VivaSync

• Bethany Clarke, 29, is a paraprofessional based in Rochester, New Hampshire.
• She started working in special education in schools in February 2021 to supplement her income.
• The work can be draining, but Clarke says it's also very rewarding to support and help students.

At the start of the pandemic, I never would've said I wanted to work as a paraprofessional, a teaching aide for students with disabilities. But after becoming one last year, the job has definitely grown on me. While many people are still avoiding in-person positions, I've found working directly with students to be very rewarding. 

In May 2020, I completed my MFA in nonfiction writing and flung myself at a floundering job market. With my fancy new degree and experience in copywriting, I thought I had a bright future at a desk job in content marketing or social media. 

For months, I applied to open positions and stayed afloat on gig work in adjunct teaching and copywriting

But after nearly 250 applications with only 20 interviews, I had one offer to teach middle school English in Florida, which I turned down. Pre-pandemic, the Florida offer would have held up, but with widespread shutdowns and travel delays, I was anxious about moving far away from my family. With little to show from my job hunt, I was burned out and depressed.

I started working as a paraprofessional part-time at an elementary school to supplement my gig income in February 2021, but was out of work again when school ended in June.

That August, after going through six rounds of interviews for a copywriting role and not getting an offer, I changed tactics. I didn't want to burn through any more of my savings and decided I would suck it up and work full-time wherever I could get a job, whether it was in my field or not. I applied for another paraprofessional position at a local high school and I was offered a full-time role after one interview. 

My training included a series of lectures from administrators and a presentation from school counselors about how to care for a student's emotional needs

After that, I was on my own. I only saw other paraprofessionals during my half-hour lunch, so I felt isolated and uncertain about how to do my job. It was very stressful to begin working with kids who had severe disabilities that I didn't know much about. I've since learned through observing my fellow paraprofessionals and case workers in their interactions with different types of students, but in the beginning, the new role was challenging.

I felt panicky and often stepped into the bathroom to be alone and remember how to breathe. At the end of the day, I'd come home and apply to more jobs related to my degrees. My partner had to intervene and tell me to stop and rest. 

After two months, my partner's mom told me that the high school where she worked was desperate for paraprofessionals. I applied, was offered the role, and put in my two weeks notice. My old school begged me to stay, but the new school offered a shorter commute, more steps on the pay scale, and a few more paid holidays. I also chose to forego the health insurance at this new school so I could earn $6 more per hour.

Despite my lack of healthcare, I liked this new school better because I had more supportive colleagues and I saw them more often. My training consisted of shadowing other paraprofessionals for two days, so I felt more prepared to do my job and no longer dreaded going into work each day.

As a paraprofessional, I support a variety of kids who require tailored assistance to be successful and safe in school

Paraprofessional work requires a love of caregiving and skills like emotional intelligence, deep listening, and effective communication. Mostly, I'm there to be a friend to kids who've been traumatized by the public education system and need someone in their court who's not grading or judging them.

I work with multiple students each day. In one period, I'll read aloud test questions to a student with a learning disability. During another, I'll take a student with autism or ADHD on a walk to take a break from class. 

I work with one student who's been in special education classes until this year. He wants to go to trade school and the only way he can do that is if he moves into general education level classes and earns a high school diploma. I go to class with him, take notes, explain assignments, and work on projects and tests with him.

I work with another student who has strict dietary restrictions. She struggles to advocate for herself, so I walk with her through the lunch line each day to make sure she's getting food that's safe for her to eat. 

Staffing shortages mean my schedule constantly changes and I'm often reassigned to different students

Whereas one paraprofessional would have been supporting one kid per class a few years ago, our staff of 20 is now supporting five or more students each. School staff shortages, especially for bus drivers, custodians, cooks, and paraprofessionals, have been exacerbated by the pandemic. 

I care about the students, which is part of what makes the job stressful. It's hard seeing how problems with public education affect our students. It's been decades since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed in 1975, yet the legislation has never been fully funded.

Like many other departments, special education classrooms also suffer from large class sizes and a lack of meeting spaces. By far, the biggest impact of the lack of funding is the paraprofessional shortages, which means that many students who have government-mandated hours of support just aren't getting it. 

Whereas staff wages at schools are locked in place by hard-won union bargaining agreements, restaurants and retail stores have raised their wages to account for the health risks of working in person, so some paraprofessionals are switching schools for slightly higher wages like I did or leaving education altogether.

There's also added stress in enforcing mask mandates for students who don't have the ability to understand why these mandates are important. And, in general, the daily stress of knowing that the students need more support than you have time or energy to give them is depressing and anxiety-producing.

I know these aren't issues that I or anyone else can solve individually — these are systemic problems that require system change — but dealing with the status quo is increasingly frustrating, for educators and students alike. When students tell me they can't concentrate in a noisy classroom or are falling further and further behind in a certain subject, I can only tell them that I understand and do my best to help. 

Unlike teachers, paraprofessionals don't get planning or prep periods, so we're with students all day

The job can be mentally, emotionally, and physically draining. I initially felt guilty about taking my one 15-minute union-mandated break per day at work, but I now relish them as time to recharge. I go to the bathroom, I eat, I talk to my coworkers. All these things seem simple, but they aren't always my first instinct when I'm in caregiving mode. I'm working on incorporating more self-care into my workdays so that I can care for myself as effectively as I care for others.  

After a year of working as a paraprofessional, I can say that I'm happy with my work because it's rewarding despite the many challenges. It's at the school, more than in any other professional setting, that I can see the impact I make in others' lives. I'm not useful every minute of every day, but when I am, I can make a big difference for a student who needs the support. 

I don't earn enough as a paraprofessional to meet my larger financial goals like buying a house and saving for retirement, so I'm still looking for a better-paying job, although not as frantically as before. For now, I'm surrounded by people who are happy I'm showing up, so I keep clocking in.

Bethany Clarke is a writer and paraprofessional based in New Hampshire. 

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