Renay had a call over the school emergency radio. While it was not her student directly, it will have implications for the upcoming weeks and for the entire school year.
Renay has many students both on her caseload and within her department that have her work with both the district Behaviorist and the home ABA team. And sometimes that team is amazing. And sometimes, no matter what, it is not enough.
Behaviorists, like teachers and paraeducators, are spread thinly. There are dozens of folks who are working hard to make sure students have the things they need to even try to be educated successfully. And truthfully, when there is so much need, not everything ever gets connected the way professionals should when they see things on a consistent basis.
But when a student is in crisis or a student has an unusual behavior, all hands are needed. Not just to help the student, but also to support the staff, the administrators, and the other students.
The crisis is not just the moment until the time the student or students are safe. It is also all day for many of the adults wondering if that situation is going to happen again. It is that crisis that is always in the back of the minds of the staff.
The crisis is not just the moment until the time the student or students are safe.
ParaEducate
We spoke about this during the online school years from 2020 to 2022 a bit, and while most of those posts are permanently archived elsewhere right now, responding to the classroom team and those closest to that classroom team is important.
A school adult may wave off the support team; the team needs the emotional check-in without confronting and without cornering. Never underestimate what goes through a department when crisis is experienced. Even when it is not their ‘fire’, the whole department is affected because everyone needs support in a very specific way.
Not the flex…
We were recently reminded of two compliments we were not thrilled to hear.
The first: “You’re doing a great job; no one else could approach this student as you do.”
And the second: “I appreciate you.”
Both truly always come as compliments and have a place in education. But between administrators and paraeducators or teachers, these compliments have not landed well. They are not as supportive. Just because any school employee may be doing the best they can with the least amount of resources or is stretching circumstances to make them work does not mean they are providing that team with the best supports. The expectation should not be ‘more’ for school staff if they cannot provide ‘more’ with less. Even when the circumstances are clearly temporary, like not enough paraeducators for a day or an emergency, the continued chipping away at a team does eat at them.
The expectation should not be ‘more’ for school staff if they cannot provide ‘more’ with less.
Appreciation is not just words, nor is it tangible. Real appreciation involves sitting with students who are known to be challenging and supporting them during working periods. It is realizing that every phone call into a classroom is an interruption—that education is going on when the phone rings. It is looking at systems and figuring out why the system is not working the way it is expected. It is also recognizing that everyone has brain breaks at different times. In turn, the team continues on and that small moment of gratitude is not an expectation but the commitment between professionals.
This does not mean teams do not step up for each other. They do and should always. But not at the daily sacrifice. When that ‘step up’ comes up, if it is happening daily, it is a standard operating procedure, not a special favor.
Supporting the team looks different depending on their needs. Watching for those times and thanking people for the work they are doing, even the daily in-and-out. It is not just the platitude covering “continue to sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice.”
ParaEducate, the blog, is publishing more frequently for the 2026-2027 academic year. Let us know if you want us to head back to the format we had before 2021.
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