The Shawano School Board voted Aug. 21 to give a pay bump to substitutes serving as non-teaching staff, even though some board members felt the bump wasn’t really enough.
Teachers on Call presented to the board on Aug. 12, and in that presentation, they noted the disparity in pay for aides and paraprofessionals. Comparable school districts pay $15.56 per hour for paraprofessionals, $16.53 if they’re serving as aides in special education classrooms and $16.34 if they’re subbing long-term, and Shawano’s pay was less than those figures. A survey from Teachers on Call showed 25% of substitute paraprofessionals with the Shawano School District are not happy with the pay.
Nicole Hartlaben, human resources director, told the board that the district was planning to offer pay to substitutes similar to what is the starting pay for the positions. She proposed paying $13.50 per hour for recess and lunch aides, $15 for instructional paraprofessionals and $17.12 for special education paraprofessionals.
Board member Christine McKinnies questioned if the district would get enough buy-in from substitutes for the aide and paraprofessional vacancies. She suggested that the $13.50 for recess aides would not do much to convince substitutes to come to Shawano for work.
“We’re short, and we often need subs for the paraprofessionals that are SpEd (special education),” McKinnies said. “Just working as a recess aide, lunchroom supervisor or playground supervisor before, you have a lot of occurrences where you need subs for that. Being at $13 an hour for a recess aide, I don’t think you’re going to get much more buy-in for $13 than you did at $11.”
With that in mind, McKinnies said she would vote for the increase because the current substitute pay is unacceptable.
Board member Bobbi Lemerond agreed that any pay bump from the current amount is good, but she felt the district could do better.
“I think we need to review this again, but I’m glad we’re starting somewhere,” Lemerond said. “Any raise we give is a good thing, but we should look into it a little bit more and possibly bring this up a little bit higher.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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