Environmental Education & Garden Hybrid Educator (North County)

Explore Ecology is hiring an Environmental Education & Garden Hybrid Educator for North County (Lompoc, Santa Ynez Valley, Orcutt, Santa Maria). The role involves leading garden education lessons, maintaining school gardens, and conducting environmental education at various sites. The position offers hourly pay starting at $18, health benefits, and requires a degree in a related field. Candidates must be comfortable traveling between multiple job sites.
Explore Ecology

Environmental & Garden Hybrid Educator Role

(North County: Lompoc, Santa Ynez Valley, Orcutt, Santa Maria)

TO APPLY, PLEASE FILL OUT OUR ONLINE APPLICATION FORM: https://forms.gle/gKkaueyA635Tj8op8

Pay and Benefits
• Hourly Pay: starting at $18 per hour
• Annual pay increase opportunity and bonuses based on performance
• Full-Time Employees: 30–40 hours per week
• Health benefits include: Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance
• 2 weeks per year of paid vacation
• 9 days per year of sick time
• 8 paid holidays per year

Breakdown of assigned roles and weekly time allotted to each role:
• Garden Education (per garden, unless otherwise noted)
• 10 hours per week of maintenance and education
• 2–4 hours per week of planning and meetings
• 1-2 days per week
• Environmental Education
• 18+ hours teaching and performing program support tasks
• 3-4 days per week

Garden Educator Role and Responsibilities ​
• Lead weekly garden education lessons in your school’s organic garden for K-8th grade students
• Maintain and submit weekly reporting
• Use a portion of your weekly assigned hours to maintain your school garden(s), growing a diverse mix of seasonal crops and perennials
• Continue to build your school's connection to the garden through garden work parties or campus beautification days, outreach to the PTA or Wellness Committees, recruiting and managing community volunteers to help with the garden, and by distributing produce harvested in the garden to the school community
• Communicate regularly with your Garden Coordinator, attend monthly and/or weekly staff meetings focused on team building, staff development, and training

Environmental Educator Role and Responsibilities
• Lead Environmental education lessons both on school campuses and at various field trip sites
• Drive to various school and field trip sites located throughout Santa Barbara County
• Perform administrative duties related to lesson supplies, lesson updates and evaluations, tracking student performance, and other duties as assigned
• Assist and support the Coordinator in marketing lessons and field trips
• Assist with upkeep of field trip locations, including keeping the field trip sites clean, organized, and stocked with lesson materials
• Staff occasional evening and weekend community and school events

Additional Qualifications and Education Requirements
• A degree in Environmental Education, Environmental Studies, Resource Conservation, related field or equivalent experience and/or experience working in a school setting or leading groups of students ages 4-13
• Must pass LiveScan (fingerprint background check) and TB test
• Self-starter, motivated to lead an innovative environmental education program and inspire the school community to follow through with techniques learned during the presentations
• Excellent written and oral communication skills (Spanish language skills desirable)
• Highly organized and able to manage multiple responsibilities
• Excellent rapport with children; experience with primary school setting, including a familiarity with curricular standards, and classroom activities
• Ability to supervise and engage small and large groups of elementary students
• Comfortable working from multiple locations and traveling between job sites and Explore Ecology offices
• Able to provide prompt transportation within Santa Barbara County and provide proof of insurance
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, Google Suite, e-mail and internet (daily access to email, Google Calendar, and Google Drive)
• Ability to attend regular staff meetings
• Ability to commit at least 30 (full-time) hours per week, including occasional weekends

Preferred Skills and Characteristics
• Environmental knowledge of waste reduction, water quality, and composting systems with an understanding of how environmental issues and ecology are related
• Strong teaching skills and experience in conducting in-class presentations to groups of elementary-aged students
• A passion to cultivate children’s connection to nature, healthy food, and culture through hands-on garden-based education
• Experience teaching and working with elementary-age students
• Experience with growing produce
• Excellent administrative and data entry skills: accurate, detail oriented, organized, time efficient, self-directed, able to multitask
• Ability to be flexible and work both independently and as a team
• Quick to learn multiple environmental lesson presentations
• Excellent interpersonal skills; able to work with coworkers and students of diverse backgrounds

About Explore Ecology

Explore Ecology is a Santa Barbara based non-profit organization that educates over 38,000 children a year, inspiring them to engage with the natural world, think critically, and experience the value of environmental stewardship. Explore Ecology programs include the Art From Scrap Creative ReUse Store, Environmental Education Program, Watershed Resource Center, and School Gardens Program. While Explore Ecology is based in Santa Barbara, we serve schools throughout Santa Barbara County and encourage applicants from throughout the county!

Explore Ecology actively promotes an environment of respect, diversity, equity, and inclusion. We support all employees regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, race, ethnic origin, color, religion, national origin, creed, marital status, disabled veteran status, or the presence of any sensory, mental, and/or physical disability that does not inhibit the performance of the specific core tasks of this position.

Underrepresented people are less likely to apply unless they meet 100% of a job's requirements. We believe in hiring people, not checklists, and encourage you to apply even if you do not check all of the boxes.

To view more open positions at Explore Ecology, please visit our website: https://exploreecology.org/get-involved/job-listings/

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time

Pay: From $18.00 per hour

Expected hours: 30 – 40 per week

Benefits:
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Schedule:
• Day shift
• Monday to Friday
• Weekends as needed

Work Location: In person