Job Description

Three-Month Leave of Absence

A Full-Time Faculty Position from November 21, 2024, through February 21, 2025, including 2-3 days of cross-training with our colleague going on leave

NPES is looking for a multi-faceted, dynamic, engaging, and culturally responsive Art Teacher to join our co-curricular team of teachers in Art, Music, Drama, Spanish, Library/Media Center, and Physical Education. In addition to teaching approximately ten Art classes weekly across grades three through eight–a total of ten periods of formal art instruction per week–the Grades 3-8 Art Teacher engages in the additional responsibilities described below in the section entitled “Responsibilities Beyond the Art Classroom.”

Responsibilities Related to Classroom Instruction in Art

• Design, plan, and implement a culturally diverse art curriculum that empowers students to express themselves authentically and creatively; that builds skills in various genres of visual art; and that assists students in exploring and developing their own identities while developing curiosity and knowledge about the identities of others (a curriculum that offers both mirrors and windows for all).
• Prepare and implement differentiated instruction, activities, and assessments that enable all learners to find success in Art, with honest effort and open minds.
• Build relationships with students so they are actively and meaningfully engaged in their work and integrate student choice (optionality) into at least three units at all grade levels.
• Create and maintain a welcoming, interesting, affirming, and safe classroom environment for all students, one in which listening, patience, sharing, and respect are valued and practiced.
• Differentiate instruction in visual art so all learners can learn and grow in their appreciation of art and in their skills.
• Assist the Preschool through 2nd Grade Art Teacher in teaching designated lessons requiring two instructors because of the process, challenge level, or safety concerns (and they do the same for you when possible).
• Collaborate with the Preschool through 2nd Grade Art Teacher to maintain a school-wide scope and sequence (skills, concepts) and culturally responsive visual arts program.

Responsibilities Beyond the Art Classroom

• Curate rotating exhibits of student art throughout the school building, and in area galleries and other local spaces as opportunities arise.
• Maintain the school’s online student galleries at Artsonia.
• Sponsor a Middle School Art Club during the students’ lunch/recess period 1x weekly.
• Offer a Middle School Art elective course and serve as a Middle School advisor or co-advisor.
• Other duties as assigned by the Head of School, i.e., serving as a back-up substitute teacher in other areas of the school during designated periods.

Compensation and Benefits

• A positive, engaging, and supportive work environment that values authenticity, collaboration, well-being, gratitude, and cultural responsiveness
• Access to relevant and meaningful professional development opportunities, with faculty voice in the process
• A competitive salary for Chicago-area independent school educators
• The opportunity to lead after school clubs and activities with additional compensation via stipends
• A present, accessible, and supportive administrative team with an open-door policy and an interest in considering and implementing faculty ideas when feasible
• Not eligible for participation in the school’s health insurance or retirement programs; paid-time off is proportional to the FTE

About NPES

North Park Elementary School is an independent school accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) located in Chicago's North Center-Ravenswood community. NPES currently serves 239 students in Preschool through 8th Grade.

Location/Accessibility

NPES is located in Chicago’s North Center/Ravenswood community. We are accessible by the CTA Brown Line (the station is three blocks east of the school, on Montrose), the north-south CTA Damen Bus (#50 Bus), the east-west CTA Montrose Bus (#78), and the METRA train to both the suburbs and downtown Chicago (the Ravenswood Station is .8 miles from the school).  Ample free street parking is available within one block of the school.  The walkable community surrounding our school offers many amenities, including shopping, dining, parks and recreation.

Qualifications include

• Bachelor’s degree in Art, Art Education, Fine Arts, or a related field; Master’s preferred
• Experience teaching students Art, preferably in an elementary school setting.

• Exemplary teaching skills focused with intentionality on preparation, process, purpose, adaptability, and a growth mindset.

• An understanding of the developmental needs of elementary school students at various stages (intellectually and social-emotionally) and the ability to structure and maintain a healthy, respectful, and positive classroom community.
• Experience in and a commitment to including all learners in art instruction regardless of ability or differences in how one learns.
• A commitment to and the cultural competence necessary to contribute with intention to an affirming, inclusive, equitable, and just community for all.
• A growth mindset (seeing mistakes as opportunities for growth), an open-mind, and a belief that learning, while it involves struggle and the need for resilience, should also be a joyful experience. 
• Ability to work collaboratively with fine arts colleagues and other teachers to support and extend the objectives of the curriculum and to celebrate students’ creative self-expression.

About North Park Elementary School

North Park Elementary School is an independent school accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) located in Chicago's North Center-Ravenswood community. North Park serves 239 students in Preschool through 8th Grade Our students grow in the context of a positive, authentic, and committed independent school community of educators who know and appreciate them, peers who care for and support them, and parents and caregivers who engage meaningfully in our community. We are dedicated to raising confident, self-reliant individuals in partnership with families, instilling a sense of curiosity, a passion for learning, and a commitment to impacting the broader community in positive ways. North Park seeks to nurture curiosity, spark creativity, and sustain a vibrant, inclusive, community that supports all students, helping them become the best version of themselves. North Park believes that diversity is a critical source of strength for all. For more on the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, visit

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