Clear Spring School is hiring an outdoor educator to anchor our middle and high school program on 20 wooded acres in the Ozarks of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We want someone whose professional identity is grounded in place and the natural world — someone who came up through wilderness education, conservation work, or place-based learning and is ready to build a program, not just teach inside one.
This is a full-time faculty role for the 2026–27 school year. If a 20-acre wooded campus, a school of 65 students in buildings nestled in the trees, and a neurodivergent-welcoming community of 10–15 teenagers sounds like the right fit — read on.
About CSS
Clear Spring School is a 52-year-old progressive independent school serving preschool through 12th grade. Our 20-acre campus in the Ozarks includes five main buildings nestled in the woods, a cabin that serve as our library, and a few more that are works in progress — including one that a local Eurekan once used to make and sell organic ketchup. It is the kind of campus with real history, real character, and real potential. We run a structured camping program, a thematic block schedule (blocks vary in length depending on the year and subject), and a four-day student week — students attend Tuesday through Friday, with Mondays reserved for faculty professional learning. CSS holds the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission School of Conservation Leadership designation — and our Head of School has been named an AGFC Administrator of Conservation Education for 2026–27 as a direct result of that standing. These are not aspirational partnerships; they are institutional credentials that need a faculty member to bring them to life in the classroom. Our long-term vision is to become a regional lab school for progressive, place-based education.
The Role
This is a building role, not a filling role. You would:
- Design and lead environmental science and outdoor education curriculum for grades 5–12 using the Ozarks — its ecology, geology, waterways, and wildlife — as the primary learning environment
- Lead the school's camping and travel program for MS/HS, building intentional outdoor curriculum into every overnight experience
- Build curriculum around CSS's AGFC School of Conservation Leadership designation and the Head of School's role as AGFC Administrator of Conservation Education — immersive experiences in caving, waterfowl, and watershed science that need a teacher to turn them into a program
- Collaborate with two humanities colleagues on interdisciplinary thematic blocks integrating environmental science with literature, history, and the arts
- Help develop CSS's outdoor infrastructure — trail, amphitheater, garden spaces — as curriculum rather than backdrop
Who We Are Looking For
We care more about who you are than what your credentials look like. The person we are looking for probably has:
- A background in environmental science, conservation, natural resources, or wilderness education — with real field experience
- Familiarity with place-based education (Teton Science Schools, NOLS, Antioch PBE, Take Me Outside, or comparable pipelines)
- Experience with adolescents who have struggled in conventional settings — you know the outdoors is a leveling environment and you know how to use it that way
- The disposition to build: you want to design a program, not execute one someone else designed
- Comfort in a small school where roles are not rigid and the curriculum lives at the intersection of subjects
What We Offer
- $28,000–$35,000 salary based on qualifications
- Monday professional learning day — a structural commitment to teacher growth, not a scheduling convenience
- 20 wooded acres in the Ozarks, buildings nestled in the trees, trails, garden spaces, and a new playground and amphitheater under development — a campus with real character
- Genuine autonomy to design the program you believe in
- Eureka Springs, Arkansas: a distinctive arts and outdoor community embedded in the Ozark mountains
How to Apply
Send a letter of interest, your resume, and one piece of work you are proud of — a curriculum, a program, a field experience, or a piece of writing about your teaching philosophy. The letter matters more than the resume. Tell us who you are and why this place sounds right for you.
Pay: $28,000.00 - $35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Paid time off
- Professional development assistance
- Tuition reimbursement
Work Location: In person
