Aspen High School Special Education Teacher 2024-2025

Position Title: Special Education Teacher (Mild/Moderate and Significant Support Needs)

Department: Aspen High School

Reports to: High School Principal/Asst Principal

Classification: Certified Full-time Exempt

Contract Period: 9 Month (185 days with some variance depending on the year)

Compensation: Certified Salary Schedule

ASD offers district-funded employee and dependent health benefits including medical, vision, dental, and life insurance to benefit-eligible employees. Other benefits include (as eligible): paid leave, CO PERA (pension plan) enrollment with district contribution, TSA options, free transportation for employees from Carbondale to Aspen, employee assistance program, wellness program, and supplemental insurance (i.e. cancer, disability, etc).

Position Summary

The Special Education Teacher creates a learning environment to encourage independence, self-motivation, self-direction, personal empowerment, and self-advocacy of children with disabilities. This position will support students with mild/moderate and significant disabilities.

Position Responsibilities

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Create a learning environment characterized by acceptable student behavior and efficient use of time by preparing materials and planning and conducting activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time.  Provide students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate while employing appropriate intervention strategies and practices to maintain student attention and order.
• Employ strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of academic skills, language, cognition, and memory to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
• Use a variety of assessments, including formal and informal assessments, to determine students’ strengths and areas of need for the purpose of creating an Individualized Education Program for each student.
• Collaborate with regular classroom teachers, related service staff, and paraprofessionals to plan and coordinate appropriate services.
• As necessary, accommodate and modify instruction to meet the individual student’s needs.
• Case manage and implement the Individualized Education Program for each student on caseload.
• Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, clearly communicating instructional plans and objectives to colleagues who also work with individual students.
• Accurately document and report ongoing student achievement using IEP software database and monitoring timelines for compliance with state laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
• Monitor individual student progress
• Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities.
• Participate, as appropriate, in the school’s Response to Intervention/Multi-Tiered Systems of Support process.
• Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress, to determine their priorities for their children, and establish their resource needs for the purpose of involving them as partners in student learning
• Other duties as assigned or necessary

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Understands the IEP process
• Ability to supervise, instruct, motivate, and problem solve with assigned paraprofessionals as well as other colleagues
• Experience with special populations including complex disability profiles
• Displays organization, preparation, and punctuality, meeting deadlines, and following through on commitments
• Handles disagreements and conflicts in a diplomatic manner, maintaining composure during difficult conflict situations, to prevent decreased effectiveness over time
• Maintains ethics, legal responsibility, and confidentiality
• Develops and maintains rapport and effective relationships with children and adults contacted in the course of work
• Actively contributes to the goals and success of all team members through collaboration, cooperation, and flexibility in team discussions and decision making, giving and receiving constructive feedback
• Stays current on professional knowledge and technical skills through training opportunities and participation in relevant professional committees and organizations
• Attain Safety Care training methods and credentials (provided by the district)
• Formulates goals that include specific, measurable outcomes and develops new goals when current goals have been achieved
• Observes and adheres to district policies and procedures

Minimum Qualifications

• A Bachelors or Masters Degree
• A current Colorado Teaching License with an endorsement as a Special Education Generalist or ability to obtain within 2 months of hire

Work Environment

• Mostly clean and comfortable surroundings
• May be exposed to body fluids

Essential Physical Requirements

• Heavy lifting is required to assist students in ambulation, toileting (including diaper changing) and other personal needs and for management and de-escalation of students with aggressive behaviors.

Supervisory Duties

• Trains, provides work direction, assigns, and schedules work for assigned paraprofessionals. 

Acknowledgement

• This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by this employee. The successful candidate will be required to follow any other instructions and to perform any other related duties as assigned by the Director. The Aspen School District reserves the right to update, revise, or change this job description and related duties at any time.