ABOUT OUR SCHOOL
Essex Street Academy is a small, project-based high school in the Lower East Side. As a member of the NY Performance Standards Consortium, ESA students are exempt from state tests and graduate by completing in-depth projects demonstrating the mastery of core skills and content. We value diversity and inclusion in our community with respect to all identities and learning styles, and we strive to continuously build a community at ESA that is affirming, inspiring, and advances social justice.
The staff at ESA is committed to learning from one another and our students. Our teachers write their own curricula to be student-centered with an emphasis on authenticity, depth of understanding, and multiple perspectives. In class students examine essential questions such as “Is nationalism a force for good in the world?” and “How much do our genes really matter?”
We view our community at ESA as a family. In advisory, students build close ties while developing social-emotional skills over the course of four years together. We meet regularly as a whole school for our student-led Town Meetings to celebrate accomplishments, discuss important issues, and just have fun. We have built a strong foundation in restorative practices as a way of strengthening and maintaining our community over time so that ESA can always be a place where all students thrive.
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
We are currently interviewing candidates for Special Education Teacher for Fall 2025. As always, we encourage great educators in all disciplines who want to work at ESA to apply.
Selection Criteria:
Experience working with young people
Passionate about building strong relationships with students, staff, and families and to fostering community within the classroom and throughout the school
Enthusiastic about working in teams with both adults and students to pursue collective growth
Committed to fostering an inclusive and intellectually challenging learning experience for all students
SPECIAL EDUCATION
General Duties and Responsibilities:
Teach students via ICT and/or SETSS models in one or more content areas
Coach and collaborate with content teachers
Develop accessible and engaging curriculum
Modify instruction and learning materials to meet the needs of all students (including those with IEPs)
Contribute in annual and tri-annual IEP meetings and IEP writing
Participate in biweekly special education department meetings
Develop strong relationships with students with IEPs in order to support them academically and otherwise and to advocate for their needs within the school
Support the college and post-secondary transition planning for students with disabilities
Additional Selection Criteria:
Applicants must bring a strengths-based, inclusive perspective to special education
Applicants must be interested in challenging ableist practices and implementing innovative practices to ensure inclusion
Applicants must bring an intersectional analysis to their work supporting students with disabilities
Applicants must be able to and interested in developing strong relationships with general education teachers in order to facilitate collaboration
Applicants must have knowledge of ICT teaching models and effective SETSS strategies
Applicants must be open to learning STEM and/or Humanities content subjects
APPLICATION PROCESS
If you are interested in applying to work at Essex Street Academy, please send your resume and cover letter to the hiring committee at hiring@essexstreetacademy.org
Our hiring process is as follows:
Send resume and cover letter
An ESA member of the hiring team will reach out to you and schedule a phone interview
Phone interview
Zoom Interview with possible school visit