Center Manager

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

The Center Manager is responsible for the overall operation of the assigned center and staff members.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Monitor the EHS/HS site to ensure compliance with the Head Start/Early Head Start Performance Standards, Florida Department of Children & Families, and NAEYC/APPLE Accreditation standards.
• Promote a culturally sensitive educational program that is developmentally appropriate for each child's age and language.
• Ensure classrooms meet the standards for high-quality learning environments.
• Provide leadership and supervision to the teaching staff by providing direct feedback in the areas of performance and professional development.
• Support teachers in curriculum implementation, child observations, and analysis of child data.
• Work cooperatively with the Family Advocate to ensure that in-kind is collected and properly calculated monthly.
• Enroll eligible 4-years-olds into the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program and fill open slots as needed throughout the school year. Submit all required VPK paperwork and reports to the appropriate ECS staff as required.
• Work with Family Advocate to plan parent committee meetings, workshops, trainings, and other parent involvement activities to help generate Non-Federal Match.
• Establish a relationship of mutual trust and two-way communication with parents, providing support to staff in relationship building and parent take-home activities and ensuring that each family has a minimum of two parent-teacher conferences and two home-visits per year.
• Coordinate, develop and provide infant/toddler and/or preschool training and technical assistance as needed to teaching staff.
• Lead and facilitate regular staff meetings with teaching and center staff (according to Center Manager workplan) to review policies, procedures and their implementation that include team building activities, conflict resolution and peer mediation. These meetings should include Family Advocates to ensure that there is regular communication amongst all center staff.
• Provide support to the center in the absence of staff and follow proper procedures to enlist substitutes, adhering to the established budgetary limits.
• Work with the Education Manager, Education Specialist and teaching staff to ensure quality classroom environments with regard for student perspective.
• Model appropriate child guidance techniques that include redirection, positive reinforcement, anticipation of and elimination of potential problems, and verbalization of feelings as needed for teachers to help support challenging behaviors in the classroom.
• Coordinate and schedule meal preparation, service and clean-up that comply with all regulations.
• Create daily schedules that include all HS & APPLE requirements that promote a balance of quiet, child-initiated, teacher directed and age-appropriate activities using Creative Curriculum as a guide.
• Participate in summer screenings and as children enroll throughout the year.
• Work with health support staff to ensure children receive the health, mental health, and/or special needs services that they may be eligible for.
• Enter and print all health screening information as discussed in procedures.
• Participate in and supports community activities.
• Initiate and maintain collaborative relationships with the local schools and community partners.
• Ensure that records in the classroom such as lesson plans, individual child goals, daily attendance, meal counts, child assessments, portfolios and education files are maintained.