r/paraprofessional

hi all. i’m a 1:1 for a student who screams bloody murder all through out the day. it’s been especially bad recently. i come home with awful headaches that cause nausea. i’ve been taking so much ibuprofen/tylenol to try and help with the pain but it barely helps. I was searching this sub reddit for a possible solution, and many recommended loop earplugs. I am going to bring that up to my employer, but was wondering if i need a doctors note or something for an accommodation. or if earplugs even count as an accommodation - i am not sure. all i know is it is earplugs or i quit. i am at my breaking point honestly. thanks for your help

I applied for a para position at another school and the principal’s secretary texted me asking if I’d be okay in a Bridges Classroom. She said it was in between special ed and gen ed but I’m still not entirely sure what it means. Does anyone have any idea or experience with something like this? My guess is that it’s like a resource classroom.

https://www.reddit.com/r/paraprofessional/s/28kxA6hKjx

Post is tagged incase anyone wants to reread:

SO I MET WITH MY REP. I choose to meet with the SPED director. She is new and has been known to show up for, not just parents and the kiddos, but paras as well(she use to be a para back in the day!!) she was genuinely disappointed and disgusted by the comments made and was shocked that I waited so long to address it with anyone. I did explain to her that I was having an internal conflict, as well as, being WAY too emotional to handle any kind of conversation about this.

So my update: she is addressing all of this to them tomorrow after the meeting, since she is a higher up in Admin, she has said if these things continue she WILL work on passing this up to the higher higher ups, as this situation has really taken a turn, when it could’ve all been avoided had GV not gone the route she did. She also did kind of mention putting the GV on a watch list of possible people to let go. I know this is what we all kind of wanted after reading the post, but I don’t think it’ll get that far. One can only hope.

I went into work today, and GV truly thinks she won’t get in trouble. I will do another update tomorrow after the meeting and after I hear what happened during the meeting. The update won’t be a new post, but simply in the comments here or the OG post if anyone cares or wants to know about this further! Thank you ALL for the amazing advice and support. You have no idea how much you all helped me through this and it has taken such a weight off my chest. Thank you so much again. <3

Much love, peace,and happiness ! PLUS ONLY 54 MORE DAYS AND WE ARE HOME FREE FOR THE SUMMER! (My mimosas are calling my name by the beach already haha!)

The main/only special ed teacher at my school is the big reason I've began dreading my job. She is condescending, passive aggressive, and terrible with the children under our care.

The first time a student eloped with me and I ran to catch him, I was scolded because, "You're not supposed to go after them. You need to wait for them to come back on their own." Our school doesn't lock doors from the inside so students can get outside, and we're right by the highway. There's no way "let them come back on their own" is safe. Then when I went to write down that the kid eloped on his chart, I was told not to write it down because it wasn't necessary.

She had me removed from the 1:1 I had all year because she decided he didn't need 1:1 support anymore. Since she's made this change his behavior problems have resurfaced (kicking, trying to stab others with pencils, beating on walls, hiding around the school instead of going to class, etc.) and he hasn't done any homework since. He even missed state testing because he just sat at his desk in silence and refused to even click start. Maybe there's some knowledge that I'm missing due to just being a para, but I fail to see how this is helping him meet his goals at all or benefiting the people around him.

It's just frustrating to see someone in her position make such poor choices that clearly have/will have negative affects on the kids. But she's head teacher, in college to become principle, and I've only been working here a year so everyone takes her word as gospel. She's very rude, especially when you ask clarifying questions. Just last week I made a simple mistake about when I was supposed to go to an assembly and she said, "I know you're still 18 but this is an adult job now." I am NOT 18??? And the phrase "this is an adult job now" was just extremely condescending. I'm seriously considering leaving this district if my complaints on her behavior are not taken seriously.

If so, could you provide a little more about the ins and outs of the job? What is the certification class like? My district just posted a position for an RBT. It’s a parapro position but you take a 40 hour online course to become RBT certified. It says in the job description you can receive certification after being hired. It would be a pretty significant pay raise for a parapro in my district. I meet all the requirements except for the certification. Any info would be helpful as I’ve never even heard of a RBT

I’m so over this year I’m just done. Our last day isn’t until June 25th and my favorite coworker who gets me through the day is leaving on medical mid May 😩 students are just so done, the lead teacher and other TA’s in the room are checked out and just giving everyone attitude - I’m so done. I want to cry every morning when my alarm goes off.

So my student who is on the spectrum in middle school who flips emotions very quickly. Nothing violent thankfully but its either "best day ever" or "worst day ever im dropping out". When he does this he will start looking at people to take it out on. They will god forbid look his way and he will be like "WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME I DONT WANT TO SEE YOUR STUPID FACE". Is just one example. Or kids roast each other and its all fun and games and one thing gets said now here we are at "they are the worst" part again.

Then he will keep muttering to himself. Ive tried responding sternly, gently, and even spoke to the guidance counselor and teacher about sending a message home to try discussing with their kid how to regulate to not insult people. Ive been told his parents are very proactive but everytime I ask for a message to be sent home im basically just ignored. The only thing the guidance counselor said was "yeah I really wish they never stopped the social skills class."

Okay great statement but how does that help ME help my student regulate. My concern is hes going to do this to the wrong kid and hes gonna get hurt. He's a small kid even for 5th.

I even will take him on long walks but all it takes is one more thing triggering him and we re back to name calling.

Hi everyone,

I’m honestly feeling a mix of emotions right now and could really use some advice.

I recently came across an email from admin about next year’s staffing plans, including hiring for a new special education preschool class and a new hire for a regional special education class. Because of that, I put in internal applications for the paraprofessional positions and also reached out to my administration about being considered.

I received an email back saying that based on “ongoing conversations” and “areas for improvement,” they will not be considering me for a para position at my current school.

At the same time, they mentioned that I may be contacted by other schools over the summer since I already applied through the system.

What’s making this harder is that I’ve been in the student assistant role for years and have been hoping to grow into a para position, so seeing new positions open up while being told I won’t be considered here is discouraging.

I can’t lie, this hit me hard, especially because I’ve been putting in the effort all year. I show up, I do my job, I support the students, and I’ve been trying to grow in my role. So to be told I won’t even be considered at my current school feels discouraging.

Now I’m left wondering:

1. Has anyone else been denied a para position at their current school but gotten one somewhere else?

2. Do other schools usually view you differently, or does this kind of feedback follow you?

3. What typically happens if you’re not selected at your current school and don’t get contacted right away over the summer?

4. Do you stay in your current role, get placed somewhere else, or risk losing your position?

5. Is it worth asking for more specific feedback, or should I just focus on applying elsewhere?

I’m trying not to take it personally, but it’s hard not to.

Any advice, experiences and questions answered would really help right now.

hi! i’ve been at my current school as a school support para, they are changing me and my team to instructional paras starting next year, which means i have to take the parapro assessment. i am awful at taking tests, math isn’t my strong suit, so im terrified. how difficult is the test? what grade level would you say it goes up to? i’ve seen middle school but im unsure how true that is. is it worth it to create an account on study.com and pay to take multiple practice tests and be able to see my score? are there different free practice tests i can take where i can see my score?

I am so thankful for having something consistent, but this is my first few months doing this & my school has given me 2 very difficult kids. I was originally a 1-1 for student A,. It was hard but not to where I would go home crying. Then my school decided to lower her iep after being told that wouldn’t happen & gave me student B. Student B is very violent and they both need full 1-1. It is so hard to physically split myself in 2, and get no support from administration. Thankfully my teachers give sooo much support, but I am literally unable to do my job and it is very unfair to the teachers. Student A is now not getting as much support and it’s unfair to them. Student B isn’t getting the support they need as I have no idea what to do.

& then not getting paid for breaks or summer like the other paras?? I don’t see anyone else in my school that has more than 1 kid besides the classroom paras. 😖😖

I’m in a self contained early childhood unit this year and it’s chaos. I don’t think I can do another year in there and from this year alone I can tell it won’t be better. We only have 8 kids but I’m the only para in the room. And our principal won’t put more people in the room or units despite needing more people for the kids and their needs. This year wasn’t as bad because they held off giving us like 15 kids but I know next year will be worse and none of the other paras in the school want to come in the rooms. Yes, we all hold special ed licenses it’s required in my state/district. I was forced into the room last year by being the newest one.

The issue is there is no routine in the class except lunch and specials. The kids run around playing all day and this causes behavior issues when I tell them to clean up or to go places. Outside staff have asked if the room is a daycare. There’s basically no learning. The teacher makes lesson plans and never does them. I just run behind kids all day managing behavior and it’s exhausting me. I go home and sleep for like 3 hours every day with no motivation to do anything.

I’m asking for advice because the teacher can be really petty. I’ve heard them talk about other staff members before. They’ve even reported the cha because the cha didn’t want to be their friend. I just don’t want this to backfire while asking for a new placement. I’m hoping to get a new job but if it doesn’t come through I want to be in a different room. There’s times where I’ve cried on my way to work and even considered suicide just because I didn’t want to be in that room anymore.

I'm really excited, but I heard there are no workdays in the summer. What do you all do over summer break?

This is my first year as a SPED para at an elementary school. There’s a lot of issues I have with my administration, and I want to quit because of them.

1. The principal doesn’t know any of the paras’ names. She called one of the paras, “Paige”. Paige quit last year.

2. They won’t let us view student IEPs. So I have no idea what behaviors or goals I am trying to work on.

3. They change what students we work with about every month. They don’t consult with the homeroom teachers or the case managers, so a lot of the kids have regressed in skills due to the constant changing.

4. We didn’t get one message of gratitude for para appreciation day.

5. I was throwing up blood for 2 weeks and was in the ER. I had to call out. When I came back, admin reprimanded me for being gone too long saying “the students relay on you”. Not once was I asked how I was feeling.

6. The dean walks around the school on a rolling cart and micromanages you. I took a second grader for a 5 minute break and she watched me the whole time. When I brought him back to his room, I got an email about 10 minutes later telling me I didn’t do the break correctly.l

7. Another para asked for trauma-response training for one of our third graders. Admin sent her a 10 minute Youtube video on tips.

8. 4 paras have quit within a month of starting. One of them checked herself into the inpatient care for mental health purposes.

9. They give out no consequences. We have a second grader who’s infamous in our school for being physical. Long story short: his parents don’t want him to have support services, so during recess, the recess staff are in charge of him. One day he choked a kid, while pinching their nose, while screaming “I’m going to kill you”. The kid who was injured was sent home for trauma, and the other? he was sent to admin- they sent him back to class with a snack 15 minutes later.

I love the kids at this elementary school, and the teachers I work with are great and make me feel appreciated. But everything else is so draining.

Do any of you sped paras transport kids before and/or after school in company vehicles? Just curious. Next year my transport hours are getting cut so I'll only be working like 6 hrs / day when I usually work 8-10 hrs / day.

Hi! I’m a fairly recent Para for Kindergarten and I love my job.

Unfortunately it doesn’t pay very well.

They did, however, mention that I could get pay raises for doing extra trainings above and beyond the required ones.

However… I have no idea what kind of trainings I could do to get the training hours required for a raise.

Can anyone help me?

SORRY IN ADVANCE if this is unclear. I’m trying to not use TOO much detail. I can give more context. Just not in this forum. :)) so if it’s too confusing for people I will just delete it!! Thanks!

So. I am a African American Woman.

I have had this job for about 2 years and have made lots of friends and connections. It’s a great way for me to prepare for my degree(Elm ed!). I have no ties here other than my partner. So I truly do not mind leaving this environment over something like this. But am I overreacting???? Should I let this go???

The sped teacher(GV Is what I’ll call her) I’m working with…I’ve had issues with her. She is very entitled and privileged.

I try to just do what I’m told and not engage. But something happened recently that I don’t know how to feel about.

GV has a problem with people having control. She NEEDS to be the one in charge of the situation no matter who it is. I learned this early in the year, and learned then to shut up and let her rock. And when I’m back in the gen Ed room with my teacher( who I am quite literally close friends with), I can do what I do best to help the kiddos.

RECENTLY, there has been a problem with one of my kiddos, her parent, and GV.

The child clearly has ADHD(undiagnosed. This parent doesn’t want to medicate the child yet and I COMPLETELY understand. She told this to my teacher when the mom sent the message to GV I will refer to later on) . My teacher knows it, I know it, and the sped teacher know it. WE ALL KNOW WE CANNOT SAY THESE THINGS TO PARENTS OR KIDDOS LOL. So this child I struggling with Multiplication. Across the board…all of the grade is. The grade level teachers have put plans in place to help the kiddos get where they should and so much progress has been made. When GV pulls her kids out we do these little morning test on their facts for that week. My kiddo struggled bad, and it PISSES GV off. She blamed the parents, accusing them of not doing their best to sit down with the kid nightly and work.( even tho it’s our job to help get her to the point where regardless of what she may or may not have, we help her get through this small hiccup!) She would ask the kid if her parents were together, she would say to her face and other kids that she has an attention problem. She even went as far as making a parent phone call, asking the mom if she and the dad were together AND THEN saying, after mom said it was none of your concern, “well, if it were my kid, I would want them to be on medication for ADHD”. She THEN questioned her about her job and who level of education as well. (This parent and student are both black btw)

This obviously causes problems and meetings have now been made and a very nasty message was sent to GV from the parent. She is asking the kid no longer work with GV and I don’t blame her.

After I found all this out, the PRINCIPAL, my teacher(she was kind of listening in, kinda how I was), and GV were all discussing this and comments about the mom being mentally unstable, a drunk, and an aggressor were all made in front of me. (I have seen the message and from both my teacher and I’s point of view this is an ANGER mom. Who no longer trust the school because of this situation and how GV has acting to and infront of her and her child.)

These comments made me feel uneasy and uncomfortable, and they were mircoaggressions towards the mom. When I did bring this up, I was laughed at essential and told “well i mean. Don’t you understand how we think she’s a drunk? Look how she’s texts!”

I know these things are completely unprofessional but I truly felt SO uncomfortable and felt like there were micro aggressions used during this interaction. I did meet with my rep to ask what she would do, and I have a few options. But am I overreacting??? Should I drop this or should I see what my rep says on Monday????

Any advice is good advice! (Unless you’re being rude ig lol)

I’m in a room with wonderful paras, one of them keeps me sane and keeps me in this job. She is the best we have the same approach to everything. It’s amazing. The other para is newer, but has made so much improvement. She is great to work with she is all about asking questions if she’s unsure on how to handle things or wants to check in on something she’s done. She is open to feedback. She’s awesome. Love you’re working with the para team that I do.

But the lead…… cannot or chooses not to do their job. She will not stick to the schedule or any consistent routine. We frequently have to push to stick to a consistent schedule for the kids who we know desperately need that and have shown how much they needed that.

It has been this way for years. I’m confident that will never change. There was a very brief window when there a consistent schedule in structure happening this year only because they knew they were being observed and frequently watched. The further we got away from being observed the more all of that fell apart.

I worked there a long time, I have shown how hard I work at my job and how well I know my kids. My admin all have respect for me and our hard work.

In passing one of those admin asked if I needed a new teacher next year and a comment I made. I want to follow up with them on this topic, but I genuinely don’t know what to push for. I love working with pairs they do but I also would love a change in placement. The risk there one option is a new teacher that I don’t know anything about any other rooms would be a major downgrade in pars id be working with.

Ideally, I would like to keep my classroom team of Paras and just switch the lead…. I suspect they won’t be open to that. Lol.

So what do you pick, awesome paras to work with and a joke of a “lead” or the unknown

Elementary Para

I have done subbing, resource, now one on one

Obviously, I know I am not a teacher, but when I give suggestions on a student to their teacher, I guess I have been overstepping?

I was just told that it is a “pattern” and maybe I am overstepping. I’m just following what I am told. If I ask about a student’s plan, and it’s not being implemented, am I 100% in the wrong for pointing it out? Is it reason for admin to pull me aside and degrade me for trying to handle more than 1 kid who is supposed to be 1 on 1?

I have never been told that I was overstepping teachers before, And i’ve been at that school quite a long time. Everyone around me was told but I wasn’t.

I was told specifically “It was a problem in Area 1”, When I am now in Area 2.

i was never told about this when I was in that area, that was the first of it.

it makes sense now, i guess. That they keep me out of classrooms because i’m not as quiet as a mouse. It makes me want to cry because i didn’t get a LICK of training, and area 2 says they love me and how I am. But getting yelled at by a teacher and admin within 20 minutes of each other is draining when nobody is being clear with me. I don’t want to go back. I want to stay home and hide.

What’s the point if I am lowest in the chain, I’m doing my best to help students with no plans in place, no training, and trying to learn as well.

I’m gonna keep going, these kids need someone who will be there for them, but i’m afraid i will have to just stop speaking at work.

I am so over the terrible dynamics of this job. At our school, we have 5 paras. 2 of them work exclusively in the S.S.N. room. The other 3 of us are general education inclusion paras. One the 3 gen ed paras is a total mean girl. Yet somehow everyone loves her because she spends tons of money buying the latest and greatest trends in fashion. New outfit everyday. Super fake bubbly personality. And when she first started, she wouldn’t stop making weird (not good) racist comments to me about my race. It was a daily basis thing and it just would not stop. Then one day, she decided to completely stop interacting with me. Wouldn’t say a word and now she does everything in her power to avoid being in the same room as me. It’s so odd! She treats the other para weirdly too but she seems to have a big problem with me specifically. Seemingly out of nowhere.

We have the same lunch time and everyday she has gotten to the point where she feels the need to find somewhere else to eat her lunch because she doesn’t want to be in the para office with me. This person also comes to work late everyday. Always comes in after school has already begun and frequently calls out sick. We also share lunch duty so we are both supposed to watch the kids at the same time. But she comes out 10 minutes late. Everyday. I tried that once just to test it and the assistant principal called me out immediately. But nobody notices that she does it everyday.

Back when she would talk to me, she would complain about being poor and needing food stamps but then in the same sentence talk about shopping trips to Target for new clothes. And how her grandma helps her pay the bills.

Side note: every week, our school gives shout outs to people. Anonymously submitted by anyone and everyone.

Now, one of the S.S.N. Paras is being investigated for something so someone (idk who) asked the mean girl gen ed para to come in and help out. She was in there for 2 days and got a shout out in the weekly email. “Thank you to X for *taking on the role of a higher up* and stepping in to help the SSN room”

1. I’m so tired of her getting excessive amounts of praise when she half asses lunch duty, scrolls on her phone constantly and calls in sick. People like her because of her shiny new outfits and they don’t see through her fake bubbly way of speaking.

2. I already have a lot of frustrations about being treated like “the lowly para”. There’s been a lot of instances where teachers act like I’m stupid and useless but then lean on me for a LOT of support. More than what’s in my job description. The latest thing I’m pissed about is one of the teachers whose class I’m in everyday completely removed the desk that paras sit at. Like it’s totally gone and she didn’t say a word about it. That was the second time that teacher removed my seat without speaking to me. I was so pissed that I couldn’t address it right away because my words would not have come out calmly. So I will address that on Monday.

I’m just over this job in general. I’m trying SO hard to land something else over the summer because I cry everyday thinking about having to come back.

I didn’t mention all my issues with it because this post is already too long. But my main issue is working with people who see me as idiot scum without a college degree. And fuck fake ass coworkers and fuck colleagues favoring the WORST people!! I’m tired of seeing her name in the weekly shout out. How about she simply comes to work everyday on time? She can’t even do that, yet people are eating out of her hand.

I think a lot of people could be more bubbly and wear new outfits everyday if they had someone to pay all their bills and they only worked 3-4 days per week.

I’m just really frustrated right now. Don’t comment something mean or act like a smart ass in the replies. I don’t need it or want to hear it. Everyone has rough times. I’m going though one.