Mid-Prairie hiring bus paraprofessionals

WELLMAN — the Mid-Prairie school district plans to hire three paraeducators to ride along on bus routes with frequent behavioral write-ups.

“Over the years, the behaviors on the bus have gotten worse and worse,” Transportation Director Teresa Hartley said. “As a bus driver, it’s extremely hard to be able to drive down the road, focus on the behaviors that are behind you, and make sure that you’re keeping all 40 to 50 kids on your bus safe. So we are looking into ways that we can help the bus drivers because that’s a lot of stress that they are put under.”

While plenty of students are accompanied by paraeducators in class, that help does not follow them onto the bus.

“There are kids during the day that have full one-on-one support, and then they get on the bus and that support is no longer with them,” Hartley said. “If they need it all day long to be successful in the classroom, we feel they need it on the bus also.”

Current paraprofessionals, however, are generally not in a position to pick up that extra time, meaning the district would have to hire more for the bus-specific position.

“If you do current paras, then you get into payroll issues with overtime and everything else,” Hartley said at a school board meeting. “This would be a creation, hiring different people.”

While Hartley had initially requested funds for 15 paraeducators starting next school year, the school board settled on funds for three, starting as soon as possible.

“I think we start on a smaller scale,” school board member Jed Seward said. “She can put them on buses that she thinks need the most help and then see where it goes from there.”

Board President Jeremy Pickard agreed.

“It collects data,” he said. “I’m not in favor of putting one on every bus, I don’t know that the $160,000 out of the general fund is the right way to use this money, that’s where I’m struggling.”

While the number is lower than initially requested, Hartley said she was fine with it.

“I am good with any amount of help that we can get,” she said. “Even if we start with a smaller number, we’re making improvements.”

The district does anticipate some difficulty hiring those staff.

“Behaviors aren’t easy,” Hartley said. “You aren’t going to get very many retired people.”

The positions — which pay $10,600 a year according to Superintendent Mark Schneider — are already posted.

“As soon as we can get somebody hired, we would like to see that start,” Hartley said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com