Parents and teachers expressed frustration and concerns with Wrangell School District’s proposal to hire a K-12 librarian at last week’s school board meeting.
Those opposing said two teachers were cut last year and they would rather increase pay for paraprofessionals and substitute teachers.
Superintendent Joshua Garrett said the role would support both teachers and students in research, collaboration and media literacy.
“When I’m thinking of this position, it is a position that is helping to further instill our culture of reading all the way from the kindergarten class through the 18-year old class,” he said.
But teachers and parents who spoke at the meeting opposed the position. Instead, they told the school board to prioritize paraprofessional pay and intervention services. They said chronic staffing shortages are disrupting classrooms and special education services.
Paraeducators and substitute staff have demanding positions
Alexis Fiske has a fifth grader who is a special education student.
She said, “If funding is available to create a new position, I respectfully ask why the needs of our students with disabilities are being overlooked.”
She said the paraeducators and substitute staff have the most demanding positions at the school, like managing complex behavioral and medical needs.
“The intensity and importance of their work, they don’t get enough compensation,” Fiske said. “They lack consistent support and recognition. I mean, without them, the special needs services wouldn’t run as smoothly.”
The teachers union, Wrangell Teacher’s Association, submitted a resolution last month urging the school board to increase pay and benefits for paras and substitutes.
“In my opinion, it should be way down on the priority list.”
Brian Merritt has been teaching at the district for 36 years. He said he strongly disagrees with hiring a librarian when paraprofessionals need a wage increase. There are a total of nine paraprofessionals in the district. Six of them work in the special education department.
“I’ve heard we are looking at hiring a K-12 librarian,” he said. “We haven’t had one for the last 25 years, and in my opinion, it should be way down on the priority list.”
The position would cost the district $73,150 this school year, with $41,000 going toward salary.
Paraeducators and substitute staff make between $16 to $25 an hour
Paraeducators and substitute staff make about $16 to $25 an hour depending on the position and experience, according to the district’s website. The WTA said most paras work 5.75 hours a day.
Michelle Clark teaches first grade. She said she appreciates the library position, but the timing and prioritization of it is concerning.
“It is difficult to see paraprofessionals, teachers and even administration stretched so thin while intervention and behaviors remain limited,” she said.
The proposal also comes after the district cut two teaching positions at the end of last year to balance its budget. That included a Title I interventionist. They work in Title I schools to help students that need more academic support.
“That doesn’t seem to be a full time position to me.”
But Superintendent Garrett said the number of students needing additional support didn’t make that specific position necessary.
He said, “It seems to me, we have less than 19 students receiving Tier 3 interventions, and that doesn’t seem to be a full time position to me.”
He said the district already has five reading specialists on staff as well that can support students.
School board cited unresolved concerns
The school board cited unresolved concerns about staffing priorities of the position.
School board secretary Angela Allen said she thinks it would be important for all board members to have an understanding of how intervention would work out if a librarian was hired.
“How you may think that will work out, and what the teachers could do to accommodate those needs,” she said.
Board members unanimously voted to delay a decision until January. A posting for the position is listed on the district’s website as of Monday afternoon
