School board asks questions regarding ‘reset’ of district’s paraprofessional needs

MANCHESTER, NH – Last week, Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Chmiel explained to the Manchester Board of School Committee (BOSC) that there has been a reset regarding the expected number of paraprofessional educators that the district needs to hire.

The discussion came up following a question from Ward 7 BOSC Member Chris Potter, who noticed that the list of job openings now had no listings for paraprofessionals or paras, who provide assistance to students or teachers in specific situations. Potter noted that during his tenure on the board, the number of openings had been stuck between 85 and 110.

Chmiel responded that the change in listings came from a new approach regarding para professional positions in the district, which will tie each position to specific Individual Education Plans or IEPs, guidelines to specific students who require additional assistance beyond most students.

School District Director of Human Resources Michelle Evans and Chmiel said that requests for paraprofessionals from each school often significantly exceeded the amount of IEPs in a school and that moving forward, each request will be directly tied to a specified position in the district’s budget.

Potter appreciated that efforts were underway to reassess needs for paraprofessionals, but asked if the job listing change indicated that the district’s needs have been met. Chmiel said requests continued to increase and there were situations where there were actually more adults than students in some classrooms, necessitating a need to look at inefficiencies.

“We started at zero again to see where are our para numbers. Those numbers were going higher and higher and higher without really understanding the why,” said Chmiel.

The news garnered frustration from BOSC Vice Chair Jim O’Connell, who said that he had frequently heard from teachers during his five years on the board that there is a severe need for paras in the district.

“I’m baffled if it’s true that we had 90 open (requests) for paraprofessionals that were there because the reporting was wrong. That’s a heck of a mistake that’s gone on for five years,” he said. “I think we need to talk about that.”

O’Connell also voiced frustration hearing the news, given that he has often told others that the district does not have enough funding only to learn of these inefficiencies.

Chmiel said the reset was an attempt to obtain a better handle on district needs by going line by line through each position and each potential projected paraprofessional need.

Evans added that part of the issue came due to the complexity of some IEPs and that additional information can be provided in a presentation at a future meeting. She added part of the issue may have been a technical issue with the district’s software in the past.

Ward 9 BOSC Member Bob Baines requested a summarization of the issue for individuals watching the meeting remotely. He also asked what the exact number of paraprofessionals needed would be, with Chmiel saying that answer was not immediately available.

“I think that’s a pretty important open question there,” said Baines.

The presentation is expected at a full board meeting in the future, although there was discussion that it could potentially go to the board’s Finance and Facilities subcommittee.