Kindergarten - 5th Grade Library and Media Specialist (Exempt, Full-time position)

Chinese American International School (CAIS) • San Francisco

OPPORTUNITY

Join the vibrant community at the Chinese American International School’s new Forever Home campus on 19th Avenue as a Bilingual (Mandarin/English) Library, Media, and Information Specialist. Experienced librarians and lead teachers with a strong ability and willingness to take on a new role and skillset are invited to become part of a team striving to be the world’s most innovative, inspiring, and influential Chinese English dual-language immersion school.

OUR IDEAL CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate finds resonance with CAIS’s mission to Embrace Chinese, Become Our Best Selves, and Contribute to a Better World; our Core Values of Courage, Curiosity, Inclusion, Kindness, and Perseverance; and our Strategic Vision 2020-2025 to Reimagine CAIS, Reimagine Success. As CAIS aims to empower independent, effective, and inspired learners, we look for a candidate with vision and skills to build our new home’s library program. Our world-class facility awaits the creative and programmatic expertise of a specialist who will develop the library into an academic and community hub of our school. This candidate will collaborate with homeroom teachers to implement research and media literacy skills, along with nurturing the reading lives of all students. Within the framework of a strong curricular vision supported by English and Chinese program directors, the candidate will enjoy considerable autonomy in developing this program. CAIS offers a dynamic, dual culture setting in which faculty are immersed in a culture of language learners. We look for a candidate who will embrace CAIS’s work to create an equitable, inclusive environment where all faculty, students, and families are supported in their individual identities. We welcome all applicants who aim to actively support and participate in our diverse and inclusive community.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

● Develop a vision and program for our beautiful new library space

● Maintain a relevant, engaging, developmentally appropriate book collection in Mandarin and English languages

● Create and maintain a physically inviting, functional, student-centered library space

● Partner with English and Chinese faculty to provide resources to support curriculum and instruction

● Build and implement a media literacy and digital citizenship curriculum

● Build on CAIS students’ love of reading by establishing the library as a community hub with appropriate and engaging programming (eg book challenges, book clubs, displays)

● Partner with teachers to create developmentally appropriate research guides for curricular units and support in classroom research process

● Provide teachers resources with emergent curricular topics based off of current events or class areas of interest

● Support and extend the curriculum in myriad creative ways

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

● BA or BS; classroom or library experience; commitment to develop skills as a library and information specialist

● Has at least three years of classroom experience

● Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and managerial skills and a cooperative team approach

● Effective written and verbal communication skills

● Initial and continued criminal background clearance by DOJ and FBI

● Initial and continued tuberculosis clearance

VALUED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

We value, but do not require, the following attributes:

● Teaching credential, Master’s in Education (M.Ed.), MLIS, or equivalent

● MLIS degree or willingness to work toward one

● Native or near-native Mandarin proficiency strongly preferred

BENEFITS & COMPENSATION

The CAIS Board of Trustees and administration are expressly dedicated to ensuring that CAIS is a great place to work. The school is committed to attracting, developing, retaining, and rewarding top-tier employees with a strong benefits package. The salary range for this position is: $85,900-$115,900 based on experience. Please see the final page for a description of benefits.

ABOUT CAIS

As the nation’s first Mandarin Immersion Preschool through 8th grade school, CAIS embodies our mission by working continuously to maintain our role as a leader in immersion education. We value honest self-assessment, thoughtful self-reflection, intentional planning, and focused implementation. We are known as an ambitious school, and we are making substantial progress on our multi-year vision to reimagine immersion, reimagine our culture of learning, reimagine character and community, and reimagine our learning spaces. Since 2021, we have been using our new campus on 19th Avenue in San Francisco for athletics, arts, and community events. In September 2024, our entire community began the school year at our newly renovated Forever Home, which more than doubles the program space from our former Hayes Valley locations and allows all divisions to be together on one spectacular campus.

TO APPLY

CAIS’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is central to our mission. People of color and LGBTQIA candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Email cover letter, resume, and list of references to lower_school_jobs@cais.org. In the subject line please indicate: Library and Media Specialist. Please no calls.

Applications will be accepted through 6/30/2025.