ABOUT US
The Primary School is creating a new school model that brings together all of the adults in a child’s life, including parents, educators, and medical and mental health providers, starting from a very early age. We recognize the entrenched racism that exists within our public systems and the unjust impact this has had on families of color. Our aim is that children and families most impacted by systemic poverty and racism receive the multidisciplinary support they deserve to be well, learn, and thrive.
Long-term, we hope to create a game-changing school model that can be replicated across the country. As we continue to learn and grow, we plan to share what we’ve learned and pursue policy and systems change on a local, state, and national level. We are proud to receive funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a major national philanthropy.
Our approach has three defining characteristics:
In 2016, we opened our flagship school in East Palo Alto, California, with our first class of four year olds. We have grown to serve over 300 children and their families through a birth to three program, parent wellness program, full-day preschool, and elementary school, which will grow through eighth grade. In 2021, we opened our second site in the East Bay.
ABOUT OUR EAST PALO ALTO SITE
We are continuing to grow our East Palo Alto site and are excited to launch 5th grade for our 2022-2023 school year. In our school we currently serve ~320 students across two preschool grades (3 and 4 year olds), kindergarten, and first grade through fourth grade. Beyond school, core components of our model include partnering closely with parents throughout their child’s development and supporting parent wellness; coordinating early screening and developmental support; and working with existing health care providers in the community to coordinate care for children.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Given The Primary School’s unique focus on health integration and building a new school model, the school nurse role offers a unique opportunity to leverage unique programs and partnerships to impact student health in a way unlike other school nursing roles in the area. The School Nurse reports to the Executive Director at the EPA campus site and will serve as Manager of the EPA campus health team.
In addition to bringing essential and core school nursing functions to The Primary School EPA campus, the school nurse role will be responsible for leading and implementing health integration programming of The Primary School model. This entails leveraging a school site to bring more accessible health services to campus that prevent and address health barriers to learning, fostering partnerships that help families navigate the health care system, and supporting programs that build life-long health behaviors for our students. The school nurse will bring clinical expertise about the health care needs of children to the leadership role and work in partnerships with the central office Medical Director to design and refine programs that reimagine how well child care, developmental services, and social emotional supports are delivered to support the whole child. Leading this health integration work will require management over a health team, support for the school operations team to respond to school health needs, and then collaborate closely with school teaching teams, parent coaching team, birth-to-three team, and our health care partners at Ravenswood Family Health Center. Finally, in collaboration with our learning and data team, as leader of the site’s health team, the school nurse role will oversee our tracking of annual goals, health outcomes, and improvement processes that build the school models rapid cycle learning and evaluation engine.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Using the National Association of School Nursing’s Framework for 21st Century School Nurses, we outline core responsibilities of this role into five categories at our school site. This framework acknowledges the important responsibilities of the current day school nurse specialty as well as provides guidance for how this unique school nurse role can be a leader of the schools population health by using health integration programming to keep students healthy and ready to learn.
Standards of Practice: Core School Nurse Duties
Leadership: Health Team Manager
Care Coordination
Community Health
Quality Improvement
QUALIFICATIONS
A Plus If
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 position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and communicate with both adults and children. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high.
COMPENSATION
Annual salary range begins at $90,000-$110,000. Compensation is commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent health benefits, 401k retirement plan, flexible spending account (FSA), dependent care FSA, and generous paid time off, including a competitive paid parental leave benefit.
HOW TO APPLY
TPS values diversity; people of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Please complete the online application and submit your most recent resume. These short-answer questions are designed to replace a cover letter, so take your time with them and copy in your answers from a separate document. If you feel that the questions do not accurately capture what you have to offer The Primary School, you are also welcome to attach a cover letter. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis so we encourage you to submit yours soon. We look forward to reading your application!
The Primary School provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws.The Primary School complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
Teaching
Entry Level