Holyoke, MA | Full Time | Salary $40-50k DOE | School-Year Schedule includes 4 Weeks Paid Vacation

About LightHouse Holyoke

LightHouse is changing what school can be. We are an accredited, nonprofit middle and high school serving private-pay families on a sliding scale alongside youth funded through public district contracts in a hyper-diverse learning community. Our competency-based approach is grounded in relationship-based, trauma-informed practice. We serve youth in grades 7–12 who are looking for a new way to school—especially those who are neurodivergent, system-involved, or seeking a more human and inspired approach to education. We center belonging, purpose, and real-world learning in everything we do.

Our vision is to be a reflection of the world we want to see; a world where young people are celebrated for their individual gifts and identities, where all people are invited to learn with each other, from each other, and for each other, guided by a shared goal of connection and responsibility.

About the Role

At LightHouse, every student has an Advisor.

More than a teacher, more than a guidance counselor, and more than an academic coach, the Advisor is each student's primary adult advocate at school. Advisors build deep relationships with a cohort of 10–15 students and their families, helping young people navigate academics, relationships, identity, purpose, and the transition into adulthood.

This is the heart of the LightHouse model.

We believe relationships—not compliance—are the foundation of learning. We believe young people are naturally driven to learn, create, and contribute when they feel known, challenged, and supported. Our Advisors don't manage students through rewards and punishments. They coach, guide, question, encourage, and challenge them to become increasingly capable of directing their own lives.

Self-direction does not mean "anything goes." It is a carefully scaffolded process of gradually transferring responsibility from adult to young person. Advisors are constantly searching for the sweet spot between support and independence—providing enough structure that students can succeed while steadily building the confidence, judgment, and habits they will benefit from long after they leave LightHouse.

The work is deeply relational, highly individualized, intellectually challenging, and enormously rewarding. It requires emotional intelligence, flexibility, curiosity, and an appreciation for the complexity, humor, resilience, and possibility of adolescence.

Key Responsibilities

Advising & Student Coaching

• Build strong, trusting relationships with a cohort of approximately 10–15 students and their families
• Lead an engaging, one-hour, daily cohort session building relationships between youth in the cohort, developing group projects, and supporting individualized academic progress and personalized goal-setting
• Meet individually with each advisee every week to review goals, celebrate growth, address challenges, and identify and document meaningful next steps
• Coach students through academic, social, and personal development using a strengths-based, relationship-centered approach
• Help students discover meaningful learning opportunities both inside and outside of school, including internships, employment, mentorships, community experiences, travel, entrepreneurship, and independent projects
• Support students in developing increasing independence, self-awareness, responsibility, and confidence over time
• Maintain detailed advising notes and student records to support individualized learning
• Teach and support students to document their own goals, plans, and progress

Family Partnership

• Serve as each family's primary point of contact at LightHouse
• Maintain regular communication through weekly check-ins, celebrations, updates, and collaborative problem-solving
• Build strong partnerships with caregivers, therapists, district staff, mentors, and other members of each student's support network, as appropriate
• Respond to families with professionalism, empathy, and timely communication

Learning Community

• Foster a welcoming, inclusive, and emotionally safe learning environment
• Support restorative conversations, conflict resolution, and community-building practices
• Encourage curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and authentic engagement in learning
• Work closely with colleagues to ensure every student feels known, challenged, and supported
• Contribute to a school culture where belonging and accountability exist together
• Teach at least one class per trimester on a topic of your choice

Professional Practice

• Participate actively in twice weekly staff meetings, professional development, and school-wide initiatives
• Engage in ongoing reflection about educational practice and personal growth
• Complete required documentation, mandated reporter training, and other compliance responsibilities
• Embrace experimentation, feedback, and continuous learning as we continue to redefine what school can be
• Intention to stay with advisory cohort through their graduation year

Qualifications & Characteristics

We're looking for educators, mentors, youth workers, artists, coaches, counselors, and community leaders who believe that meaningful relationships can change lives.

Required

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Deep commitment to trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and relationship-based practice
• Ability to build trust while maintaining healthy professional boundaries
• Excellent organizational skills and follow-through
• Belief that all young people are capable of meaningful growth when given authentic relationships, high expectations, support, and care

Preferred

• Experience working with adolescents
• Experience with competency-based, project-based, alternative, or experiential education
• Familiarity with Holyoke or similar communities
• Bilingual in Spanish and English
• Experience working with neurodivergent youth or youth who have experienced educational disruption

Personal Attributes

• Warm, curious, and deeply relational
• Patient and emotionally grounded
• Flexible and comfortable with uncertainty and change
• Creative problem-solver
• Reflective and collaborative
• Able to balance empathy with accountability
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Appreciates the joy, unpredictability, and transformative potential of adolescence

Position Details & Values

• Full-time position following the school-year calendar
• Monday–Friday schedule with occasional evening family events
• Advising cohort of approximately 10–15 students
• Paid time off includes school vacations, holidays, plus sick/personal time
• Optional employer-sponsored health benefits provided

Our Commitment

We are deeply committed to inclusion, justice, and collective liberation. This position requires a commitment to our community values and a dedication to personal growth. We acknowledge that traditional higher education systems and many hiring pipelines favor wealthy, white Americans. As a learning institution, we care deeply about what you've learned throughout the course of your life, and we believe strong candidates develop leadership and professional skills in many different ways.

We do not drug test, though being under the influence of drugs or alcohol while at work is strictly prohibited. We do run CORI/SORI background checks as one safety measure. We acknowledge the racism embedded in legal and carceral systems and are committed to hiring practices rooted in care and dignity.

How to Apply

To apply, please send a statement of interest to Executive Director Catherine Gobron at catherine@lighthouseholyoke.org. Please share why this position appeals to you, what draws you to relationship-centered education, and what you feel you would bring to the organization. We look forward to meeting you!

Equal Opportunity Employer

LightHouse Holyoke is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, disability, or any other protected category. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and encourage Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA+ individuals, disabled people, and people with non-dominant identities to apply.