Occupational Therapist — Independent Contractor - DC Public Charter Schools 

We built this role for the therapist who wants to run their own practice — without having to go build one.

You’ve thought about it. Going out on your own, setting your own hours, keeping what you earn, answering to your clinical judgment instead of someone else’s productivity report. What’s stopped you is everything that comes with it: finding the contracts, negotiating the rates, chasing the invoices, learning school-system politics from scratch.

We’ve already done that part. We’re offering you the rest of it.

Skills on the Hill is a pediatric OT, PT, and speech practice that has served DC and Northern Virginia since 2003. We hold service contracts with DC public charter schools, and we’re contracting with licensed OTs to deliver them. The students are enrolled. The caseloads exist. The rate is set.

What’s different here

You set the schedule. Tell us your availability, and we’ll match you to caseloads that fit. One school on Tuesdays or four days a week across the district — both are real answers.

You practice the way you practice. Your clinical methods, your materials, your judgment. We don’t hand down treatment protocols, we don’t require trainings, and we don’t supervise your work. You’re a licensed professional and we’re going to contract with you like one.

No unpaid hours. No staff meetings, no productivity targets, no mandatory in-services, no hours spent in a building because someone expects you to be in the building. You’re paid for the service you deliver.

We handle the administrative weight. We hold and manage the contract with the school. We coordinate your clearances, health documentation, and required paperwork with each campus, and we verify everything before you start. You’re not cold-calling a charter school’s operations director.

Caseloads that exist right now. These are contracts we already hold. Nothing to build from zero, nothing to wait for.

A note on compensation

We’ll be straight with you, because we always are.

Our base rate is competitive for DC school-based contract work. Where this role gets interesting is group programming — your hourly rate climbs steeply with the size of the group, and a therapist who builds a group-heavy caseload of students who are an appropriate fit for one another can more than double what the same hours would pay in 1:1.

We’ll also be straight with you about the other side of it. As an independent contractor you carry your own liability insurance, your own supplies and assessment tools, your own self-employment tax, your own retirement, your own health coverage, and your own paid-time-off math. Price it out honestly before you say yes. We’d rather you run the numbers than discover them in April.

Treatment — your hourly rate rises with the size of the group:

That is deliberate. Group programming can be motivating for some students and good for your schedule, so we price it so you earn substantially more per hour without adding hours to your week. A full afternoon of groups is a very different paycheck than a full afternoon of 1:1.

Everything else:

Evaluation — assessment, scoring, and completed written report - flat rate

IEP meetings and consultation — you are paid for your time

Invoiced biweekly, paid on a defined cycle. No chasing us.

If you want benefits, mentorship, and a team around you, we also hire clinicians as full-time employees — and we’d genuinely rather talk to you about that role if it’s the better fit. This one is for the clinician who wants autonomy and is prepared to fund it.

What you’ll do

•Evaluate, plan, and deliver individualized school-based OT services for students on your assigned caseload

•Write evaluations and progress documentation that meet IEP and school requirements

•Participate in IEP meetings for your students

•Communicate professionally with school staff and families

•Practice within your scope, your licensure, and your own clinical standards

Who you are

•A licensed Occupational Therapist in the District of Columbia, or license-eligible with licensure in hand before your start date

•An independent practitioner — sole proprietor or business entity — with an NPI and a completed W-9 (we can assist you with this!)

•Carrying your own professional liability insurance, with proof of coverage

•Bringing your own therapy supplies and assessment tools 

•Experienced in pediatrics; school-based experience strongly preferred

•Comfortable working independently, without supervision or clinical oversight

•Strong written communication and sound judgment around confidential student information

Independent contractor status

This is a 1099 independent contractor engagement, not employment. Contractors determine their own hours, methods, and materials, supply their own equipment, and carry their own insurance. Skills on the Hill does not provide supervision, training, benefits, paid time off, or employment tax withholding.

Ready to talk?

Submit your resume and your preferred schedule in our screening questions.

We’re reviewing applications as they come in. The school year starts in weeks!

Skills on the Hill, LLC is an equal opportunity contractor.

Pre-contract requirements Current DC Board of Occupational Therapy license Proof of professional liability insurance Valid CPR/first aid certification Current TB test Background clearances required for DC school-based work — we have an approved company, less than $20!

Physical requirements Extensive standing and walking throughout the day Lifting, positioning, and transferring pediatric students Frequent reaching, stooping, bending, kneeling, and crouching