Schools in desperate need of paraprofessionals, substitutes

The district is in dire need of paraprofessionals at each school.

Not only has it been difficult to fill the positions, retaining staff has added to the problem since people can often make more in other jobs.

“Paraprofessionals are – sometimes we call them ‘aides’ – they help out with kids, particularly right now,” said Bob Davis, assistant principal for the high school and middle school. “We have a lot of intensive-needs kids. A lot of them need a lot of one-on-one help.”

Intensive-needs children can have trouble with educational, emotional or physical issues, Davis said. They benefit from one-one-one help from adults.

“The problem is, we can’t find people to fill the jobs,” Davis said. “It says something about our society that you can make more money serving food than helping kids. That’s part of our issue. We can’t pay our paras enough to fill the positions.”

Paraprofessionals are paid from $14 to $23 an hour, but are limited to 5.75 hours per day during the school week. Because it’s only part-time work, the district does not offer benefits with the position.

“Without benefits, without pay, you know they have to take care of their families too,” Davis said. “So we have amazing people, some who stick around a long time, in very difficult situations, but we just can’t find enough.”

There are five paraprofessionals working at the high school, but some are preparing to leave for other work.

“We got one that’s going to go out shrimping, and he can make more in two weeks than he could probably make in the whole year with us, so you can’t blame him,” Davis said.

Jenn Miller-Yancey, assistant principal of Evergreen Elementary, said it’s also difficult to fill positions due to staggered scheduling since paraprofessionals can only work 5.75 hours a day.

“That’s not as long as our school day is,” she said. “We have to get these schedules put together that are staggered so we have help from the start of the day to the end of the day.” With an afterschool study program in place, that adds an extra hour to the end of the day to fill.

Evergreen Elementary is looking for at least one more special education paraprofessional position, but it also needs substitutes.

“With COVID, we’ve got [staff] isolating and quarantining, that’s increased our need for substitutes exponentially,” Miller-Yancey said. “Anyone who is interested in substituting, even one day a week, would help.”

She went on to say that people are under the misconception that if they substitute, they must teach, but substitutes can fill in for other non-classroom staff too, though the rate of pay is different for each.

Miller-Yancey said she has looked into grant money which could add to the paraprofessional budget, however she said grants are rarely for personnel. “Oftentimes, we can find grant money for supplies, transportation, but not personnel.”

Those interested in applying for a paraprofessional or substitute position can more information on the district's website at http://www.wpsd.us or by calling Kimberly Powell at 874-2347.