SailFuture
Service Learning Teacher
SailFuture is seeking an entrepreneurial and passionate teacher with experience with service-learning projects to help build a paradigm-shifting high school service learning program that seeks to reinvent how we engage foster youth with criminal charges (16-18 years old). The innovative group home model takes place partly on a 65-foot sailboat named “Defy the Odds” and aims to demonstrate what happens when you empower youth with real life skills, rich experiences, and leadership/ service opportunities. SailFuture is a child welfare and juvenile justice agency based in St. Petersburg, FL that works with 16-17 year old boys in foster care who are dually served by the Department of Juvenile Justice. We are not a typical child welfare or juvenile justice agency and this position is not for an educator seeking an opportunity to teach in a traditional classroom setting. We believe that it is a privilege, not a given, to be able to help break the cycle of incarceration and generational poverty in a young man's life. As the teacher, you work side by side with a mental health counselor and captain to teach and develop six youth every day for 12-months. The teacher will have full control over their high school curriculum and the structure and specific service projects built into the service learning program. The service learning program will be fully accredited by Hillsborough County school board.
For the first 3-months of the program, the teacher will live with six students on a 65-foot sailboat and navigate more than 700 nautical miles around the coast of Florida. This unique approach is our key to building the trust and understanding necessary to truly change the trajectory of another human being's life.
Following the sailing journey, the teacher will stick with their six youth as a house parent for 8-months, living with the young men in a waterfront home in St. Pete. Leveraging the relationships built at sea, the teacher will help each young man continue to grow personally, professionally, and ensure the attainment of their GED or high school diploma. The teacher will serve as a house parent with a mental health counselor and two house coordinators.
This is a two-year position that requires a full-life commitment to the well-being and success of the kids we serve. The return is a unique opportunity to make a defined, transformational impact in the lives of some of society's most challenging youth.
Responsibilities:
- Living on a 65'; sailboat and a 4 bedroom home and assisting with daily living operations
- Responsible for the educational success of all 9 youth
- Teach service learning classes tied to each service project
- Prepare individual education assessments for each youth
- Develop an academic plan for high school graduation and post-secondary education opportunities based on each youth's education assessment Maintain weekly reports on each youth's academic progress
- Assist with enrollment for all youth re-entering traditional high school
- Nightly tutoring sessions
- Assist with job and education placement
- Drive youth to and from school, work, doctors appointments, and other activities
Minimum Qualifications:
- A passion for water, boating, swimming, or sailing
- Bachelors + 2 years teaching experience
- Valid driver's license
- First Aid / CPR (provided by SailFuture)
- De-escalation tactics (provided by SailFuture)
- Trauma Informed Care (provided by SailFuture)
- Offshore sailing competency course (provided by SailFuture)
Compensation &Benefits
- Total compensation: $45,000 base salary; Housing, food and health insurance included in compensation plan (value – $20,000)
- Salary: $25,000
- Food: $8,000
- Housing: $9,500
- $2,500 signing bonus at start of 2nd year
- 4 weeks paid vacation
To apply, please send your resume and cover letter to executive director Michael Long at
mlong@sailfuture.org
Contact:
Michael Long
MLong@sailfuture.org
(941) 219-9847
