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Board Assistant - Internship in an Employee-Owned Cooperative Special Education School

Position Title: Board Assistant - Internship in an Employee-Owned Cooperative Special Education School


Organization Profile: The New School of Montpelier is a learning community committed to preparing individuals with unique and complex challenges for successful lives, using evidence-based practices to promote independence, communication, social/emotional skills and academic growth, all within a culture of safety and belonging.
The school has been in operation since 2006, and has been an employee-owned cooperative since 2015. The school currently employs 78 staff to support 39 students and clients with intensive needs. After working here for two years, employees are eligible to become members of the co-op. We follow the public school calendar, plus a 5-week summer program. 
Our main campus in Montpelier, which shares a green with the Vermont College of Fine Arts, is home to three programs: The Radioflyers Program, serving elementary and middle school students with intensive behavioral needs, the Summit Program, serving high school students who benefit from an alternative placement, and the Bridge Program, serving students with intensive communication challenges. Our Glover Program serves students with high needs in the Northeast Kingdom area. And our new Burelli Farm Adult/Alumni Program in Berlin, serves adults who need continued services, including adults who have graduated from our other programs. 
As an organization dedicated to supporting individuals with diverse needs and backgrounds, we are proud to follow the Vermont Independent School Association’s policies on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.


Internship Overview: The Board of Directors, elected by the worker-owners who are members of the Cooperative, is looking for a Board Assistant to take notes at meetings and organize documents for the Board. The intern will have the opportunity to assist in educating unique learners with a variety of disabilities and behavioral challenges, learning about our mission and how we support students in each of our five programs. The intern will also have the opportunity to learn about our unique governance structure as the largest employee-owned cooperative in the state of Vermont, and assist in improving our systems for effective governance. In addition to working with the board and learning about the different parts of the organization, the intern will be able to choose one out of a few possible projects to contribute to the growth of the organization.

The internship will take place at the three programs on our Montpelier campus, which are Bridge, Summit, and Radioflyers, as well as our Glover campus in the Northeast Kingdom and our Burelli Farm Adult/Alumni Program campus in Berlin, near Montpelier.

The internship can be up to 200 hours at $20/hour. The timeframe for these days will include the last three weeks of our school year, May 30 - June 16, a two-day Board Retreat during our June Break, and our Summer Program from July 5- August 4. An estimated 20 hours of this will be Board Assistant work. The other hours can be flexible depending on the intern’s interests. 

The ideal candidate would be interested in continuing in the Board Assistant position for the duration of the school year, for approximately 4 hours a month. This would involve taking notes during a monthly meeting from 3:30-5:30 pm, retouching the notes, and organizing associated documents. At the conclusion of the internship in August, the pay would increase to $25/h and the meetings could be attended remotely. 


Job Description:
  • Board Assistant 
  • Up to twelve hours for training, reading, and setting up systems to accomplish tasks
  • A two-day Board Retreat
  • Monthly Board Meetings from 3:30 to 5:30
  • Take notes, finalize the notes, and organize relevant documents in Google Shared Drives
  • Substitute Student Support Specialist (Behavior Interventionist)
  • Be assigned to a program for a full day at a time, with priority given to programs who have staff absent on that day
  • Work with students, follow behavior plans, and take data, with direction from program staff
  • Attend community outings with student groups - lots of time outdoors in the Summer
  • Act as a team member, offering support where it is needed
  • Learn about the student populations who our organization serves, the services and philosophies that help them succeed, and the kinds of incredible people who work together to make it happen
  • Project of Interest
  • The intern will have the opportunity to choose a project to complete during the course of the internship, depending on individual interest. A few examples of projects which would be a learning experience for an intern and a benefit to the organization would be:
  • Bylaw Review and Update: Participate on a committee which will be reviewing and updating the school's bylaws. Contribute by researching how other cooperatives write their bylaws, particularly around a few issues, such as board structure, dividend payouts, and/or elections. In collaboration with a group, the intern will produce an updated set of bylaws which will bring better structure to the cooperative.  
  • Farm Improvement Project: Participate on the Burelli Farm Vision Committee, which will be choosing a project to be completed on the farm property for students to enjoy. Some example ideas are a disc golf course, a climbing wall, an outdoor classroom, a trail system, etc. The committee will choose one, and with assistance and support from others on the committee, the intern will manage/complete the project. The intern will also help to educate groups of students with various disabilities and behavior challenges, who come to assist with the project as a class activity.
  • Board Secretary Onboarding Materials Creation: The intern will learn the newly created Board Secretary role, and formalize the role to make it easier for different people to seamlessly flow in and out of the role in the future. This will include creating onboarding materials, improving and formalizing the system for organizing documents, and creating task checklists and example board meeting notes to help prepare the next Board Secretary for the role. 
  • Self-Designed Education-Related Project. We are happy to discuss this further with an intern interested in Education.

Learning Objectives: 
  • Interns will learn about the governance an employee-owned business
  • Interns will learn about participating on a Board of Directors
  • Interns will gain experience taking notes and maintaining public documents that affect  many people within a business
  • Interns will learn about ways to support special education students of a wide age range and with a wide variety of disabilities and behavioral challenges
  • Interns will receive on-the-job training in de-escalation skills, following through on behavior plans, and taking behavioral data
  • Interns will experience working in the culture of an employee-owned cooperative, and experience the independence and interconnectedness of the programs that make up the organization


Intern Qualifications: 
  • Open to different majors and backgrounds. Examples of those who might be a good fit would be business students interested in alternative governance structures, or education students interested in special education.
  • Characteristics of successful candidate:
  • Strong organization skills
  • Clear and succinct writing skills
  • Ability to summarize and seek clarification of oral discussions
  • Proficient with Google Docs
  • Enthusiastic and open to new challenges
  • Kind and caring
  • Must be able to pass a background check


This internship is funded in part by the Statewide Internship Project Pilot, a partnership between the UVM Office of Engagement and the Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation (CVEDC). Enrolled UVM students will be paid no less than $20/hour and will be part of a cohort of Central Vermont interns who will participate in paid, weekly professional development workshops hosted by UVM and CVEDC. This program is part of a consortium with MiddWorks, working on behalf of Vermont communities through building and supporting a vibrant talent pipeline. Inquiries about the Statewide Internship Project Pilot should be directed to Kristen.Andrews@uvm.edu