Administrative Assistant III - Child Nutrition Services

Title: Administrative Assistant 3 - Child Nutrition Services

Salary

$47,100.00 - $63,252.00 Annually

Location 

Thurston County – Olympia, WA

Job Type

Project (limited duration)

Remote Employment

Flexible/Hybrid

Job Number

2025-08937

Department

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Division

Child Nutrition Services

Job Description:

(1 year project position) 

$47,100 – $63,252 annually

The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) seeks to fill an Administrative Assistant 3 in our Child Nutrition Services division. This full-time temporary position is based in Olympia, Washington. During onboarding you will be required to be in-person five (5) days a week. After onboarding, this position requires at least 3 days a week in office and up to 2 telework days. Telework is a combination of in-building and off-site days. We encourage interested candidates to visit the OSPI website to gain insight into our agency.

About OSPI and our initiatives

OSPI is the primary agency charged with overseeing public K–12 education in Washington state. Working with the state's 295 public school districts and 7 state-tribal education compact schools, OSPI allocates funding and provides tools, resources, and technical assistance so every student in Washington is provided a high-quality public education.

At OSPI, we recognize that our employees are the key to the success of the agency. We are committed to our work but value the balance with our personal lives. We demonstrate our commitment to employees by providing an environment that stimulates professional growth and values them for their expertise. OSPI is a great place to work and has several initiatives to help create a great working environment, including:

• We support a healthy work/life balance by offering flexible/alternative work schedules and mobile and telework options. (Depending on job duties and work location.)

• We have an Infant at Work Program that is based on long-term values of newborns and infant-parent bonding. Eligible employees who are new parents or legal guardians can bring their infant (six weeks to six months) when returning to work. (Depending on job duties and work location.)
• We value and are actively involved in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within OSPI by way of cross-divisional, collaborative committee. The focus of the committee includes employee engagement and education; reinforcing OSPI values; and maximizing the value of diversity and identifying strategies for inclusion.

Vision, Mission, and Values 
 Vision: All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement.
 
Mission: Transform K–12 education to a system that is centered on closing opportunity gaps and is characterized by high expectations for all students and educators. We achieve this by developing equity-based policies and supports that empower educators, families, and communities.

Values: Ensuring Equity, Collaboration and Service, Achieving Excellence through Continuous Improvement, Focus on the Whole Child

Equity

Each student, family, and community possesses strengths and cultural knowledge that benefits their peers, educators, and schools. Ensuring educational equity:

• Goes beyond equality; it requires education leaders to examine the ways current policies and practices result in disparate outcomes for our students of color, students living in poverty, students receiving special education and English Learner services, students who identify as LGBTQ+, and highly mobile student populations.
• Requires education leaders to develop an understanding of historical contexts; engage students, families, and community representatives as partners in decision-making; and actively dismantle systemic barriers, replacing them with policies and practices that ensure all students have access to the instruction and support they need to succeed in our schools.

Position Overview

Child Nutrition Services (CNS) is a division of OSPI that assists school districts and other institutions in providing quality nutrition programs that promote life-long healthful living while providing nutritious meals each day that prepare children for learning. Working with the USDA, CNS manages multiple USDA regulated programs such as National School Lunch Program, Afterschool Snack Program, Seamless Summer Option, Special Milk Program, Farm to Child Nutrition Programs, Child and Adult Care Programs and more. 

CNS is one of the largest divisions at OSPI with a staff of almost60and a support team of5. Our specialists travel throughout Washington state to observe meal service and ensure sponsors are complying with USDA regulations. CNS isa great place to work and has several initiatives to help create a great working environment, including:

• We are a passionate and fun group that is dedicated to supporting our programs to provide nutritious meals to children and adults in Washington state.

AA3 positions in CNS provide daily communication and administrative support to internal staff and customers. These positions work under general direction of the program directors and provides support to program staff and customers. This position collaborates with other members of CNS to contribute to the overall success of the CNS team.

Key Responsibilities

The majority of tasks for this position will be: travel support and admin support

Administrative Support to Director/Department

• Keeps supervisor apprised of urgent, confidential & sensitive/confidential situations
• Process mail
• Meets with team regularly to prioritize workload & tasks & coordinate schedules
• Create or maintain office databases, distribution lists, and/or other filing systems
• Performs complex word processing tasks (merging, sorting, integrating text w/graphics)
• Maintain office/inventory supplies/track
• Receptionist/front desk support

• Reports on work assignments/project status information
• Maintains calendars & scheduling
• Ensure compliance & process requests in accordance with state, federal & agency policy & procedure
• Engages in independent and collaborative professional development opportunities to include DEIB learning as directed by the department and division, other mandatory trainings, etc.

Meeting & Event Coordination and Support

• Schedule meetings, record minutes/compile & distribute & take notes
• Meeting/event on-site setup, registration, technology support, document distribution, customer support
• Prepare meeting documents (expense forms, committee/consultant forms, notices, agendas, PowerPoint, etc.)
• Schedules & reserves meeting & conference locations (rooms, venues, etc.)
• Travel reservations (plane, car, hotel, etc.)
• Virtual meeting-set up, support, break out rooms, polls, chats, posting materials, etc. 
• Utilize software for closed captioning

Communications Support

• Create & support surveys
• Review & verify all materials (forms, presentations etc.) to agency standards and ensure ADA compliance
• Respond to phone calls & emails and provide program information and technical assistance
• Compose correspondence, bulletins & other official communications in accordance with agency standards
• Monitor and/or updates program/department website/intranet (draft content, submit requests, review for updates/corrections)

Records Management

• Conducts & ensures compliance with paper/electronic retention & archiving requirements

• provide support for public records requests

Fiscal Support for Travel, Purchasing, Contracts, Grants, and Budget in accordance with State (SAAM), Federal, and Agency Policy

Travel Support 

• Prepare & maintain travel requests, process travel reimbursement, expense vouchers, registration purchase requests, stay current on state & agency policy & procedures
• Monitor travel requests and reimbursements throughout the process, collaborate with agency staff as needed to get paperwork completed, approved and finalized
• Prepare and manage Purchase Requests

Contract support 

• Draft, format, edit, submit, monitor and pay invoices

Grant support 

• Draft, edit and submit requests, track deliverables and expenditures, and draft reports

Fiscal support

• Process invoices
• Monitor, track program budget and provide expenditure estimates and/or updates as necessary

Other Duties as Assigned

• Support Human Resource activities (recruitments, personnel action requests, hiring requests, Evaluation and Expectations)
• Provide coverage for other departments/divisions as needed.

Required Qualifications:

• High school graduation or GED equivalent AND three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in utilizing organizational skills in office/clerical, secretarial, bookkeeping, accounting, or general administrative skills or work experience OR
  
  Associates degree AND two (2) years of progressively responsible experience in in utilizing organizational skills in office/clerical, secretarial, bookkeeping, accounting, or general administrative skills or work experience OR
  
  Bachelor’s degree AND one (1) year of experience in utilizing organizational skills in office/clerical, secretarial, bookkeeping, accounting, or general administrative skills or work experience.

 

• This position requires the ability to attend mandatory in-person meetings, trainings, or events that may be additional in-person days outside of approved telework agreement.

This position may be eligible for partial telework up to two (2) days per week after the initial onboarding period which is dependent on the successful candidate.
 

Preferred/Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working with budgets.
• Intermediate level (formulas, pivot tables,etc) experience with Excel.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite. 
• Experience with or ability to learn new programs/software such as SharePoint, GovDelivery,PdEnroller, Moodle,Alchemer, GoToMeeting, andiGrants.
• Understanding of state compliance regulations as related to purchasing, travel, and contracts.
• Experience coordinating trainings both in-person and virtual.
• Experience with file maintenance, record retention, and organization.
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize work for self and others, and handles short deadlines and high-pressure situations.
• Ability to work effectively as a team member.

Compensation
The annual compensation for the position is $47,100 – $63,252 annually and depends upon experience, educational background and qualifications. Geographic differentials may be applied based on work location of successful candidate. Washington State offers a generous benefit package including health, dental and life insurance, retirement and an optional deferred compensation program. Please visit Health Care Authority for information regarding health benefits and the Department of Retirement Systems for retirement plan information. This is a general service position. This position is not represented by a bargaining unit.