With the winter weather, school delays, early releases, or closures I work to ensure contracts are followed and employees are clearly communicated with concerning their responsibilities. I also put school closures into our substitute system so we won’t have substitutes showing up to a closed campus.
I am beginning to sign up for career fairs we are attending later in the school year. With the newly bargained incentive for teachers to communicate their intention to resign early I believe we will have a better picture of what spots we need to fill. Principals are invited to attend the fairs to help in the recruitment process for their buildings.
I recently did an audit on our paraeducator files to track required paperwork. Para-Educator Core Competencies are required by the State of Washington if they work in a Title 1 assignment. They need either (1) documentation to support an Associate’s Degree or transcripts to verify the comparable equivalence (i.e. 72 college quarter credits or 48-semester credits from an accredited university, college, community college or business school), or (2) ETS ParaPro Assessment with a passing score of 461. We require all of our paraeducators to have this since employees apply and move internally to different schools.
Our classified paraeducators also must complete the Para-Educator Core Competencies during the current school year. These are required by the state for special education paraeducators and are part of all paraeducators required professional development. We have them due by the end of this school year, so they are able to use late start Mondays and early release days to complete the online trainings.
Recently in a walk around the primary school, I stopped and talked with employees in the lunchroom. Judy Lute, the head cook in the kitchen, talked to me about how much she loves her job. She talked about how positive the school was and how she appreciated the principal. In the conversation, she mentioned her and her co-worker are doing a competition to see if they can have perfect attendance this year. She has worked for the district for over 20 years and still loves coming to work. I would agree.