Paraprofessionals

In order to mitigate the effects of operating with one paraprofessional vacancy at West and around 50 vacancies throughout Parkway, Special Education Administrator Valerie Kamhi, who supervises all special education teachers and teacher assistants at West, has helped create several programs to recruit staff. Kamhi says that the district has distributed mailers and advertisements, has worked with colleges and community colleges and has partnered with community organizations in order to reduce the effects of the labor shortage, all to little effect. 

“Everyone is aware there’s a staffing shortage across the board and it’s all over the United States. Part of it is just having those kinds of conversations, to say we met as a team, we’re working on how to fill positions, we’re trying to get more people to hire,” Kamhi said. “We want to ensure that we have students supported. We always want to make sure that we’ve got [vacancies] covered as much as possible. We’re able to be flexible as needed.”

Kamhi has faced the most issues with ensuring that there are substitutes in classrooms when teachers are absent. Each morning at 6 a.m., Kamhi will send a group text to department leaders to manage which teachers and paraprofessionals will be absent and how she can move other staff around to cover classrooms with vacancies. 

“We are recognizing that it’s stressful and overwhelming for people right now. Everybody feels like they’re doing their job, and then filling in when we have holes and gaps. The biggest piece is how we collectively work together as a team. If we do have somebody out because they have a sick kid or something going on in their personal life, we want them to be able to take that time,” Kamhi said. “Somebody else needs to step up, because it could be the following week that [they’re] out and you want some other people to help you. We talk about how everybody makes deposits and withdrawals from the ‘I need support’ bank. We’re all working through how we step up and step in and help each other.”

Kamhi has made it her goal to be honest and transparent regarding the shortage and lack of substitutes, in order to maintain awareness of the problem. There are also several contingency plans in place in order to mitigate the consequences of the shortage.  

“I don’t think [the labor shortage] is going to get fixed tomorrow. I really think that this is going to take us a little while to regroup and figure out what the staffing piece looks like,” Kamhi said. “The biggest thing is being able to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Working together as a team is what has helped us be able to work through some of this stuff, because we help each other and we’re able to work together across buildings and across schools.”

The labor shortage is apparent throughout the nation, and its effects are being felt within Parkway. Mitchell, Smith, Witte, Jones and Kamhi have voiced similar messages of practicing positivity, empathy and patience during this issue. If you or anyone you know is interested in applying for a job within the district, please apply here.