Butler County school districts have trouble finding the help they need
They may not make nearly the same amount of money as teachers, administrative staff, or nurses, and most of them don’t even work full-time. But sometimes, they may be the most important person in a child’s school day.
These are paraprofessionals — the people who are called upon to assist students wherever they’re needed. This can take many forms, such as aiding students with their education, assisting school nurses in their duties, or providing one-on-one support to disabled or special-needs students.
As school returned to session for the 2023-24 season, school districts in Butler County are finding that there may not be enough paraprofessionals to go around.
Butler Area School District has nine vacancies for paraprofessionals open out of 100 positions across its 10 schools. According to district superintendent Brian White, this is an improvement, as not long ago, the district had 20 paraprofessional vacancies.
“Getting down to nine is better than where we were, but nonetheless, we don’t have all the resources we need for all our students,” White said.
Seneca Valley School District also has a growing number of paraprofessional vacancies, but for a different reason — they simply have a growing number of positions to fill. According to district communications director Linda Andreassi, Seneca Valley has recently added new openings, and the need for paraprofessionals varies “almost daily.”
“The number of paraprofessionals over just the past two or three years has grown to higher numbers,” Andreassi said. “We’ve added more paraprofessional positions, so we have more to fill.”
Andreassi said Seneca Valley has 30 vacancies.
Knoch School District reports that finding paraprofessionals has been a challenge for years, and that the application pool is currently thin. However, over the past few years, they have had trouble filling all positions.
“It's always a challenge to find paraprofessionals to work in our school district,” said district superintendent David Foley. “It takes a special person to learn how to navigate through some of the behavioral challenges and the personal needs of a student. Most of it's attached to behaviors and supporting a student with academics. And all of those things can be difficult to support.”
Officials from Butler and Seneca Valley agree that wage increases in other sectors have tempted former and potential paraprofessionals away from the field.
“Some folks are drawn to the convenience of work-at home options,” Andreassi said. “We value having our students work with consistent adults, so we expect most paraprofessionals to work each weekday.”
“It seems like there's a a shortage of workers in all fields, so many folks that would have come to us...there's a lot of other opportunities too,” White said. “So we don’t have the pool of people to hire like we had before.”
But not all school districts are going through the same issues.
Freeport Area School District superintendent Ian Magness said, “We are presently not experiencing a shortage.”
Those that are facing these issues are looking for ways to attract new talent. Seneca Valley is offering $15 an hour, which will increase to $15.25 next year.
Knoch is trying to attract parents to fill paraprofessional openings — particularly those who are part of the schools’ parent-teacher organizations. They’ve also recently started using the online talent recruitment platform Indeed to try and fill positions. In the meantime, the district is simply asking more of the paraprofessionals that it does have.
“We're trying to find support from the paraprofessionals that we already have and maybe scheduling them a little different, so they’ll have time to work with more students,” Foley said.
Butler Area School District is trying to advertise the intangible benefits that come with being an employee of the school district beyond the starting salary.
“Often, people see our starting rate, and it’s lower than a lot of part-time work you can see advertised,” White said. “But what they don’t understand is most of the time, you’re eligible for state pension. And that’s a significant benefit.”
“The other piece is really appealing to people that if you want to make a difference in a kid’s life, this is not just a job. It’s somewhat of a calling. It’s a vocation.”
