CORE | Coalition for Residential Education

We invite you, to join senior staff from other CORE member and potential member programs from across the country, on October 6-7, for the 2011 CORE Leadership Institute. This year’s institute will be hosted by the Crossnore School during the peak of the fall season in the exquisite Appalachian Mountains.

Residential education programs across the country are grappling with how to continue serving vulnerable youth and families, via residential education and in other ways, in light of today’s realities. How, exactly, are programs retooling, changing, “bending” to face these challenges? How can your program change to meet today’s demands while still staying true to its mission? How can your program move forward with less resources and still maintain its competitive edge? These questions will be the focus of most of our discussions, in addition to touring the highly regarded Crossnore School.

The leadership institute is not to be missed; past participants have benefited from the vast networking opportunities that this intimate setting has afforded. In this setting you will make valuable connections that will help you and your organization move forward while combating today’s challenges. You will find during this conference that you’re not alone in this battle; we are all in it together.

For more information on this conference, please email Aviva.

Job Title: Dean of Students
Job Level: Student Affairs
FLSA Status: Exempt
Reports to: Director of Student Affairs
Manages: None
Date Created: July 3, 2011

Job Purpose:
The Dean of Students reports to the Director of Program and is responsible for working directly with students, faculty, and staff to establish and maintain a culture of positive student behavior and meet all school goals and student achievement targets.

Essential Functions & Responsibilities:
• Demonstrating and articulating high expectations for student behavior and achievement
• Working with classroom teaching and student life faculty and staff to develop positive student behaviors based on SEED’s character values
• Providing teaching and student life faculty and staff with support to address student behaviors and maintain a positive, safe learning environment for all students
• Counseling students regarding behavior and consequences
• Contacting parents and building relationships with families to support positive student behavior and communicate student information
• Developing and facilitating incentive programs to engender a positive student culture
• Applying SEED’s disciplinary consequences with consistency and transparency
• Developing and conducting functional behavioral assessments and related plans, as needed
• Developing and writing student behavioral improvement plans and monitoring progress with individual students
• Working with the SEED’s leadership team to provide student and school performance data analysis
• Participating in faculty meetings, workshops, staff development programs, and other school sponsored activities
• Assisting in general building supervision and discipline of students outside of the classroom and perform assigned student supervisory duties
• Performing other duties deemed necessary

Expectations
• Committed to the mission of SEED
• Adheres to school policies and procedures
• Acts as a role model within and outside of the school
• Goal-oriented and assertive, yet a strong team player
• Maintains a positive and respectful attitude
• Communicates regularly with the Director of Program about school issues
• Demonstrates flexible and efficient time management and ability to prioritize work load
• Meets department productivity and standards
• Performs other duties as workload and priorities necessitate

Qualifications
• Organized, logic-based, detail-driven work style
• Superior verbal and written communication abilities
• Must be able to effectively interact and communicate with parents and individuals at all levels of the organization
• Excellent team player and team building skills
• Must be able to work in a fast-paced environment with demonstrated ability to efficiently and effectively manage multiple competing tasks and demands
• Must have the ability to manage complex issues creatively and effectively

Experience & Education
• Baccalaureate degree required. Master’s degree in education or other equivalent work experience preferred
• Two years teaching experience, preferably in an urban school or boarding/residential setting
• Experience and/or training in behavior intervention strategies
• Experience in delivering faculty and staff training

Language Skill
• Ability to read, analyze and interpret orders
• Ability to effectively respond to common inquiries or complaints from staff members, parents, contractors, board members, etc.
• Ability to write reports that conform to prescribed style and format
• Ability to effectively present information to supervisors, donors, customers and others
• Ability to analyze and solve issues

Computer Skills
• Proficient in MS Office Suite
• Internet savvy and skilled with technology

Other
Ability, flexibility and willingness to travel as required within Maryland and the District of Columbia metro area

Physical Demands
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop; kneel; crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must be able to lift and/or move boxes up to 25 lbs. in weight. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Having CORE listed on the online site eHow.com is a great opportunity to get the word out about Residential Education. See what they had to say about CORE… Please follow this link to see this most recent success.

Special Agent Craig LeCadre, of the PA Attorney General’s Office, enthralled us at the 2011 National Conference, so we’ve asked him to speak to our membership again. Mr. LeCadre will be speaking about cyberbulling and sexting. Both are extremely relevant topics for many students today.

Cyberbullying is a variation of bullying utilizing technology to perpetrate harassment of one-another. How can we protect our children? How can we identify the bully, the victim, and the bystander? With so much of our childrens’ social lives occurring on the technological interface, how can we possibly find a way to protect them from hurting each other?

“Sticks and Stones” is designed to provide adults with resources to help protect children while allowing them to enjoy the benefits from technology. Mr. LeCadre provides helpful information for ensuring student safety and program liability, delivered in an entertaining manner and is knowledgeable in these subject areas. He also provides guidelines for legal responsibilities of programs in this arena.

We hope that you will be able to join us in listening to his talk. There will be time for a few questions at the end and even sporadically throughout the presentation.

The webinar will occur via our member program, Girard College, June 21st from 9:45-11:15 AM EST. The cost to each member is $60. Please follow this link to sign up for this webinar.

We look forward to your participation in this relevant event! And please do not hesitate to contact the CORE office if you have any questions.

Close date: Rolling

Palmer Home for Children was founded in 1895 by William States Jacobs, a Presbyterian minister who saw a need in Columbus, MS for a ministry to children in need; children growing up as social orphans without the nurture and support of a loving family; children who needed a place to be and to become. Palmer Home currently serves up to 90 boys and girls from birth through college age who live year-round on two campuses in the Columbus, MS area and one new campus near Hernando, MS. It also extends counseling to the family of origin, foster care, and other family-related services that Palmer offers through its professional staff. With the retirement of the current President, Ed Waldron, who has served faithfully for twenty-one years and overseen tremendous growth, Palmer Home is actively searching for the 10th leader in Palmer Home’s 115 year history.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the President of Palmer Home for Children provides vision and strategic leadership to the organization with a budget of $6 million. He or she will carry out the planning, management and administrative responsibilities of the organization to insure that the mission and critical objectives are fulfilled. The President must be able to inspire and motivate groups of individuals to support Palmer Home through skills in effective public speaking and compelling presentation development. The President must be competent at maintaining key relationships with donors, and specifically major donors, foundations, media, and other individuals who have either a direct or indirect relationship with the organization and its employees. S/he must genuinely enjoy interacting with people, and be willing to fill the role of Palmer Home’s lead ambassador. The ideal candidate will have a strong skill set and a proven track record in cultivating major donors (or customers) and in managing or guiding organizations that depend on major donor revenue streams. The ideal candidate will have passion for residential child care and be able to sign PHC’s Statement of Beliefs.

The headquarters of Palmer Home are in Columbus, MS, and the President is expected to live in the Columbus vicinity, with regular travel required to work with the Hernando campus and to nurture donor relationships. A majority of this person’s time will be spent outside the office as an advocate for the Palmer Home, growing external relationships and networking contacts.

We invite you to review the complete Opportunity Profile, visit The Palmer Home’s website, and contact us for further discussions:

Tommy Thomas or Laura Coverstone
SIMA®International
lcoverstone [at] simainternational [dot] com
Phone: (615) 261-4623

The CORE Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Nicholette Smith-Bligen has been selected as the organization’s next Executive Director. Nicholette succeeds Heidi Goldsmith, our Founder and Executive Director who retired as executive director last month and has been working as a consultant for CORE since then. Heidi, who met Nicholette during the search process, had this to say about Nicholette.: “I am delighted with the selection of Nicholette as the next Executive Director of CORE. Nicholette brings a wealth of experience and expertise in child welfare issues; she is a strong advocate for children and youth, and is enthusiastic about CORE and its mission.”

Please follow this link to the full announcement letter.

Close date: Rolling

Crossnore is looking for a rising star who would welcome an opportunity to serve at risk children here at The Crossnore School in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of NC. Crossnore is looking for a licensed therapist with clinical program supervision experience. This individual should also have a passion for equine therapy.

Interested applicants may send their resume and letter of interest to Phyllis Crain, Executive Director, at: pcrain [at] crossnoreschool [dot] org.

Please see the Crossnore School website for more organizational information. Thank you.

Singing and performing in front of his peers and the public has always come easy for Milton Hershey School (MHS) Senior James Stankunas. An MHS student since his enrollment as a kindergartener, James’ passion has landed him in numerous musical performances and school drama productions, as well as a role in the motion picture, The Night Listener-all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

A high point of James’ singing career took place on Sunday, April 3, in Baltimore, when he performed for an audience of thousands as a member of the highly prestigious 2011 MENC (Music Educators’ National Conference) All-Eastern Chorus. By virtue of his performance in the 2010 Pennsylvania All-State Chorus and his second-place ranking, James was chosen to sing in this select group of the most musically talented high school students from the eastern region of the United States.

“Being selected for All-Eastern Chorus is an honor that not many choral students are able to experience. I did not expect to get chosen for the Chorus; I didn’t even think I would make it past the District level. …The fact that I made it to the highest level possible and made MHS history is mind-blowing, to say the least,” said James.

For the April performance, students prepared challenging music that they performed under the leadership of prominent conductors in this biennial event, consisting of a concert band, symphony orchestra, mixed chorus, and jazz ensemble; all organized by members of MENC.

James plans to continue his education at Berklee College of Music, MA, with a double major in Music Business and Vocal Performance.

May 4, 2011 marked the third annual National Residential Education Day – a day to celebrate the many opportunities residential education programs provide for children while increasing understanding of residential education at national and local levels. Students, alumnae, staff, and supporters introduced, reminded, and served as “voices” of residential education to media, referral sources, donors, policymakers, and child welfare professionals through a variety of activities across the country.

CORE member programs tailored events to fit their individual programs. Some programs celebrated the day internally, while others reached out to local media using common language – CORE’s “branding” language that defines and distinguishes residential education.

A sampling of events include:

Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children celebrated their third annual Advocacy Day by heading to their local State Capitol, where youth success stories were delivered to each state representative. See examples:
1. Henriatta’s story (pdf)
2. Reighna’s story (pdf)

Crossnore School in North Carolina organized an open house event for the local community where prayers were written for the future and attached to balloons to be released into the sky, and a prayer circle was held.

They also held an assembly where determination, overcoming hardships, and achieving success with the help of Crossnore’s support and relationships, was celebrated.

More CORE member stories from these celebrations will be shared in the near future!

Today is the third-annual national public awareness event in the residential education field with events occurring across the country. We are celebrating and increasing understanding of residential education as one “tool in the toolbox” for at-risk youth, using unified language to further define and distinguish what residential education provides youth, and how.

Many programs across the country are hosting on-campus events, activities with youth and alumnae, and conducting media outreach and advocacy efforts with local legislative bodies to increase visibility and showcase the life-changing benefits of residential education for children.

In addition to creating external awareness for decision-makers, today is also a day to celebrate YOUR work – the daily successes, challenges, and inspirations “in the trenches” that allow you to continue providing crucial services to children, families, and our communities.

Take today to share your achievements! And don’t forget to take photos, share stories, and let us know the feedback you receive!

HAPPY NATIONAL RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION DAY!