FILLED- Common Ground is Seeking A Full Time Health Teacher

Common Ground Is Seeking A Full-Time Health Teacher

About Common Ground High School 

Common Ground High School is the nation’s longest-running environmental charter high school, founded in 1997. Our 230 students form an inclusive, powerful community of learners and leaders. These students benefit from a unique learning environment: an urban farm and 20-acre site, home to state of the art school facilities, adjacent to West Rock Ridge State Park, and located in the City of New Haven. We strive to create a learning environment grounded in foundational building blocks: rigor, responsive relationships, relevance that’s rooted in the local community and environment, and real roles & rights. Common Ground’s graduation rate consistently surpasses the state average, and between 97 and 100% of our students are accepted to college each year. 

Common Ground High School is part of a community nonprofit organization that also operates an urban farm and community environmental education center. As a whole, Common Ground is a center for learning and leadership, inviting people across ages and identities to connect to their urban environment, build community, grow into their full potential, and contribute to a just and sustainable world. We work toward this mission through active, authentic learning rooted in justice and our environment: a farm, in a forest, in a city. 

About the Position

We are seeking an experienced, compassionate, and well-organized educator to join our team as a Health Teacher. This position is a 1 FTE position for the 2022-2023 school year. Candidates should possess or be eligible to possess a CT Teacher License for Health PK-12 (043); additional certification in Physical Education PK-12 (044) is preferred.

The Health & Physical Education Teacher will: 

• Deliver rigorous and engaging Health instruction that meets the requirements of the State of Connecticut Health & Safety graduation credit.
• Create and maintain a positive learning environment for active participation of all learners.
• Administer periodic assessments to measure student growth and progress.
• Implement effective classroom management skills that build a welcoming and productive classroom culture.
• Actively participate in professional development and work collaboratively with colleagues to improve instructional practices and student learning.
• Build meaningful and professional relationships with students and their families.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the school leadership.

We are looking for Health Teacher candidates who demonstrate some or all of the following:

• Previous experience teaching in an urban, high school setting. 
• Knowledge of the changes to the Connecticut graduation requirements for 2022-2023 for Health and Physical Education.
• Previous experience creating, developing or identifying a curriculum to cover a wide range of health topics.
• A proven track record of building relationships with high school students and an ability to effectively manage a classroom during challenging discussions. 
• The candidate MUST be comfortable and able to deliver curriculum and lessons on difficult topics such as (but not limited to) suicide, suicide prevention, sexual health, sexual assualt, abuse prevents, race and identity, LGBTQ+ identity. 
• Knowledge of trauma-informed instruction and possesses a belief that all students can learn and be successful. 
• A passion for our social justice mission and commitment to equitable and sustainable change

We are also excited to consider candidates who have:

• Values and embraces collaboration, communication, and has capacity to work effectively within a team that includes multiple teachers and community partners.
• Experience working directly with racially, economically, academically diverse high school aged young people, and with low-income young people and people of color in particular. Knowledge about and passion for working for an organization that is committed to social justice, the dismantling of systems of oppression, and creating a just, equitable, and inclusive culture.
• Experience working with Google applications, online course management platforms, and other online learning tools.

Please send cover letter and resume to:

applications@commongroundct.org 

Please specify the job you are applying for in the subject line of your email.

Equal Opportunity Employer 

Common Ground is particularly eager for candidates who can help us to fulfill our commitment to building a racially and culturally diverse faculty and staff. Common Ground has a commitment to examining the intersection of social, environmental, and food justice issues; how systems of oppression, including white privilege, impact the organization’s work; and how resistance to those systems can offer windows into a more sustainable society. 

Common Ground is committed to the recruitment and retention of staff that is reflective of the communities we work with. We strongly encourage applicants from people of color, immigrants, women, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, people whose native language is something other than English, and other underrepresented and historically marginalized groups. 

It has been the policy and will continue to be the strong commitment of the Common Ground and all contractors and subcontractors who do business with Common Ground to provide equal opportunities in employment to all qualified persons solely on the basis of job-related skills, ability and merit. Common Ground will continue to take Affirmative Action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, mental disorder (present or past history thereof) age, physical disability (but not limited to blindness), marital status, intellectual disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and criminal record. Such action includes, but is not limited to, employment, promotion, demotion or transfer; recruitment or recruitment advertising; layoff or termination; rates of pay or other forms of compensation, and selection for training, professional development, attendance at conferences or other opportunities for advancement. Common Ground, its contractors and subcontractors will continue to make good faith efforts to comply with all federal and state laws and policies which speak to equal employment opportunity. The principles of Affirmative Action are addressed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the United States Constitution, Civil Rights Act of 1866, 1870, 1871, Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VI and VII of the 1964 United States Civil Rights Act, Presidential Executive Order 11246, amended by 11375, (Non-discrimination under federal contracts)< Act 1, Section 1 and 20 of the Connecticut Constitution, Governor Grasso’s Executive Order Number 11, Governor O’Neill’s Executive Order 9, the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Law (Sec. 46a-60-69) of the Connecticut General Statutes, Connecticut Code of Fair Practices (46a-7081), Deprivation of Civil Rights (46a-58(a)(d)), Public Accommodations Law (46a-63-64), 

Discrimination against Criminal Offenders (46a-80), definition of Blind (46a-51(1)), definition of Physically Disabled (46a-51(15)), definition of Intellectual Disability (46a51(13)), cooperation with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (46a-77), Sexual Harassment (46a-60(a)-8), Connecticut Credit Discrimination Law (360436 through 439), Title I of the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972. This Affirmative Action Policy Statement re-affirms Common Ground’s commitment to equity in the workplace and the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity.