Special Education Teacher - Behavioral Health Hospital

Special Education Teacher - Behavioral Health Hospital Setting 

Position Summary:

Create and implement a flexible, individualized special education program within a behavioral health hospital classroom setting. The teacher establishes a safe, supportive, trauma-informed learning environment that is favorable to academic progress, social-emotional growth, and transition planning while ensuring services are delivered in compliance with each student's Individualized Education Program (IEP), Oklahoma State Department of Education requirements, Oklahoma City Public Schools policies and procedures, and applicable federal and state special education requirements.

This position serves students receiving care in a behavioral health hospital setting. Hospital behavioral health technicians and/or designated hospital staff will be present in the classroom at all times and will respond to behaviors, safety issues, or clinical needs that rise above normal classroom management situations. The OKCPS teacher remains responsible for specially designed instruction, IEP implementation, educational documentation, case management, collaboration, and appropriate classroom management aligned with district and hospital procedures.

Essential Duties:

Great Teaching & Learning (Instructional Infrastructure):

Focus: Instruction, curriculum, assessment, coaching, and student learning outcomes.

• Provide specially designed instruction and educational supports consistent with each student's IEP, including goals, accommodations, modifications, service minutes, supplementary aids and services, behavior supports, and progress monitoring requirements.
• Develop lesson plans, instructional materials, specially designed instruction, and individualized or small-group learning experiences that adapt curriculum to each student's needs and identified IEP objectives.
• Teach applicable academic content, functional skills, transition skills, and other instructional areas using the course of study adopted by the Oklahoma State Department of Education and Oklahoma City's Board of Education.
• Evaluate students' academic, social, behavioral, functional, and IEP goal progress; maintain appropriate records; prepare progress reports; and communicate educational progress to parents/guardians and appropriate team members.
• Identify student needs and cooperate with other professional staff members in assessing and helping students address learning, behavioral, health-related, attitude, and transition concerns within the teacher's educational role.
• Support positive classroom behavior through proactive, instructional, and relationship-based classroom management while relying on hospital staff to address behaviors or clinical needs that rise above normal classroom management situations.

Great People (Talent Management):

Focus: Professional development, coaching, supporting staff effectiveness.

• Serve as case manager for students on the assigned caseload, including maintaining educational records, monitoring IEP implementation, coordinating required documentation, tracking progress toward IEP goals, and ensuring timelines and compliance requirements are met.
• Schedule, coordinate, and participate in IEP meetings and multidisciplinary meetings, including meetings involving parents/guardians, OKCPS staff, hospital staff, related service providers, outside agency partners when appropriate, and other required team members.
• Collaborate with hospital staff to ensure IEPs reflect the most accurate and currently available educational, behavioral, functional, and transition-related information, while maintaining appropriate confidentiality and role boundaries.
• Participate in hospital-specific training, district professional development, and joint training with hospital staff that may exceed the training expectations of a traditional classroom teacher.
• Consult and collaborate with general education teachers, related service providers, OKCPS administrators, hospital staff, parents/guardians, and receiving school teams to support student progress and continuity of services.

Great Culture (Systems Leaders):

Focus: Relationships, expectations, communication, and alignment of stakeholders.

• Establish rapport with students and provide a pleasant, safe, structured, and orderly climate conducive to learning within the behavioral health hospital classroom.
• Consult and collaborate with hospital staff to better understand student strengths, triggers, de-escalation supports, reinforcement systems, communication needs, and other information that supports safe and effective instruction.
• Use consistent vocabulary, routines, expectations, reinforcement systems, and procedures, when appropriate, to align OKCPS educational practices with hospital protocols and support continuity for students in the behavioral health facility.
• Maintain high expectations for students with disabilities and promote access to meaningful educational progress during hospitalization and transition back to school.
• Treat students with respect and dignity and maintain professional boundaries while collaborating with hospital staff to support instruction, consistency, student safety, and recovery-oriented educational engagement.

Great Systems (Support & Accountability):

Focus: Compliance, processes, documentation, resource development, and operational support.

• Ensure IEPs, progress reports, service documentation, and related educational records are completed accurately and within required timelines.
• Follow OKCPS procedures, hospital safety protocols, confidentiality requirements, emergency procedures, and partnership expectations.
• Participate in professional development and collaboration with hospital staff to support student transition back to a traditional school setting, including educational planning, reintegration support, and communication with receiving school teams as appropriate.
• Actively participate in full implementation of the OKCPS model for School Improvement and department expectations for special education service delivery.
• Recognize that OKCPS teachers provide educational services and do not provide clinical treatment, therapy, medical care, or hospital-based behavioral health services.
• Perform other duties as assigned in alignment with the district's mission and values.

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills and/or Abilities):

• Bachelor's degree in education or a related field required.
• Oklahoma special education teaching certification or alternative certification as approved by the Oklahoma State Department of Education required for the assigned program and student needs.
• Certification areas may include, as applicable to assignment: Mild-Moderate Disabilities, Severe/Profound/Multiple Disabilities, or the OSDE comprehensive special education certification, or other OSDE-approved certification areas aligned to the assignment.
• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with students, parents/guardians, OKCPS staff, hospital staff, related service providers, and community partners.
• Ability to work cooperatively and collaboratively, demonstrate self-discipline and initiative, and follow state, district, and applicable hospital partnership guidelines.
• Knowledge of IDEA requirements, IEP development, IEP implementation, progress monitoring, special education documentation, and case management responsibilities.
• Ability to participate in hospital-specific training and apply aligned vocabulary, routines, and procedures when working with students in the behavioral health setting.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with students with significant social, emotional, behavioral, autism-related, or mental health needs.
• Experience serving as an IEP case manager and facilitating multidisciplinary or IEP team meetings.
• Experience collaborating with clinical, hospital, agency, or community-based partners.
• Training or experience in trauma-informed practices, de-escalation, positive behavior supports, behavior intervention planning, or behavioral health school supports.

Physical/Mental Requirements:

• Must have adequate manual dexterity to write legibly and perform required duties on the computer.
• Must have adequate visual acuity to read, interpret and transcribe written material and other required duties.
• Requires normal range of hearing and clear speaking abilities to interact appropriately with others in person and on the telephone.
• Physical agility, able to bend, stoop, sit on the floor, walk, reach and climb stairs.
• Requires some stooping, bending, stretching and occasional lifting not to exceed 50 pounds.
• Sitting and/or standing for prolonged periods of time.
• May periodically require work outside of normal business hours, including meetings or trainings, under sometimes stressful conditions in order to meet student, district, hospital partnership, compliance, or transition needs.

Work Environment:

• Duties are performed in a behavioral health hospital classroom and related approved educational areas.
• Hospital behavioral health technicians and/or designated hospital staff are expected to remain present in the classroom to respond to safety, clinical, or behavioral needs that exceed normal classroom management.
• The work environment requires close coordination with hospital staff while maintaining OKCPS educational roles, responsibilities, and professional boundaries.

Reports To: Site Principal & OESS Administrator

FSLA Status: Exempt

Compensation: Schedule 003

Work Days:      181

FTE: 100
 

This job description is not intended to be all inclusive. The employee will also perform other reasonably related business duties as assigned by the supervisor or appropriate administrator.  Oklahoma City Public Schools reserves the right to, update, revise or change job duties as the need prevails. This document is for communication only and not intended to imply a written or implied contract of employment. The Board of Education and Superintendent may approve alternatives to the listed qualifications.