Eastside Community School is nestled on five acres in the Sammamish Plateau area of Issaquah, Washington (30 minutes east of Seattle). We serve internationally diverse students and families from Pre-school through Grade 12. We seek a Early Childhood Teacher & Program Lead for the 2024-25 school year. We are a WECAN accredited and Washington State licensed Early Childhood Center. Be our newest colleague!

Bring your enthusiasm for the students, for the curriculum, and for working in partnership with a thriving faculty and parent community. Share your warmth, positivity, and effective verbal and written communication skills with parents, colleagues, and the community. Bring your ability to work flexibly in collaboration with colleagues and your sense of humor.

The faculty circle at ECS engages deeply with how to keep our teaching alive and dynamic – encouraging the type of “living thinking” that brings forth new ideas in our students, faculty, and community alike. With both the stability of an established community, and the fresh pioneer spirit of a relatively new Board and identity, we find ourselves in a unique position of being able to draw on the strength of the past, and to also ask ourselves questions like what it truly means to be a Waldorf school at this particular juncture in human history, and how we can go beyond labels or dogma to meet the lived experience of our students each day.

Duties & Responsibilituies:

• Full-time, 7:30a-3:30p on site daily with typical expectations of a school program outside of those hours including occasional evening and weekend work.

• Teach a class group, K, PS, or mixed age.

• Assist with hiring, appointing, or otherwise placing and overseeing all needed teachers and assistants and support staff within budget constraints relative to the number of children in the program at a minimum of a 6:1 student to adult ratio.

• Lead, advise, and empower teachers and assistants to attend all department meetings and to take on all needs of the program including careful communication with families about the activities of the day.

• Follow WECAN (Waldorf) suggestions around program makeup- use Waldorf training knowledge to provide the best care possible within practical and economic considerations. Work with WECAN accreditation personnel and requirements.

• Work closely with the Chief Administrator to accomplish objectives including the design the activities of our Waldorf early childhood program. This includes all aspects of the day’s activities, from early morning arrival through the morning into lunch, and afternoon hours of care.

• Work with pedagogical leadership regarding program elements based upon careful study of young children’s needs and practical circumstances.

• Consideration of multiple ways of forming the day and organizing the interior and exterior space is essential. Support creative imagining all the way through the implementation of any needed changes.

• Oversee and advise parent-child teacher on objectives of that component of the program.

• Help create the basic schedule keeping in mind the importance of a breathing rhythm, the mission of the school, and various practical considerations and budget limitations. In addition to philosophical considerations, practical or logistical factors may lead to differences in the daily rhythm among groups in the school.

• Shared resources—outdoor play area, kitchen facilities, or a visiting eurythmist, may require coordination. With shared resources, the faculty/staff group must work together and with the grade school to ensure equitable access.

• Festival days and other special occasions will necessitate schedule changes, and these changes require planning and communication. Successful resource sharing and flexibility are possible when faculties embrace social practices that are respectful, team building, and collaborative, and when colleagues are capable of compromise.

• Work closely with the person responsible for meeting state licensing requirements.

• Communicate regularly with families about their child’s progress in the program.

• Support admissions, assess student fit, and speak with prospective families about the beneficial attributes of the program and our space.