Paraeducators

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes there’s a shortage, but the lunch/recess coverage is still bad even when you are fully staffed. There is no money for more than 2 staff members per 100 students or so.

How can this be? You need 1 teacher for 30/students in a classroom, right? So wouldnt you need at least 3-4 paras at lunch recess if 100 students?

No, the required ratios at recess and lunch are not the same as the classroom.

[Anonymous]

I live in a district outside DCUM, but our paras are part-time employees which means few benefits.

[Anonymous]

The paras at the ES where I work are great. They care deeply about the kids & try their best to support the teachers & school. Paras are not paid during days that students have off. That means spring break & holidays no pay. They are not paid during 30 min lunch break (which is sometimes cut short due to coverage needs). A lot pf the paras are under tpt designation (temporary part-time, which can apply even for someone working full school day 5 days a week). The tpt don’t have benefits like paid sick leave, health insurance, etc.

Some of these paras have to change diapers as part of their job, they might get scratched or biten or have to chase after kids who elope. It’s not an easy job.

I know some paras who worked previously as nannies & made the switch to para in order to have similar hours as their own kids. As paras they are making less money & dealing with all sorts of responsibilities (much more than caring for a few kids in the comfort of a home).

[Anonymous]

There's a terrible para shortage everywhere. The pay is terribly low and sometimes districts don't pay benefits. Plus, sometimes the work they are being asked to do is very unpleasant.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the pay is low. Abysmal in a HCOL area.
People don't want to pay more in taxes, so how would you increase pay?

[Anonymous]

Whittle down the central employees. That's a good start, though that isn't enough to pull off a significant bump in pay. Beyond that, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whittle down the central employees. That's a good start, though that isn't enough to pull off a significant bump in pay. Beyond that, I don't know.

+1. Need more paras and assistant/co-teachers!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whittle down the central employees. That's a good start, though that isn't enough to pull off a significant bump in pay. Beyond that, I don't know.

+1. Need more paras and assistant/co-teachers!!!

+2 there’s an mcps employee who sends out emails about yoga classes and a handful of recipes. I bet her salary could fund 4 more paras’ salaries.

[Anonymous]

All central employees should have to spend 1/day per month in a school. They need to spend time in an ES, MS, and HS. Each time you spend the day it needs to be in a different school zone.

You can be a sub or a para depending on your qualifications but you must spend the day in the classroom. You cannot assist in the front office.

[Anonymous]

In kind consideration of how incompetent or clueless some of the central people may be, I don't know if I want them helping in the classroom :p

[Anonymous]

I was a LAD para to start my career back in the mid-2000s.

Now I'm a RTSE at a large high school.

I love each and every one of the dozens of special education paras at our school.

They truly are the most pure position in the school, as I tell them all the time, because their sole job is to work with kids.

No paperwork, no planning, just working with kids. (Yes, I know that paras can fill out student data sheets or give feedback to case managers; they CHOOSE to plan things sometimes too. This comment isn't to disparage paras' jobs...again, I was one for 4 years before I moved onto MCEA. It's to say how special, critical, and important their role is since they only have to focus on kids and not much else in terms of paperwork/red tape).

With that said, I wish there were more incentives to get more people in the job. It truly is hard to make that choice to be a para when I can make more waiting tables or working in retail, and with less stress (both of which I did between the ages of 16 and 24 before I started in MCPS 16 years ago).

[Anonymous]

Pay paraeducators an extra five more dollars or that comes out, roughly, twelve million dollars per month for the entire district. Eliminate eighty central office positions paying a hundred and fifty thousand or more to cover that expense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All central employees should have to spend 1/day per month in a school. They need to spend time in an ES, MS, and HS. Each time you spend the day it needs to be in a different school zone.

You can be a sub or a para depending on your qualifications but you must spend the day in the classroom. You cannot assist in the front office.

I love this so very much! They should be required to go in as a para 6 times a year and a sub six times a year. I would love to see a similar requirement for board members as well to go in at least twice in their tenure —once as a sub and once as a para.

[Anonymous]

I was a para for 4 years. It was an awesome job, I loved the kids... Hated the parents as they were just doing too much. The pay was the worst, like 18k a year, and then we did not get paid in the summer and had to find another job. Had to go to work during spring break to get paid, it was the worst. At the school where I worked all the para had a BA/BS so we eventually left within 4/5 years.

[Anonymous]

What is job security like for a para educator? Is it a year to year contract?

I would like to find a para educator job, but I don’t want to quit my stable job for something that won’t be in certain.