{"id":23634,"date":"2019-03-14T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=23634"},"modified":"2019-03-14T11:02:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T15:02:20","slug":"parapro-at-the-end-of-her-rope-any-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parapro-at-the-end-of-her-rope-any-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Parapro at the \u201cEnd-of-her-Rope!\u201d Any comments?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Parapro%20at%20the%20%E2%80%9CEnd-of-her-Rope%21%E2%80%9D%20Any%20comments%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>We received an email from a para who feels like she is at her wit\u2019s end, with nowhere to go. She asked if we could help by posing her dilemma to our readers. With her permission, we posted the email below.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have suggestions, advice, or solutions to share?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Para (or parent) &#8211; have you had the same feelings? Worried about your students? Concerns met with indifference? Afraid of retaliation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23643\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/teacher.4students-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"333\"\/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I am a paraprofessional in a public school, supporting students on IEPs and 504s. I don\u2019t have children, but I subscribe to your newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Along with my fellow paras, I\u2019m often in turmoil about my students\u2019 success&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Concerns about Mainstreaming<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Quite often, teachers do not modify classwork and homework<\/li>\n<li>Teachers assign readings far and above what my students can comprehend (let alone pronounce)<\/li>\n<li>The only accommodation teachers follow is &#8212; move to a separate setting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What happens when we <em>move to a separate setting<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I read to them, explain every other word, and basically, hold their Social Studies, Science, STEM, or ELA class.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Then, I can painstakingly help them, amidst their confusion and growing frustration, produce something of their own pertaining to the subject matter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>If you\u2019re an 8th grader who\u2019s just now understanding where North America resides on a globe, why would you be writing a five-paragraph essay about the socio-economic factors giving independence to the New England, Middle, and Southern European colonies?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Schools Do Not Follow IEPs<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>The school ends up <em>whisking students along<\/em> and giving them passing grades to <em>make up<\/em> for the fact they aren&#8217;t following the child&#8217;s IEP, and &#8212; to help keep parents at bay.<\/p>\n<p>Students learn nothing. Teachers hope they\u2019ll <em>absorb<\/em> some knowledge of the content area by simply attending the class.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Let me tell you: if I don\u2019t yet know how to divide whole numbers, all the time in the world the class exposes me to Greek Astrophysics 101 isn\u2019t going to do me any good comprehending Greek Astrophysics.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Special Needs Supervisor Says&#8230;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve gone to my Special Needs supervisor about these classes. She\u2019s far from a monster. But, her replies?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cUmmm &#8230; I don\u2019t know\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cI don\u2019t go to Social Studies\/STEM\/ELA\/Science\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cHave you tried asking the teacher?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Teachers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, I do ask the teachers. They are wonderful and drastically overworked individuals, whom I\u2019ve grown to sympathize with more and more each year.<\/p>\n<p>But, <em>my kids<\/em> pay the biggest price for their exhaustion!<\/p>\n<p>Our teachers are wonderful educators, but, believe me, it\u2019s made very clear by our administration that paras are <em>just paras<\/em>, and therefore, replaceable. When I can buck up the courage to ask our educators &#8211; <em>sometimes I\u2019m met with indifference. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, I might get a hearty and sincere, \u201cThank you. I didn\u2019t see that on his Accommodations Page.\u201d Unfortunately, this is often followed by a \u201cFeel free to make those modifications &#8230; whatever you think!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, mostly, it\u2019s &#8211; \u201cThey\u2019ll be fine.\u201d \u201cWhatever they get from it, that\u2019s great!\u201d \u201cIf they just follow along, I\u2019ll accept whatever they write for an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><strong>Students on IEPs and 504s have the right to be held to expectations! <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><strong>Students on IEPs and 504s have the right to be held accountable! <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><strong>Students on IEPs and 504s have the right to receive and meet rigor!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><strong>Passing them along does no one any good.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I have nowhere to go. I feel very worried about retaliation of any kind &#8211; too many co-workers have paid the price &#8211; despite belonging to a union. I strongly feel my help belongs in public education; I want to find my career fulfillment in employment that benefits others, too.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n<p>Join the discussion in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We received an email from a para who feels like she is at her wit\u2019s end, with nowhere to go. She asked if we could help by posing her dilemma <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/parapro-at-the-end-of-her-rope-any-comments\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,1373,345,1364,161],"tags":[1299,105,1330,1297],"class_list":["post-23634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accommodations-modifications","category-lre-inclusion","category-retaliation","category-school-administration-school-culture","category-teachers","tag-ieps","tag-paraprofessionals","tag-retaliation","tag-section-504"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23634"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24076,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23634\/revisions\/24076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}