Sustainability Coordinator

 

Position description

The Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC) is a non-profit Chicago public charter school, located on the Southwest side. Our mission is to develop mindful leaders who take action now and in the future to positively impact their communities and the world beyond. Our innovative and holistic approach aims to foster systemic change and inspire the way society educates future generations.

Our Broader Vision

In addition to operating a K-8 school as a learning laboratory for the Chicago Public School district, AGC’s bold vision is to serve as an incubator of innovation and center of learning for the entire community. Our mission is to reimagine community learning by building partnerships, providing services and establishing a living institution that model how to coexist peacefully and productively on a more sustainable planet. We envision a world where all have access to inspired educational opportunities, preparing communities to tackle local and global challenges and to live within our planetary boundaries.

Our Sustainable School of the Future

Leading up to this moment, AGC has not only been focused on helping its Chicago area students create lives full of possibility, but also has reached 5 million students in multiple states and countries by sharing our work openly and encouraging replication of our model. We are now poised to invigorate the AGC mission on a visionary new campus. Experts from all over the world helped us reimagine the nexus between inspirational learning and healthy communities, and we have attracted a $31 million capital commitment from the State of Illinois.

The new AGC learning hub is one of the most architecturally ambitious projects in the U.S. today and is paving the way for reimagining the role of “school” and learning environments in cultivating the next generation of globally and environmentally minded leaders. AGC’s new learning hub will provide critically needed access to tuition-free early childhood learning, high quality K-8 nature-based public education, health care and mental health services, community wellness facilities and programming, neighborhood gardens and green spaces, and a fresh foods market featuring produce from the campus three-acre urban farm, food forest, orchard, apiary and greenhouses.

AGC worked with renowned architect, Jeanne Gang, to reimagine school design for the social and environmental needs of the 21st century. The “school of the future” design will be net- positive energy, featuring a renewable energy generating roofscape, wind turbine and geothermal system, and is set to be the first project in the entire Midwest to achieve the Living Building Challenge, the world’s most comprehensive sustainability performance standards that have only been achieved by 24 other projects globally. To learn more, we encourage you to visit www.agcchicago.org.

Job Description 

The Sustainability Coordinator assumes responsibility for championing sustainability at the Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC) by working with staff, families and students to promote sustainable operations, curriculum and culture at AGC.  The Sustainability Coordinator will play a lead role in AGC’s new net-positive energy campus planning process, developing partnerships and new programming. The Sustainability Coordinator serves as a member of the Administrative Team, reports to the Principal, and is responsible for the following:

Sustainable Operations

• Research, develop, evaluate, and revise the school’s Environmental Sustainability Policy (ESP) with the aim of becoming a national model for environmentally sustainable school operations.
• Ensure school-wide operations (i.e., energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, composting, recycling, construction materials, cleaning services) are in line with the school’s ESP.
• Develop a measurement system for tracking AGC’s ESP outcomes.
• Work with AGC’s organic meal provider to strategically evaluate costs, diversify menus, enhance nutrition and lower food miles.
• Develop vendor relationships with an emphasis on procuring fresh, local and family farmed foods.
• Promote sustainable practices school-wide, onboard new staff,  and ensure sustainability continues to be central in AGC’s culture.

Partnerships & Communications 

• Represent AGC at a wide variety of sustainability-related conferences and events – locally, nationally and globally.
• Host visitors who are interested in learning about our sustainable school model.
• Lead workshops for other educators who are seeking to implement environmental education or sustainable operations in their schools.
• Serve as the primary point person for sustainability related partnerships and contribute to sustainability related grant applications.
• Share AGC’s sustainability related happenings on social media and AGC’s blog.

Environmental Education & Programming

• Teach Sustainability & Design classes to middle school students.
• Facilitate AGC’s Student Green Team meetings whose mission is to empower students in engaging in sustainable practices.
• Work with teachers to integrate gardening and environmental learning standards into their everyday instruction. Work alongside classroom and specialist teachers to further develop and strengthen AGC’s sustainability curriculum.
• Lead professional development for AGC teachers on sustainable teaching and practices.
• Play a lead role in planning and implementing AGC’s farm-based summer camp.
• Document, measure and track AGC’s sustainability curriculum outcomes.
• Assume responsibility for making our gardens grow with the involvement of students.
• Care for our school chickens, in conjunction with our students and school staff.
• Collaborate with AGC’s beekeeping partner, Bike-a-Bee, to oversee AGC’s hives.

Family Engagement & Education

• Facilitate learning opportunities and workshops for families to promote sustainable and healthy life choices at home.
• Write a monthly newsletter for families that inspires sustainable practices and highlights environmental education happenings at AGC.
• Plan and implement AGC Student-led Farmers’ Markets with an emphasis on engaging students and families.
• Oversee AGC’s annual honey sale enterprise and other related events such as a spring seedling sale.
• Engage families in adopting AGC garden beds during school breaks and supporting at-home gardening initiatives.

New Sustainable Campus

• Play a lead role in AGC’s new net-positive energy campus planning process, developing partnerships and new programming.
• Participate in the new campus design meetings with architects and sustainability experts to guide decision making.
• Work alongside AGC’s Leadership Team to develop a Forest School model that emphasizes nature-based and outdoor learning.
• Develop new partnerships and programming to deepen AGC’s sustainability model, extend learning opportunities to our broader community and to enhance the extensive outdoor and farm-based approach to education.

We are looking for staff who …

• Have a big heart to match a big brain
• Are bilingual in English and Spanish (preferred)
• Want their work to define best practice
• Respect and thrive in a dynamic, changing, and growing environment
• Know extraordinary things can happen when people work hard together
• Are excited to participate in a laboratory for innovation in education
• Dream about what’s possible for reimagining the future of learning

Working at AGC means …

• Being surrounded by thoughtful, inquisitive students and hard-working, like-minded colleagues
• Thinking outside of the box to do what is best for our students
• Being held to high standards for continuous personal and school improvement, and being given the time and support to do so – AGC teachers receive twice as many professional development hours as their peers.
• Promoting student profile qualities of the International Baccalaureate Program: inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk takers, knowledgeable, principled, caring, open-minded, well-balanced, and reflective.
• Gaining experience with interdisciplinary International Baccalaureate Units of Inquiry, balanced literacy, arts integration, yoga and mindfulness
• Having high academic expectations for every student in the school everyday
• Getting your hands dirty in our school garden and engaging students in outdoor learning
• Enjoying 100% organic, scratch made meals prepared by our on-site chef
• Working in an environmentally sustainable and health conscious school culture

Required Skills and Experience:

• 3+ years (ideal) experience as an educator
• A fervent commitment to environmental sustainability and green living
• Proven ability to communicate clearly, perform at a high level under pressure, and work efficiently as both a team member and as a leader
• Familiarity with gardening – ideally a master gardener
• Bilingual and biliterate (English/Spanish) – preferred
• Familiarity with IB and inquiry-based learning – ideal
• Strong leadership, communication skills and personal drive

Education Requirements:

• Bachelor Degree in Education or a related field
• Master’s Degree in Education or a related field
• State of Illinois Teaching Certificate in relevant area (ideal)

Compensation:

Competitive salary based on experience and level of education. Full benefits, free organic breakfast and lunch, wellness fund, innovation fund and professional development funds offered.

Application instructions

Please send your resume and a cover letter.