Redheaded Jill

I have worked as a para. I have two special needs siblings who have had many a wonderful para working with them from kindergarten to senior year of high school. Paras do not get paid enough. They do not get enough credit. Paras are invaluable.

That being said… sometimes paras are scary. One day I took an afternoon assignment in a 4th grade classroom in a neighboring district. I’d never worked in this classroom before (and haven’t since).

The teacher left instructions which included the kids taking a test. There was one little girl with severe special needs who had a para working with her, but she left after about 20 minutes of me arriving. Other than that I was not informed of other children needing extra support. I gave them their test, and sat down at the teacher’s desk to read. Any kids who came to me with a question, I helped. But I got my phone out (because I had downloaded the kindle app) and began to read.

In the middle of the test the para returned to the classroom and went to the table in the front of the room. She sat down and helped the boys complete their test. A task I would have happily done had I been told to. (It was still my first year subbing and I was learning.)

While the kids were at recess or specials, I can’t remember which, I continued reading. This included a comic series that I had just started and a chapter book. I was making small talk with the para, I thought she was super cool! She lived on a farm and I want to live on a farm so I was asking a lot of questions. I didn’t get the vibe that she particularly liked me, but neither did she seem to dislike me.

The next day I received a call from the agency asking me about the rough day I’d had previously. I was floored. Rough day? I had a great day! I told them as much. She asked me why I didn’t help the students who needed support take their test. I told her I wasn’t informed they needed support and the para who was there to help them didn’t tell me that or arrive till the test had started. (It wasn’t standardized testing or anything, it was a history test I think…) She asked me why I was scrolling social media on my phone instead of teaching. I told her I was reading on my kindle app and that the kids were taking a test or at PE and I had nothing else to do. The teacher hadn’t asked me to complete any tasks or grade papers or cut out materials or anything else that I normally do for teachers. She sounded surprised and essentially told me that she didn’t blame me for reading. I told her I’d use a physical book from now on instead of my phone so it didn’t look suspicious. Needless to say I never returned to that classroom, and I avoided that para like the plague.

Instead of addressing me like an adult, or instructing me like all the other classroom helpers had up to that point she tried to get me disciplined by my boss. On top of that there’s no telling what she told the other teachers and workers at the school or in the office. I did see her again in the halls later and I smiled and said, “hi.” She probably didn’t remember me, but I was very hurt by this.