Release Date:            May 9, 2025

Application Deadline:  May 23, 2025

Requisition:               11368

POSITION:      School Social Worker - Grant Funded

REPORTS TO:  Director of Student Services

LOCATION:     Department of Student Services

SALARY:          The salary for this EXEMPT position will be based on EASMC Specialist Career Ladder for 10-month employees.

EFFECTIVE:     August 13, 2025

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:

Qualified applicants, including current employees of St. Mary's County Public Schools, must complete a TalentEd online application.   In addition to the online application, any support documentation (copy of certification where applicable) must be scanned and uploaded to the TalentEd application.  The online application and any support documentation must clearly demonstrate that the applicant meets the minimum qualifications, including information about the applicant’s background, experience, and professional qualifications.  Failure to submit all required documentation will result in your application being considered incomplete.  Incomplete applications will not be forwarded to the selection committee for review.   All online applications must be completed no later than May 23, 2025. Following a screening of credentials, interviews will be scheduled. Please contact the Department of Human Resources with questions at 301-475-5511, ext. 1 or hrd@smcps.org.

NATURE OF WORK:

This is a professional position that meets students’ individual needs through direct consultation and case management.  The School Social Worker supports student progress and mental health in the General Education and Special Education Curriculum. The School Social Worker serves as a liaison among the home, school, and community to address and alleviate any personal/social adjustment problems that may be affecting or obstructing the educational progress of students. This work requires a high level of confidentiality and the ability to communicate efficiently and effectively both orally and in written form.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Ability to professionally relate to and collaborate with co-workers, students, and community members
• Ability to understand and maintain confidentiality
• Ability to use technology effectively to complete tasks
• Ability to report to work daily and on time
• Ability to organize, supervise, coordinate, and establish priorities of tasks to be completed
• Ability to work independently in the absence of detailed instructions and to follow complex oral and/or written instructions
• Ability to communicate orally or in writing, courteously and tactfully, with staff, students, parents, and the community in a timely manner
• Possess excellent time management skills and the ability to take initiative and make decisions within assigned responsibility in a challenging, fast-paced professional environment and be flexible in work responsibilities and hours
• Possess knowledge of the programs, policies, and procedures of the St. Mary’s County Public Schools
• Provide services to students that focus on mental health, wellness, resiliency, and coping skills
• Provide interventive, consultative, and follow-up services in a variety of situations as needed
• Ability to determine and implement appropriate behavior strategies to effect change in behavioral-social interactions of students and their families

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provides direct, school-based mental and behavioral health therapeutic support to students at risk for emotional, substance related, psychiatric, behavioral, and/or addictive disorders
• Provides individual and group therapeutic counseling
• Identifies and assesses barriers to learning through analysis of factors impinging on student adjustment, including factors in the home, school, and community
• Provides crisis-related support to students and staff
• Assists with reintegrating students into the classroom following crisis or hospitalization by organizing, leading, and case managing aftercare meetings and/or plans
• Conducts assessments to determine baseline functioning and determines progress of intervention
• Conducts psychosocial assessments
• Conducts full substance use and mental health assessments
• Collects and maintains data on evidence-based interventions and their outcomes
• Determines and implements appropriate behavior strategies to effect change in behavioral-social interactions of students and their families
• Coordinates referrals to other specialists in the school and community environments
• Participates in risk and threat assessments when appropriate
• Provides professional development for staff, students, and families
• Conducts classroom observations of students
• Provides social work case management
• Provides mental health support services to students
• Participates in meetings related to student progress (i.e. PST, 504, IEP, etc) and/or community-based meetings/teams when appropriate
• Performs other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required:

• Master’s degree in social work
• Eligible for Certification or Licensure as a Social Worker issued by the Maryland State Department of Mental Health and Hygiene
• Three (3) semester credit hours in Special Education

TERM OF EMPLOYMENT:

Full-time ten-month position.

SALARY GRADE RANGE:  The salary for this EXEMPT position will be based on EASMC Specialist Career Ladder for ten-month employees

BARGAINING UNIT ELIGIBILITY: EASMC

Updated: 04.2025