New York City schools, particularly in District 75, are in dire need of paraprofessionals, who provide essential support services for children with disabilities. The shortage won’t get resolved until the city Department of Education streamlines its bureaucratic hiring process.
Under the DOE’s hiring rules, all paraprofessionals must start as substitute paraprofessionals who are nominated by a school principal. The DOE restricts principals’ ability to nominate new candidates if previous nominees have not worked out or are serving at another school.
Making matters worse, principals can’t make any nominations until early October or even later, purportedly to give schools a chance to place excess paraprofessionals. But given the shortage, many students needlessly go without services mandated in their IEPs at the start of the school year.
Substitute paraprofessionals must serve for at least 25 days before they can be appointed as permanent paraprofessionals. There are multiple stages in the cumbersome appointment process, and the DOE does not shepherd candidates through it. Other principals don’t even initiate the processing of substitute paraprofessionals to full time, leaving them in limbo. Meanwhile, they keep working without the benefits and pay increases of an appointed paraprofessional. Many sub paras get fed up and leave to pursue other work.
Causing further delays, the DOE has instituted a new rule that to be appointed, a paraprofessional must have already taken an autism workshop. If all that stands between a paraprofessional and a student in need is a workshop, the DOE must offer the workshop more often or make appointments contingent on completing it.
How severe is the paraprofessional shortage across the city? It’s hard to tell. The DOE’s system undercounts paraprofessional vacancies, and there is no oversight that would require the DOE to report the true number.
It’s time for the DOE to be honest about the extent of the problem and provide a predictable and logical system for hiring paraprofessionals.