption of a child, acceptance of a foster child, employee or family member illness, etc. For these reasons, provisions to stay on the current health care plan and to be reassigned to a job with the same rate of pay and benefits as prior to the leave are guaranteed. Those employees filling in for someone's extended leave shall be paid at the higher rate if for example someone in an assistant teacher's position fills in for a teacher's position.

  Enrollment into a SIMPLE IRA is available after being employed at Lakeland's Little Learners for 2 full years and earning at least $5,000 per year. You may contribute 1% or more of your gross income and LLL will match up to 3%. This will be reevaluated yearly.

  Center Closures - The center remains open if at all possible. If the center is forced to close due to inclement weather, fire damage, etc., staff will be paid their full wages during the closure. The center covers for inclement weather; our insurance company covers other closures.

  Salaried Employees

  Paid vacation days will be Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after, winter break and spring break -as spelled out in the Elkhorn School calendar, and Memorial Day. You will not accumulate vacation time during your contracted period. You will, however, accumulate personal time at a rate of 3.69 hours each pay period.

  All Employees

  Vacation Time - Vacation time begins accumulating at hire for all employees at the rate of 1 week for the first year; one additional day per year plus the 1 week is given every year thereafter. For example, if you have been here for 3 years, you will receive one week plus 3 additional days for vacation based on your schedule. Vacation time for employees working less than 38 hours per week is pro-rated based on the number of hours worked during the pay period. Vacation time may be carried over from year to year but may only accumulate to 240 hours. If you would like to request vacation time, it must be written in the black binder in the office. Vacation time is not paid out if the employee is fired or if the employee does not work their two week's notice.

  Personal Time - Personal time begins accumulating at hire at the rate of 1 day per month (pro-rated for those working less than 38 hours per week) and may start to be used after your trial period is up. Personal time may be accumulated up to 80 hours and carried over from year to year. Personal Time is not paid out during the two week notice or after an employee quits. If you would like to request personal time it must be written in the black binder in the office.