Receptionist

About Academy of Visual and Performing Arts

Academy of Visual and Performing Arts is a 6-12th grade, tuition-free public charter school for students in Fort Worth, Texas. Our mission is to provide a safe, challenging learning environment that cultivates our students’ academic and artistic excellence. We exist to ensure that all students are provided with equitable opportunities to Learn In The Arts and Learn Through The Arts.

Start Date: July 16, 2024

Type: Full-time position. Work hours are generally 8:00 am - 4:30 pm. Flexibility in work schedule is expected due to the nature of working in a start-up environment. Candidates should have flexibility to travel, work on weekends, and from home, as needed. Schedule will be adjusted to accommodate after hours assignments, as needed.

Location: Fort Worth, Texas or Remote

SUMMARY

As part of the Operations team in Operations at Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA), the receptionist role is a key part of the employee and guest experience to our school. The Receptionist serves as first point of contact for visitors and callers to AVPA by greeting, welcoming, and directing them appropriately.  This position also notifies network staff of visitor arrival, answers telephone, maintains office equipment and supplies and supports staff as a key member of a team that prides itself on providing world class customer support to our network staff, our schools and our families.

Reporting to the Director of Operations, the Receptions serves as a key member of the School Operations Team, ensuring that the campus meets high standards of organizational, operational, customer service excellence, enabling instructional leaders and staff to focus on driving strong student achievement outcomes. As an Academy of Visual and Performing Arts Receptionist, your core responsibilities, at a minimum, include:

School Operations Receptionist

• Covers the front desk responsibilities and answer phones during work hours, and with approval ensures constant coverage during breaks and meetings
• Answers incoming telephone calls, determines purpose of calls and forwards calls to appropriate person or department; retrieves voice mails and forwards as appropriate; takes and delivers accurate and complete messages; provides callers with accurate address, directions and other information
• Greets all visitors courteously, determines their needs, and announces visitors to  appropriate person or department
• Receives and sorts incoming mail, distributing to appropriate locations daily
• Sorts and weighs outgoing mail, adds postage, creates address and/or shipping  labels, and distributes to appropriate facility (post office, FedEx, etc.) daily
• Receives and signs for deliveries, and ensures delivery to addressee
• Books couriers and delivery serves as requested
• Serves as key operator for copy machines, fax machines, and other office equipment provided by the District for use by employees
• Maintains the employee break rooms daily, including ordering supplies, running  and emptying dishwasher, requests service and/or repairs to equipment when needed
• Maintains calendar and supplies for conference rooms for AVPA and partnership  requests
• Provides translation assistance for written documentation and on occasion verbal interpretation as needed
• Serves as back-up support to AVPA's Office Manager and Attendance Clerk for space management & building use/access needs and other operating needs
• Provides general and administrative support as requested
• Performs other duties as assigned

Requirements

First and foremost, the Receptionist must have an unwavering commitment to the Academy of Visual and Performing Arts’ mission and willingness to go above and beyond to meet the needs of AVPA students, families, and staff. Additionally, for this position, we’re looking for candidates that possess a combination of the following skills:

• High school diploma required, relevant degree or certification preferred
• Minimum 8-12 months of successful work experience as receptionist, office clerk, or other clerical position 
• Strong project and time management skills; ability to effectively backward plan, juggle multiple priorities with great attention to, detail, and deliver consistent and timely results
• Ability to lead, influence, and hold others accountable to high standards of operational excellence
• Strong learning orientation and desire to work in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment
• Successful criminal background check required

Required Skills/Abilities:

• Bilingual Skills: Bilingual in Spanish is required; ability to speak and understand English and Spanish;
• Communication Skills:
• Ability to read, analyze and apply common sense understanding, and to carry out instructions in English in written and oral forms;
• Ability to communicate effectively with all  levels of staff, students, and parents; ability to present information clearly in one-on-one and small group situations with visitors and other employees.
• Task Management Skills:
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously and complete assignments with minimum direction and supervision
• Demonstrated organizational, prioritization, communication, customer service, supervision, and interpersonal skills required to achieve the goals of the position
• Demonstrated proficiency and experience in word processing, databases, spreadsheets, and graphic applications
• Demonstrated ability to interact effectively with all levels of district personnel
• Technology: To perform this job successfully, an individual should be proficient in Microsoft Office applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Google Suite and Outlook). Ability to use and maintain basic office equipment, providing assistance when requested.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to sit and use the wrists, hands and/or fingers. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; climb or balance. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. Work at a desk and computer screen for extended periods of time.

Work Environment: The work environment is representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Work in a traditional climate-controlled environment. The environment requires close proximity to other employees, frequent interruptions, extended periods of time sitting, viewing a computer screen, and noise levels from low to high. May occasionally be required to lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. There may be activity from other employees and students of a distracting nature.

Benefits

What We Offer

Academy of Visual and Performing Arts’ compensation philosophy is to pay competitively for the 6-12 charter market to ensure equity across our institution. The salary for this role is $15-$18 hourly. AVPA is committed to internal pay equity throughout our organization. Because of this, we do not negotiate salary offers outside our salary bands. We offer a competitive benefits package with comprehensive health benefits. All staff members are equipped with the tools needed to succeed, including relevant and quality professional development, laptop computer, email, and all necessary supplies.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Academy of Visual and Performing Arts provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.