Compliance Officer

THE AMERICAN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF

ANNOUNCES AN OPENING FOR

COMPLIANCE OFFICER

CLOSING DATE: Until filled

REV: 01/25/2024

POST: 01/25/2024

The American School for the Deaf (ASD) is the oldest school for the deaf, founded in 1817 by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. The American School for the Deaf is committed to serving deaf and hard of hearing infants, youth, and their families in development of intellect and the enhancement of quality of life utilizing specially designed instruction through an American Sign Language and English Bilingual Approach, empowering them to become educated and self-directed life-long learners.

ASD is located in West Hartford, a town recognized as one of the top ten towns for raising families. West Hartford residents value education, evidenced by the high quality of public and private schools. There is also much to do in West Hartford. There is a wide array of parks and recreation. There are pools and hiking trails. There are historic sites to visit as well. If shopping is on the list, then Blue Back Square, located in the center of town, offers many retail stores and a variety of restaurants to satisfy everyone.

Purpose:

Reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer with a dotted line reporting to the Board of Directors Audit Committee, the Compliance Officer provides direction and oversight of the school Compliance Program. In addition, the Compliance Officer serves as the schools’ internal control point for ethics, improprieties, allegations, investigations, complaints, risk assessment and conflicts of interest.

Key responsibilities include but are not limited to the following topics:

Confidential Investigations; School Policy Review including both Employee and Student policies; Contract Review; Employee Ethics and Compliance Training; and on-going Enterprise Risk Assessment.

Serves as the school subject matter expert on same.

Specifically, the Compliance Officer:

• Is the initial contact on all allegations of abuse / neglect reported within the school; conducts or supervises confidential employee investigations from initial compliant through closure of incident, keeping Human Resources and Executive Leadership appraised of all key findings. Responsible for all written summaries required by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (“DCF”), the New York Justice Center (NYJC), and any/all other investigative agencies required.
• Has a deep understanding of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and Title IX. Policy, training and education of same is required. Serves as the identified Title IX Coordinator for the School.
• Develops and implements the annual Ethics and Conflicts-of-Interest training for all school employees. Presents trainings to all newly hired employees during scheduled new hire orientations.
• Sets up and manages the overall Compliance and Enterprise Risk Assessment Program for the School, reporting findings to Executive Leadership; recommends appropriate corrective measures and/or policies needed; provides schoolwide compliance training.
• Regularly reviews the Compliance Program, recommending needed revisions and/or modifications, advising Executive Leadership and Board of Directors Audit Committee of potential compliance risk areas.
• Implements and manages a retaliation-free reporting channel that is assessable to all employees.
• Develops and oversees internal and external audits in order to monitor and detect misconduct or noncompliance. If found, formulates a solution and follows-up to ensure that the solution and/or recommendation has been implemented.
• In collaboration with Human Resources, ensures there is a mechanism in place for disciplining instances of noncompliance that is appropriate to the nature and extent of the deviation; ensures consistency of in the application of identified disciplinary action.
• Promotes and educates on the benefits of adopting control measures in key areas, influencing stakeholders to adopt corrective actions, providing updates to Executive Leadership as needed. Manages these measures on a regular basis, ensuring that the controls are capable of preventing and detecting significant instances or patterns of illegal, unethical, or improper conduct by any employee or agent, or any others working with the school.
• Ensures that the Compliance Program has effective mechanisms to reasonably determine that persons either promoted to or hired into leadership positions and/or other sensitive or key positions are properly vetted to ensure ability to comply with sensitive, confidential nature of the position and adhere to the ethics policy.
• Keeps current on changing laws and legislation relating to matters of HIPPA, Child Protective Services, Ethics, Privacy, as well as all other applicable laws and regulations.
• Annual review of existing school policy to include employee and student policies, suggesting edits as needed; writes new policy as identified by Executive Leadership or Board of Directors Audit Committee.
• Regularly reports to the Executive Leadership and the Board of Directors Audit Committee on matters related to the Compliance Program. Additionally, the Compliance Officer uses her/his/their discretion to regularly report issues to the Executive Team and the Board of Directors Audit Committee.
• Is experienced with Department of Children and Families (DCF) and/or Child Protective Services investigative process.
• Mitigates risk by reviewing current Information Technology structure both within and without IT department, assuring that all information is stored according to HIPPA and privacy regulations. Makes suggestions for improvement as needed. Special attention is paid to the on-site Student Health Center, assuring that all medical data is stored according to HIPPA and privacy regulations.
• Provides input and/or direction on any Human Resources policies and procedures, including the performance appraisal process or incentive/compensation programs, to ensure that improper conduct is discouraged and that support of any conformity with the Compliance Program is part of any performance evaluation process for all employees.
• Collaborates closely (though not limited to) with the following: Executive Leadership, Director of Operations, Human Resources Manager, Controller, Director of Student Health Center, and outside legal counsel.
• Performs other duties as assigned by the CFO, the Board of Directors Audit Committee, and/or other members of the Executive Leadership.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Advanced American Sign Language (ASL) skills necessary; fluency preferred.
• Minimum of seven years of progressive experience in the areas of Compliance and Risk Management.
• Strong influencing skills needs; preserverance in investigations, managing from initial compliant to close of file.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills necessary; solid presentation skills highly desired.
• Ability to explain complex information clearly and thoroughly in both written and oral formats; ability to create presentation material and ability to present same to audiences.
• Ability to be confidential.
• Excellent organizational skills and outstanding attention to detail necessary.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills necessary.
• Proficiency with Microsoft and Google suite of products.
• Minimum Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree or Law Degree desired.
• Auditing/CPA experience a plus
• Leadership experience desired.

Supervisory:

None

Salary and Benefits:

• Outstanding benefits package including Retirement with school matching, group health insurance, and other fringe benefits.
• $1000 sign on bonus after one year of service

ASD is ALL ways able. If you require an accommodation for applying to this position, please contact the Human Resources Department.

The American School for the Deaf does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's age, ancestry, color, genetic information, learning disability, marital status, past or present history of mental disability, intellectual disability, national origin, physical disability, race, religious creed, sex (including pregnancy, transgender status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or civil union status) work place hazards to reproductive systems, and criminal record (in state employment and licensing).

All applicants will be screened, and the most highly qualified applicants will be invited to interview.