Job Opportunities
December 21, 2007
Dear Teaching Applicant:
I am very excited about the opening of the Suncoast Polytechnical High School (SPHS) and the opportunities this school will provide the students of Sarasota County. The selection and development of our instructional team is the most critical component to the success of this visionary program.
Our students select to attend SPHS instead of the “traditional” high school model because they are drawn by the unique learning environment we will offer. These teenagers are focused on a pathway to their future. As Millennials (the generation born between 1997 and 1998), they are the first generation of students to grow up surrounded by digital media. They need to see the relationship and purpose in their learning, want the opportunity to explore, touch, question and create; and they want to relate to their work through multiple technologies. Many Millennials say they would rather live without the television than live without the computer!
Suncoast Polytechnical High School is designed to house a total of 600 students in grades 9-12. Beginning with the 2008-09 school year (the graduating class of 2012), we will phase in our program with 150 students per year. Located on the same campus as the Sarasota County Technical Institute (SCTI), our students will have many opportunities for collaboration with experienced industry and business professionals as well as hands-on instructional experiences at their facilities.
Our program is designed around many research-based and data-driven practices for lesson design, instructional delivery and relevant performance assessments. To ensure success, our staff will be required to work together as a Professional Learning Community — understanding that ongoing building-level staff development will be a hallmark of our innovative programs.
Using cutting-edge technologies that are part of the world of Millennials, the teachers at SPHS will constantly be stretched and encouraged to strive for the next frontier. While working across content areas, we will develop our thematic curricular programming around business and 21st Century Work Place Skills. Our goal is to ensure that every student masters a college-preparatory core curriculum as well as rigorous career skills.
I appreciate your taking the time to investigate the philosophy and driving mission of this new school. This information is available on the SPHS Web site at www.Sarasota CountySchools.Net/sphs/. Teaching candidates will need to bring a portfolio to interviews, to demonstrate their success with the knowledge, skills, abilities and performance responsibilities specified in the SDSC teacher job description.
The teaching and learning culture of SPHS will also require teachers who have a commitment to engage in the continuous development of specific characteristics and skills. These traits, when developed and implemented as a Professional Learning Community, will help us realize the mission and vision of our school. Our learning community will:
- Routinely search for instructional materials that expand the curriculum beyond the utilization of textbooks. Online/e-based learning will be a building-wide norm.
- Establish content lesson designs that include business-based themes and collaborative cross-content development.
- Commit to continuing improvement in content area literacy strategies.
- Engage in program development and participate in building-based professional development activities. This includes a commitment to a minimum of nine evening meetings (approximately 4 to 8 p.m.) and four Saturdays (approximately 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.) from January to May, 2008. During this time, teachers will be compensated at the rate for curriculum writing for their work between January and May. Summer work will be for two weeks, June 9-20, and will include business experiences/externship, planning and training. Summer work will be compensated as extra duty days, pending budget approval.
- Commit to a student-centered school and classroom climate that fosters student participation and ownership in the educational process.
- Commit to recognition and fostering of parent involvement and participation in our school program in a meaningful way.
- Embrace lessons from our business community through externship experiences, innovative partnerships, and participation on advisory boards.
- Learn, explore and implement technologies in the classroom that will include student and parent participation. This work will include online posting of assignments, projects, grades and attendance. It may also include, if content-appropriate, digital recording and broadcasting of lessons, development and use of blogs, wikis, and other means of collaborative, digital communication among students and teachers.
- Learn, explore and implement meaningful student assessment and reporting.
- Develop and use a Project-Based Learning approach within a thematic school-wide environment
There is much work to be done in the next six months to recruit our students, finalize our curriculum, build business partnerships and complete the development of our school programs in preparation for opening our school doors. If you embrace the direction of our school program and are excited about bringing your skills and talents to our instructional team, I look forward to your application! Click to view job postings. Good luck!
Respectfully,
Jennifer R. Putnam, Ph.D.
Principal
Suncoast Polytechnical High School