District Paraprofessionals Applying for Outsourced County Jobs

Of 28 special education paraprofessional positions open for the summer session, at least 20 former South Orange Maplewood School District paraprofessionals have applied, according to a county agency that will hire the aides and outsource them to the district.

All other hires will be required to have a higher level of education than the school district previously demanded, officials said.

"We're very pleased with the applicants," said Debra Stanley, a human resources specialist for the county commission now responsible for hiring and outsourcing the paraprofessionals.

The South Orange Maplewood School District recently laid off dozens of its special education paraprofessionals in order to balance the school budget, which saw deep cuts in state aid. Special Education paraprofessionals—in-class aides that work with individual students—will now be hired by the Essex Regional Educational Services Commission and outsourced to schools in South Orange and Maplewood.

Many parents and former district paraprofessionals say that even with higher hiring standards, the quality of education could suffer.

"So many of us have been in the school system for 10 years or more, and some of us also live in the community," said Kathleen Robinson, a paraprofessional who was laid off. "We have a vested interest and a real love for those children."

The Essex Regional Educational Services Commission requires each paraprofessional applicant to have a high school diploma plus 60 college credits, the equivalent of about two years, said Dr. Jacqueline Young, the superintendent.

The South Orange Maplewood School District used to only require paraprofessional applicants to have a high school diploma, an official said.

Betsy Fox, another former district paraprofessional, said that many of her colleagues had degrees and experience far in excess of the minimum requirements.

"Many of us hold bachelor degrees, and many of us have advanced degrees or graduate credits," she said. "In general we have years and years of experience working with our kids in our schools. It is the lack of experience working with our kids and our teachers that most concerns me about the new school year."

Fox said that when she was first hired, a woman with two decades of experience coached and helped her. Fox, in turn, continued the practice with new hires.

"Ever since then, I have seen newly hired paras benefitting from the experience of our remarkable staff," she said. "You could call it unofficial mentoring."

A mother of a special education student, who declined to give her name, said that her child benefits from consistently working with the same paraprofessionals, and she worries about the effects of bringing in a cadre of new educators.

"It's going to be very disruptive to have different people in the classroom moving in and out," she said. "It's going to affect the quality of experience of everyone in the room."

Dr. George Giuliani, executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers in Washington, D.C., said one of the key elements that paraprofessionals with experience in a specific classroom bring is the ability to work with the teacher.

"The ability to collaborate with the teacher is so important for paraprofessionals," he said. "With more experience comes the ability to collaborate at a higher level than someone who has less experience, especially experience specific to that teacher, that classroom and that student."

Stanley, from the Essex Regional Educational Services Commission, said that so far she has received around 15 out-of-district paraprofessional applicants.

"They're currently working as aides in other districts and looking for summer employment, and some are teachers in other districts," she said.

The majority of the applicants for the summer positions are from former South Orange Maplewood School District paraprofessionals, Stanley said. A few of the applicants are teachers in the local school district seeking summer employment.

She said it's too early to tell how many paraprofessional positions will be open in the fall.