Expectations

What we expect from you

Job performance

Every First Circle job has a description. Your specific job description is at the end of this handbook. It is extremely important that you be familiar with it. It defines your specific duties, and serves as the basis for your performance review. In summary, we expect you to:

• Support our culture by upholding First Circle’s mission, vision, core values, and professional/program standards.
• Work your schedule, be punctual, be flexible, and show up to earn your compensation.
• Comply with all state regulations and First Circle policies and procedures.
• Create connections with your coworkers and families, and promote home-school partnerships.
• Have regular, respectful, and open communication with children, families, and coworkers.
• Implement First Circle’s curriculum and daily program and create learning opportunities throughout the day.

Professionalism

We CHOSE YOU to be part of our team and we’re rooting for you to be with us for the long term. We’re committed to supporting you and helping you take the next steps in your career. And we ask you to commit to being professional.

Being professional is about attitude, conduct, and presenting yourself with self-respect and dignity. It means having a willingness to learn, cooperating and getting along with others, showing respect, and living up to your commitments. It also means avoiding behaviors that create difficulties in the workplace. By asking you to join our team, we expect you will adhere to our professional standards. That includes:

• following First Circle policies and procedures as outlined in your job description and this Employee Handbook
• arriving to work with and maintaining a positive attitude each day
• being a team player by contributing your fair share of responsibilities and maintaining a balance of workload among colleagues
• participating in and contributing to meetings and discussions
• managing your time well, passing in paperwork on time, giving notice for absences, arriving on time ready for the first child
• remaining flexible with classroom assignments and schedule—expecting the unexpected, pinch hitting for a team member in need
• staying alert about health and safety matters—ensuring the safety of equipment, washing and sanitizing toys and surfaces, managing illness
• accepting, using, and providing feedback to improve your work
• proactively looking for ways to improve the program, offering solutions to problems, and resisting the urge to complain or communicate in a negative manner
• communicating professionally with others and avoiding gossip and/or negative interactions with coworkers
• participating in social events/activities outside regular hours
• presenting a clean, healthy, professional appearance

While conducting yourself in the ways listed above does not guarantee you won’t have issues with your co-workers, if we all conduct ourselves in these ways, we’ll be close to our goal of a workplace that is respectful, nurturing, professionally rewarding, and fun!

What you can expect from us

APPRECIATION: We value the role of early childhood educators who help to make a difference in the world. Our staff is the heart of what we do. We do everything possible to provide a culture based on good communication, teamwork, values, and fun!

TEAMWORK: Our structure is based on collaborative co-teaching teams. We give teachers support and the tools they need to succeed, like floating teachers for classroom support and time off.

COMMUNICATION: We work hard to make every communication honest, friendly, and compassionate. We believe open communication builds a better team. We encourage you to share feedback, ideas, and suggestions with us and to ask questions.

COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP: We know what it’s like to work in an environment where management is critical, unsupportive, and inflexible, where coworkers are cliquey, gossipy, and unfriendly. That’s why we do our best to provide you with flexibility, responsive communication, and a strong partnership.

GROWTH: We’re committed to your personal and professional growth. We offer opportunities for advancement, mentorship, and paid professional development.

CREATIVITY: As a teacher, we welcome you to personalize your classroom, lesson plans, and activities. We support our teachers with fully stocked classrooms and a generous classroom budget.

FEEDBACK: We really want to know what you think! Our tight-knit community of staff allows for open communication between staff and administration. We welcome your input, both positive feedback and suggestions for improvement.

FUN: We believe in laughing every day and building lifelong friendships. We love to spend time together outside school and make having fun one of our top priorities.

Equal opportunity employer

First Circle is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees in all aspects of employment, to prevent unlawful discrimination or harassment of any individual working at First Circle, and to provide a mechanism for individuals to bring any concerns about discrimination or harassment to First Circle’s attention.

First Circle expects all individuals to treat each other with dignity and respect. We are committed to maintaining an environment in which employees are not subjected to different treatment because of legally protected characteristics and will not accept or tolerate any discrimination toward employees based upon the following characteristics: race, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, gender, gender expression or identity, pregnancy, marital status, genetic background, disability or veterans’ status, ancestry, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Non-discrimination

As part of First Circle’s core values, we welcome and encourage diversity, multiculturalism, and anti-bias both in our student body and our staff. First Circle does not discriminate in its programs, activities, facilities, employment, or educational opportunities on the basis of any protected characteristic. This policy extends to, but is not limited to, recruitment, selection, compensation, benefits, promotion, training, and termination.

We seek to offer a respectful environment where harassment and intolerance are not allowed, and where differences in background, cultures, and abilities are celebrated.