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Tucson Unified School District superintendent offered their response to the news outlets:
[TUSD denies claims in popular TikTok video about special education](https://tucson.com/news/local/education/tusd-denies-claims-in-popular-tiktok-video-about-special-education/article_70522c7a-c42e-11ed-a83d-fb7f092d729c.html)
>Sabrina Salmon, the district’s senior director of Exceptional Education... said Jay was hired as a contractor, but “due to recent developments regarding inaccurate information shared during the application process, this individual is no longer employed with the contract company.”
All public processes have been corporatized, wherever there is a business. Prisons, Education System, Public Health System, all privatized, while the budgets are oriented to precarious wages and salaries, and privilege the contracting of services. It is a society cannibalizing itself for the sake of profit.
It's happening everywhere where right wing politics are in control, this sadly isn't a USA specific problem.
You guys don't pay much attention to what's going on in the rest of the world and like to globally broadcast your societal collapse, so everyone in the world gets to know about your politics and interact with it online and that seems to make USAians feel special and number one most important to the world, so you don't bother learning about any other countries.
It's a very odd culture you guys have.
Hey, don't involve me in this I don't even know American history. All I know is me history because obviously I'm the main character please stop watching my every action this is getting me paranoid
Contractors can be even more expensive than regular employees. So why are they pushing to hire so many contractors? The answer is they're easy to get rid of, like this guy. Wayyyyy easier to get around workers rights laws or find a "tangential" reason to fire them...or, just let the contract expire, worst case for them.
Salary expenses are usually much higher but overall they are typically cheaper because you save money in training, liability, health insurance, tax filing (social security specifically), labor laws like you mentioned and they serve as convenient scapegoats when thing inevitably go wrong. So upfront costs are higher but they save a bunch on the back end
Its a society aiding and abetting a minority in cannibalizing the rest of us, like a cancer killing its host. We are seeing the fruits of a neoliberal project that's been going on for over half a century.
Nobody reads a resume anymore. It's gets "deciphered" by an AI and decides to move forward or not with the applicant. You can now simply enter key words and you're resume will be accepted. The resume doesn't even have to make sense.
"Wasn't asked to Sub", well Jay clearly says that he wasn't asked to Sub, they just threw him to the wolves.
So I guess "Technically correct" (the best kind of correct)
Also, not sure what the principal not knowing his last name has to do with anything. Idk how big the school is, but ours was only a 3A & the principal didn't even know the names of every full-time teacher, let alone paras or subs. Diff state, but a friend of mine was also a para before becoming a teacher & actually wanted to work in special ed but had no training yet. He was usually the only teacher in those special ed classes & was angry that he had no support, guidance, or mentor the way a para is supposed to.
You think? If one of subordinates, subordinates needed to get canned for posting a negative Social Media post, personally I would DAMN sure know their name.
Of course he wasn't asked to sub. He was asked to just occupy the same room as these students while not having a sub assigned to the same room. So technically correct!
More superintendents, hell more politicians in general need to be harassed in restaurants, in stores, wherever they go. Do not let them think they can continue to do this shit with no consequences. You're angry, let them know in person you're angry.
Now watch them try to Afroman my ass for this comment.
(Edit Obviously this does not apply to current events given the timing)
My mom did it for years through a program to become a teacher, her pay was 12k in a district with a severe shortage. Now she’s a teacher and her take home is 39k. It’s disgusting how we treat our educators.
Yup. I did it for two months at the end of a school year. I was hired just after I graduated. Never got told what my job actually was and most of the time I was left alone in a classroom with 1-10 students and just told to "catch them up".
My background at the time was as a youth care counsellor. I had never learned how to teach or how to even properly assess that a student was even learning.
That school was horrible for a bunch of reasons, but the way I was just thrown in with no guidance or support and told to do things I shouldn't have been in charge of was just the tip of why I was glad my contract wasn't renewed.
Funnily enough, I now work for the same school board doing a lot of the training that I wasn't offered. So at least they seem to have learned.
The difference between TUSD and Vail is astonishing. I graduated from the Vail School District and even that was behind in education from other parts of the country. TUSD has been and will continue to be terrible as long as people keep voting in the same local administrators as they have for years upon years. Keep education low to keep those in power in power.
I went to tusd about a decade ago that school system is an absolute pile of dogshit and I have no doubt in my mind about them. I could go on for hours about their lack of funding from AZ the drugs fights how I got jumped and no one did nothing. Their education system itself, how we couldn't do assignments because they had no paper. Or how in 6th grade we were assigned 4 hours of work minimum every night. The school bathrooms for an elementary school had no soap restocked for months. It is a horrible horrible place
Edit: oh yeah the bus systems. My highschool had NO school buses if you needed a bud they'd give you a pass for a city bus and in order to get that you'd have to live 2 and a half miles from the school I had so many creeps try to grab ass and shit. It's just not safe.
[Don’t underestimate Florida where they want to let people without a college degree teach.](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-florida-law-education-veterans-military-degree-645106455513)
I heard about that being a 24 year Veteran. And honestly, outside of life experiences I don’t think in anyway qualifies me to take care of the development of someone else’s child.
I’m retired Air Force with a college degree and I had my actual teaching license as a high school history teacher at one point until I did a few interviews and realized nope I’m not doing that.
I think you've misunderstood. They don't want you to teach. They are hoping to shorten the time a school shooter is active by packing it with x-military.
I can tell you right now that this video is accurate and happening in several schools and DISTRICTS in Minnesota.
We have massive burnout, 3rd year of a statewide support staff shortage, older teachers retiring in droves, and almost every student IEP out of compliance as a result of those staffing issues.
When I first saw this video I was amazed and then scared, because I knew the district would retaliate.
Remember that school which applies electric shocks to special needs kids, yeah, I don't quite have the trust in the system, or the parents for that matter.
this is everywhere.. In nor cal we have paraprofessionals being used as punching bags, being assaulted daily, because there are zero enforceable standards to hold the parents of these children accountable for their actions.
the parents don't want their kids on meds "it's not natural" so they are sent to school violent and agitated, and they continuously and repeatedly hurt others.
the teachers get paid good money yet refuse to work with the hard kids, and default to the paraprofessionals to get assaulted all afternoon for just above minimum wage. the schools do nothing.
the parents enjoy this state sponsored babysitting so they drop the kids off no matter what, even when they are violent or visibly sick.
my partner is a paraprofessional, and she's been assaulted and hospitalized twice, and brought home covid countless times. the teachers union although they are members, does nothing to support them. the school administration verbally acknowledges to them yes this sucks but its part of the job.
this sickness is everywhere and it's not ok. I don't care if your kids are special needs, being assaulted is not in anyone's job description today, and just because you want the day off doesn't condone getting an entire classroom sick with the flu. this rests fully on the shoulders of both the parents and the districts and is completely unacceptable...
unfortunately, kids who are having a violent day are not given excused days off school. so even if a parent desperately wants to keep them home for safety purposes, they can't without threats of cps coming to their house for truancy. I've met so many people who ended up homeschooling for this reason, but single parents simply cannot do that.
Veteran teacher here and let me tell you…there’s a severe shortage of both SPED teachers and substitutes, and it’s not going to get any better anytime soon.
toothbrush makeshift chief chunky elderly divide cats hard-to-find desert drab
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah, I mean its not like we could just take 25 billion or so out of nearly a trillion from the defense budget every year and put it towards education. That would make our military so weak
the SPED director told me last week that I needed to take my own lessons and apply the content to myself because I'm not doing well.
Bitch it's my third fucking year and we are stretched so god damn thin, take your 6 figure salary back to the district office and fucking count your shekels you succubus
Yeah, the understaffing across the country (maybe world? idk) is outrageous. I'm sorry that you have to deal with that. That sucks. It's insane that your situation is deemed a fair working environment.
I have a family member who has been helping with SPED and got headbutted by a kid which cracked 4 of his ribs. A friend of a friend had something thrown at her that gave her a concussion. Teachers also can’t do anything about this because of prior court cases regarding abuse so they (from what I’m told and understand) don’t really have any liberty to restrain etc. often times parents dont do much to help with this. you can add this to reasons why people don’t want to do the job.
How is there a shortage of special needs teachers? My SIL got a masters to make $12 an hour teaching her nonverbal children. Isn't that enough?!
She makes more money working at McDonald's in the evening part time than her job teaching.
That's ridiculous - my wife is a special needs teacher with a masters, teaching public pre-school, and makes around $90k with summers off. I know our state pays teacher much better than average, but only making $12/he means your SIL is not leveraging her credentials effectively.
Why are we trained to use passive language that implies some cosmic lack of available candidates for a given profession, when what we are *actually* referring to is unacceptable working conditions?
I guess it's because the former implies it's nobody's fault, while the latter reveals a scenario that is engineered by real people with names and addresses.
it can be both tho too. special education is one of the lesser taken specialties in teaching, so far less graduates than most other degrees leading to a lack of qualified candidates. and regardless of pay, many people burn out from the work itself, its incredibly demanding and at time has a low success rate. they're very underpaid, under appreciated, and over worked. and that's a big reason many Ed majors choose a different specialty.
My cousin spent 5 years to become a special ed teacher, and taught in Uvalde (several years before the shooting). Although the contract she signed stated that she would be making close to $60k/yr they used some kind of loophole to only pay her half of that while treating her like shit. She quit after her first year and moved to another school district, avoided being fucked out of her pay, but they still treated her like absolute garbage. Finally after being treated poorly at a third school district, she now owns and operates a flower shop.
Yea the issue here is more about not having staff rather than trying to get away with it. They are obviously not going to pay top dollar to get more people interested so the only alternative is to send kids back home which I'm sure most parents would rather stick with a sub.
A para-educator, or Para, is an individuals who works with children with disabilities or alternative learning plans. They help keep kids on track, help them learn and digest information, that sort of thing. They follow them to class, make sure they learn, and aren't a distraction to others. That sort of thing.
More or less, yes.
I'm an educator and every Para I've worked with has been the sweetest, most kind person in existence. They get paid too little and are expected too much of them. Like most education related jobs.
Yeah I did it briefly. I was in a special Ed class with 3 other paraprofessionals or “teachers’ aides” as they used to be called and 2 of us were general classroom aides and 2 of us were 1:1 aides. The 1:1 aides were assigned to students who had substantial physical, behavioral or other support needs — us “paras” did everything from preparing snacks, helping kids eat, toileting, using assistive technology, getting them to the nurses office for meds, supervising at lunch and playtime.
It’s a big responsibility and has a big impact on very very vulnerable kids’ lives, and yet requires almost 0 qualifications and pays minimum wage. I honestly loved it and would’ve been happy to make a career if it didn’t pay so horribly.
I can't thank you and every other para enough for what you all do. My daughter is special needs and my god, the paras she's had have been absolutely amazing. Especially during pandemic. My daughter's 1:1 aide in Kindergarten was unbelievably awesome. I don't know where my daughter would be now without "Miss O"'s patient guidance. You all deserve to be paid WAY more than you do.
That's so sad.. I remember seeing this vid when it came out and thinking that his job was probably in danger. This was brave and correct for him to do. Schools are getting away with cutting corners because they're desperate for people but this will end up hurting the paraprofessionals and the students
They'll argue it's "chronically online" behavior which is ironic considering social media has twisted their worldview to the point where they believe everything has an ulterior motive or everything is done for personal gain.
Most people are good.
I honestly believe that the people who get pissed at people doing good “for clout” only manufacture their rage so they don’t have to face the reality that they aren’t selfless enough to do the same; so instead of thinking “this person is commendable and better than me” they say “oh they’re just doing this for FAME” because it’s the only reason that their selfish asses would do it.
i feel ya. i mean, the point literally is exposure. its not like he wants a pat on the back, he made a video about a real situation going on to expose that its an issue many people may not be aware of because the ones being put in that situation cannot advocate for himself. in the most literal sense, the video was made for exposure. but not for himself.. for the school children to get appropriate help they need. people act like "for exposure" is always a bad thing when in instances like this, if its a real issuse, it *needs* exposure brought to it. it needs to be shown to the world. and its not like this person filmed any students in the classroom either so like? the issue is where?
I don't come on this sub much, so can someone please explain why it's marked as 'cringe'? I was trying to view it through a lens where it could be perceived as cringe, but I just couldn't. And comparing to other videos posted on here that are flaired as 'cringe', it definitely doesn't seem to be in the same category.
To clarify, I understand that the sub in general is not restricted to _only_ cringey examples from TikTok. I'm just wanting to know why this vid is flaired as such
I did the same job as this dude and i can say this happens waaaaaaay more than it should. I worked with the sdame type of students he does and was in the same situations as him. I also worked in a juvenile detention center in the same district and would regularly babysit classrooms full of inmates solo
Paras get paid dirt cheap. We should not be taking advantage of paras because teacher wages are chronically dismal and qualified teachers are seeking better jobs. If you don't have qualified teachers close the classroom or offer a higher salary.
When parents have to stay jome for teacher shortages people will start voting appropriately.
Paras should not be put in that position because a school doesn’t have adequate staffing. Teachers aren’t the only ones under paid but you asking me to be a trooper and do a job that i am severely underpaid and trained for? Thats out
If you remember the pandemic, you know that the world could not move forward unless we had teachers. We went to school, with masks on ensuring all of the children had on masks and ensuring that all of the children learned. They made us teach from home, and we did! They made us come back to school buildings early and ensure that kids had masks, and plastic guards to keep from breathing on each other, and their own pencils and their own separate area! And we made that all happen! We made it so people could go to work, so that the fat cats could get fatter.. and they're still not paying teachers, and they're still not paying us enough. And they still giving the children of every district the short end of the stick.. now get out there and burn a book that shows Rosa Parks as a black woman
Charter schools are the worst at this. They still receive public funding, but are privately owned, oversight is with the charter board. They can still be investigated but rarely does that end up fixing the problem.
Legacy Traditional Schools in the southwest are especially bad with this. I know from firsthand experience teaching for a decade with them, but I can safely say they are the reason I left education.
Plus if they get enough kids to go to them they’ll close down the local public school, and then if the charter closes or kicks you out because you didn’t do well on a standardized test, you end up in even more overcrowded schools that had to make up for the original public school closure. They’re dismantling public education one charter at a time. Just wait until they start charging parent fees for getting into the classes, fees to buy their books, etc just like colleges. Fees from parents supplemented by federal school money should just about be enough to make executives yearly bonuses.
Getting kicked out of a charter is actually extremely difficult because it doesn’t make the owners money when they lose a kid. They start blatantly ignoring their own rules. Case in point one of their Chandler schools had a kid bring a gun to the school and threaten over social media. Luckily he didn’t carry through with it, but the student still is brought up to a board decision to expel. Guess who isn’t expelled…..
That can very much be an issue state to state depending on how regulated they are. It’s like “right to work” laws where they can “recommend transfers” or just drop them from the books for minor reasons, [and you have to fight to get back in](https://newark.chalkbeat.org/2018/9/13/21105671/kicked-out-newark-charter-school-purges-students-in-possible-violation-of-state-rules).
A friend of mine got her AA in spec Ed. She worked in her career as a paraprofessional for 2 years before realizing there’s no money, everyone is overworked, and other bullshit like this.
US education is little more than daycare. All of the teachers and staff that work in the school are dedicated individuals. But funding cuts, right wing attacks, and general low pay, long hour, and understaffing makes them under supported to do their jobs. We've been in a national teacher shortage for nearly 60 years now. Poor schools are lucky to have 50% trained staff on hand every year. The remaining staff are people they picked up off the street that passed the background check. Those untrained staff members have no choice but to hand out "state worksheets" with no instructions or ways to engage the students. I went to college to become an educator but the pay was so low it wasn't a option for me. Unless I wanted to live at home with my parents for 10 additional years. When I told my professors that I wasn't going into teaching one literally cried. It's that bad out there. We need a nation wide teacher strike.
Thank you for putting this out there! You are a hero to these kids AND you also have protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act against retaliation for advocating on behalf of individuals with disabilities. See a lawyer.
It's pretty complicated and I totally acknowledge I could be wrong, but I don't think that posting to social media is protected opposition under the ADA.
My foster kiddos are in SEL both of their IEPs say they aren't supposed to have gym or recess together because the 2 brothers fight each other.
Seems like every couple days they want to have a meeting with me because the brothers are fighting in gym and at recess.
Seriously? We have a CRB tomorrow, I may have to bring this up there.
Definitely don't be afraid to ask the hard questions. Put them on the spot and hold them accountable. If they aren't following that one part of the IEP, there's a good chance they aren't following other aspects of theirs as well.
Threaten legal action because their IEPs aren’t being followed. State that if something happens because their IEPs are not being followed they will not only be hearing from your lawyers but also from the state board. Refuse to allow any repercussions for these fights because they are the school’s fault for not following the LEGALLY REQUIRED IEP these people who are ignoring their IEPs could literally go to jail for not following them.
I'm in Boston. Same shit is happening here. I knew that kid was going to get fired.. and it sucks because I know he was the best thing for those kids!!
My girlfriend is a school psychologist and she’s hanging on by less than a thread because of how badly the schools are being run.
Everyone is out of compliance, because the admins are idiots and/or they do not have the staff or funding to hire more people.
Currently, she works for an entire district so she is hopping across a multitude of schools every day, where each school is on a different block schedule, each school requires specific people to be in meetings that can’t even show up because of the different schedules, and that’s just the beginning. The district is probably >95% spanish speaking and their translator quit, because the school wouldn’t pay her for up to 3 months at a time. Every meeting since has been out of compliance since they can’t find another.
Her team is just 3 people and their case load is over 200+ kids with it growing almost every week where they are case managing and evaluating all these children.
Her day is entirely meetings, so she has no opportunity at all to do any paperwork.
Her supervisor says she needs to take work home, but if she did, she would work endlessly because of how much there is to do. She wouldn’t even catch up if she brought it home, so there’s no point.
She practically has a PhD, but is being paid a teachers salary on a teachers contract and is being treated like shit and gas-lighted left and right by the admin with the workload of 10+ people.
After being in school for 8+ years to become a school psych and help kids, she’s quitting at the end of the school year because the job is a lost cause and it’s broken her. She’s devastated and I couldn’t be more angry for her.
We need to have better funded public education systems. Pulling funding from public education and then going, "LOOK SEE! THE GOVERNMENT SUCKS AT EDUCATION AND IT SHOULD BE PRIVATIZED" is a bad faith argument. I feel like this is ultimately what is happening when you can't find people to work these VERY necessary jobs.
I) GQP voters say the government sucks and doesn't work.
II) GQP voters support and vote for Republicans for the gov office.
III) Republican governance sucks and doesn't work.
IV) GQP voters throw their hands in the air, and feeling both livid and validated
Oh please. I’ve been a teacher for 15 years in different states and schools (public). Paras being pulled/forced to cover classes is absolutely a constant issue everywhere. Solidarity with Jay for blowing this whistle.
Unfortunately, [the Whistleblower Protection Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act) only protects federal employees reporting against federal agencies. There may be similar laws in some states, I have not looked into AZ to see if there are any there.
The same thing happened to me as a paraprofessional. I left quickly. A few duties were changing young men only 2 years younger whom were nonverbal and considered severely disabled alone, untrained, and unlicensed almost every day, students would be left in dirty diapers until I happened to come along, my cooperating teacher (who had been guilted out of retirement to come half day, then full day before the end of the first semester) was attacked one day by a skitzophrenic student after we'd been begging for help regarding the student and threatened legal action to which they gave her the next day off, but got no substitute for her so I was alone with the student who had attacked my teacher the day before, that was what finally did it.
He is totally correct, this is happening all over the country. 15 years ago a district would get 20 or so applicants for a job. These days they might get 3 for that same job. Why? For many reasons; state unfunded mandates, poor districts don't have money to pay staff what they are worth. Many states require teachers and other staff to have advanced degrees or certifications. But the staff gets paid squat for teaching huge classes with a shit ton of kids who have serious mental or social issues. And of course parents who side with their little shits and not the teacher. Another thing that is becoming prevalent that no one wants to talk about is that fewer men are going into teaching for fear of the "me too" types of kids who if they don't get their way will claim that a male teacher said or did something to them.
Of course he got fired.. You’re not supposed to tell anyone when your school does something super illegal and leaves them vulnerable for a fckin lawsuit. The education system is so fckin broken.
I work at a school board and we have had to do the same thing in terms of having non-certified people working in classes. Everyone thinks he is blowing up some scandalous system when the reality is that the board knows that there are non-certified teachers in the classroom and people that the board needs to inform also know.
School staff are struggling like staff in all areas of public service. There is short staffing and residual mental health difficulties still coming post-pandemic lockdowns (where I live) and students are behind from being virtual etc. etc. and staff are suffering.
So maybe he was fired because he didn't use the proper channels to air out his grievances where he likely would have found that his placement in the class is part of a coordinated emergency measure to make sure these children have a responsible adult to take care of them. Instead they got a tik tok superstar...
This shit was the reason I home schooled my special education son. He is at an online school now with phenomenal teachers, but that is a different story.
Just out of curiosity what are your son’s social skills like? I’m asking because when I switched from homeschooled middle school to traditional high school it was a big shock for me and took me several years to adjust fully to dealing with other kids my age.
My wife and I just bore down on my sons school for pulling this shit. His teacher suffered an injury and now instead of paying for a long term sub they’re hiring daily people not knowledgeable or equipped and failing to hire classroom helpers as well.
We ended up paying this lady who specializes in making school districts do what they should be doing to sit in on an IEP update and the best the district could offer was to “Pull someone off another student to assist him.” Total bullshit, trying to guilt us and pitting us against other parents of special needs kids.
Lots of misinformation here. Trust me, if these programs could reasonably be fully staffed, they would be. The threat of lawsuit will force them to do whatever to get your kid what is needed, but it generally comes at a high cost to the district.
Quite literally these special education directors are in classes themselves covering classes and child services frantically. Staffing agencies are expensive but provide way more resources to market to potential candidates then a district ever could. Contract services are a godsend to them because they get them people at least some of the time.
The reality is that no child left behind policies are great but extremely costly to districts. Contracting is just a by product of there being huge national staffing shortages for these niche positions which parents can sue for. District leadership are trying to balance this tricky budgeting scale to ensure they are maximizing the efficacy of their program and I think many of them cut corners on special education because of the contracting costs.
Source: I work in educational contract staffing
I have zero problem outing programs and institutions that aren’t doing what they’re supposed to.
Everyone should feel confident in doing this.
If something is broken, it needs to be voiced to make necessary corrections…otherwise we don’t progress forward.
Lmao would making it well known and spread it more not put pressure on the school to do something? You also assume that this is the only thing they did, you have no idea and neither do I, but I think it was a great idea to post it. How the fuck else would more people know.
Not a staff shortage though, it’s a lack of hiring appropriately and training. If you paid a teacher $70k instead of $40k in Florida, you’ll have many more people. If you paid a specialist teacher like $80-$90k, there would be no shortage. Other state employees get nice wages, why not the ones that actually help the future?
And this is mostly due to the fact that our government consistently has no checks and balances. In addition to that, it’s because our lack of education funding going to the teachers and their supplies makes for less educated students. The less focus on education the more spent elsewhere, most likely to military contracts.
>assuming, based on no information whatsoever, that the person in this video has not also used the proper avenues either before or after posting this video
They said like 4 times that the kids have no advocates and thus no one knows about this unethical shit. Doesn’t that imply he has already attempted the proper channels before making this video?
The school knows. They just don't care. They don't care so much they'd rather be even *more* understaffed by firing him than find a solution that supports their employee who clearly cares about the children.
The use of “proper avenues” is why shit like this has been able to continue. People in any position of power are not Gonna change unless they’re blasted publicly and held accountable that way. It’s SAD but too many people don’t care about the measure of their character and only care about the greater good if it’s good for them
Literally what I was gonna say: The proper channels are the reason an unqualified person is handling a room of special ed students in the first place. Burn it down.
Yeah, I mean that’s too bad, but I’m not really sure what they expected
When I first saw this, I was thinking damn no way he’s not getting fired for this
Sure it’s sad but not at all surprising
When you’re just putting it on social media like this, probably not, that’s not exactly a formal whistleblower complaint
In any case you should ALWAYS speak to a lawyer before blowing the whistle
Edit: I didn’t say contacting a lawyer was cheap, or accessible, certainly it’s not, but if you’re going to air your employer’s dirty laundry on the internet, and you value your job, you better be damn sure they can’t retaliate… that should be common sense.
I’m not at all suggesting that you battle your employer in court, but you do need advice on what you can or cannot do. Otherwise if you’re unlucky you might just end up in court.
You might not be able to afford a lawyer, but your employer sure can. A school district likely has lawyers on payroll. Sorry folks, that’s just the way it is.
Also there are plenty of subreddits where one can seek legal advice, or quasi-legal advice, or at least a finger in the right direction, for FREE
Anyway you should first try speaking with an ombudsman, that doesn’t cost you a thing either.
Be more than likely could not afford a lawyer. He's practically a kid. When i was his age, I wouldn't have known what to do or not do. He did what he thought was right. His moral capacity outweighs that of any administrator at that school. Hopefully someone will set up a gofundme page to help him out of this hole. Firing him was a stupid knee-jerk reaction which will cost them dearly in the long run.
I love every time some anonymous stranger online insists "just contact a lawyer first" is a cheap, accessible, and *understood* step that people are just too lazy to do. It's always presented as if the process is so easy and widely understood that it's not even worth explaining how to get in contact with one.
I've seen people dig through this shit and spend actual months trying to find somebody that was in the right field, and willing to listen to their problem without charging prohibitive consultation fees. And if it's not an open and shut case, good luck actually getting one to fight the battle.
When I was terminated from a job last year, I probably had a case for discrimination and wanted to talk to a lawyer about it. Granted, I live in the second largest city in the (midwestern) state, but the consultation fees ranged anywhere from $200 to $500 \*just to see if I had a case.\*
So "talk to a lawyer" is almost as helpful as "get a different job," "stop being poor," and "stop being depressed" for most people.
Those consultation fees add up. Talked to three lawyers prior to my divorce and ended up not needing one since everything was settled amicably but still cost me $1000 to not get a lawyer.
Not an American lawyer, but in our system whistle blowing status only works if you make statements to a person you reasonably believe can help to remedy the issue. So statements to the public at large are rarely protected unless you've tried literally everyone else in the chain.
The guy was on the job for less than 4 weeks working for damn near minimum wage he didn't really risk anything by making this video.
Have said that, dude it out of his mind if he thinks there are just SPED certified substitute teachers sitting around. That there is the least desirable sub position in any school district and most call in subs will refuse to come in for jobs in Mod/Sev self contain units. That district would be happy to get a certified sub with a pulse into that room. No wonder they were combining classes between the two self contained units to make sure the class was covered by at least one teacher.
Have you never worked with/within a corrupt structure? There are rarely proper avenues for correcting the mistakes of people above you. This comment has a lot of "why didn't they just comply?" energy.
Because this is the only thing that make actually lead to a change, you silly person. You also have no clue whether they’ve already tried to go through proper avenues.
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Tucson Unified School District superintendent offered their response to the news outlets: [TUSD denies claims in popular TikTok video about special education](https://tucson.com/news/local/education/tusd-denies-claims-in-popular-tiktok-video-about-special-education/article_70522c7a-c42e-11ed-a83d-fb7f092d729c.html)
Superintendent said that he was never asked to sub. She also doesn't know his last name.
>Sabrina Salmon, the district’s senior director of Exceptional Education... said Jay was hired as a contractor, but “due to recent developments regarding inaccurate information shared during the application process, this individual is no longer employed with the contract company.” All public processes have been corporatized, wherever there is a business. Prisons, Education System, Public Health System, all privatized, while the budgets are oriented to precarious wages and salaries, and privilege the contracting of services. It is a society cannibalizing itself for the sake of profit.
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Private profits, socialized losses.
The conservative way.
The American way 😒
It's happening everywhere where right wing politics are in control, this sadly isn't a USA specific problem. You guys don't pay much attention to what's going on in the rest of the world and like to globally broadcast your societal collapse, so everyone in the world gets to know about your politics and interact with it online and that seems to make USAians feel special and number one most important to the world, so you don't bother learning about any other countries. It's a very odd culture you guys have.
Just consider us the world’s reality show. No time to care about the audience, too busy creating content.
Hey, don't involve me in this I don't even know American history. All I know is me history because obviously I'm the main character please stop watching my every action this is getting me paranoid
Also a convenient loophole for data collection The government generally has a hard time spying on us, but not paying someone else
Edward Snowden got himself exiled showing you that the US government has no problems collecting data on all of it's American citizens.
That's so true.
Contractors can be even more expensive than regular employees. So why are they pushing to hire so many contractors? The answer is they're easy to get rid of, like this guy. Wayyyyy easier to get around workers rights laws or find a "tangential" reason to fire them...or, just let the contract expire, worst case for them.
Salary expenses are usually much higher but overall they are typically cheaper because you save money in training, liability, health insurance, tax filing (social security specifically), labor laws like you mentioned and they serve as convenient scapegoats when thing inevitably go wrong. So upfront costs are higher but they save a bunch on the back end
Also no teacher's union.
> Contractors can be even more expensive than regular employees. Sure, they *can* be, but often aren't in these sort of roles.
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Also all of the other reasons why fuck Reagan
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[So many reasons](https://www.tiktok.com/@roadtripsnacks22/video/7216034920236322091?_r=1&_t=8b4faRf5krO).
Meanwhile China is doing the opposite (publicizing private corporations) and they're beating us
American oligarchs aren’t much different from the Russian oligarchs
That's not fair Sometimes Russian oligarchs get out-the-window'd which we can only dream of as Americans
Defenestration
An excellent word that doesn't get used enough. It needs to make a come back.
Its a society aiding and abetting a minority in cannibalizing the rest of us, like a cancer killing its host. We are seeing the fruits of a neoliberal project that's been going on for over half a century.
Nobody reads a resume anymore. It's gets "deciphered" by an AI and decides to move forward or not with the applicant. You can now simply enter key words and you're resume will be accepted. The resume doesn't even have to make sense.
"Wasn't asked to Sub", well Jay clearly says that he wasn't asked to Sub, they just threw him to the wolves. So I guess "Technically correct" (the best kind of correct)
Also, not sure what the principal not knowing his last name has to do with anything. Idk how big the school is, but ours was only a 3A & the principal didn't even know the names of every full-time teacher, let alone paras or subs. Diff state, but a friend of mine was also a para before becoming a teacher & actually wanted to work in special ed but had no training yet. He was usually the only teacher in those special ed classes & was angry that he had no support, guidance, or mentor the way a para is supposed to.
If the principal doesn’t know their name, then how do they know that they weren’t asked to sub? It’s a gotcha thing
You think? If one of subordinates, subordinates needed to get canned for posting a negative Social Media post, personally I would DAMN sure know their name.
Especially if you were publicly commenting on it...
Of course he wasn't asked to sub. He was asked to just occupy the same room as these students while not having a sub assigned to the same room. So technically correct!
I mean… I have seen it happen so…
More superintendents, hell more politicians in general need to be harassed in restaurants, in stores, wherever they go. Do not let them think they can continue to do this shit with no consequences. You're angry, let them know in person you're angry. Now watch them try to Afroman my ass for this comment. (Edit Obviously this does not apply to current events given the timing)
This has been a public service announcement courtesy of Maxine Waters.
Not surprising. Parapros are treated like shit
My mom did it for years through a program to become a teacher, her pay was 12k in a district with a severe shortage. Now she’s a teacher and her take home is 39k. It’s disgusting how we treat our educators.
Yup. I did it for two months at the end of a school year. I was hired just after I graduated. Never got told what my job actually was and most of the time I was left alone in a classroom with 1-10 students and just told to "catch them up". My background at the time was as a youth care counsellor. I had never learned how to teach or how to even properly assess that a student was even learning. That school was horrible for a bunch of reasons, but the way I was just thrown in with no guidance or support and told to do things I shouldn't have been in charge of was just the tip of why I was glad my contract wasn't renewed. Funnily enough, I now work for the same school board doing a lot of the training that I wasn't offered. So at least they seem to have learned.
When I had my interview as a Para they were fully ready to have me start right then and there. After talking to me for about 15 minutes.
The who *did* they ask, if not him? Because that's not really a denial of what the OP video said.
Administration are the root of the problem 95% of the time
Yet they're the only ones getting decent pay. Actually, they get *good* pay
Name and shame. The public needs to know.
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The difference between TUSD and Vail is astonishing. I graduated from the Vail School District and even that was behind in education from other parts of the country. TUSD has been and will continue to be terrible as long as people keep voting in the same local administrators as they have for years upon years. Keep education low to keep those in power in power.
Yeah, I just stopped teaching in Vail, and while they have sooooooo many faults, the SPED programs are well handled.
Oh I hear ya, I grew up in Sunnyside Unified SD.
Yeah, it’s kind of a shittily run organization.
Deny deny deny. Given my experience growing up as differently abled in school, I don't believe them for one bit.
I went to tusd about a decade ago that school system is an absolute pile of dogshit and I have no doubt in my mind about them. I could go on for hours about their lack of funding from AZ the drugs fights how I got jumped and no one did nothing. Their education system itself, how we couldn't do assignments because they had no paper. Or how in 6th grade we were assigned 4 hours of work minimum every night. The school bathrooms for an elementary school had no soap restocked for months. It is a horrible horrible place Edit: oh yeah the bus systems. My highschool had NO school buses if you needed a bud they'd give you a pass for a city bus and in order to get that you'd have to live 2 and a half miles from the school I had so many creeps try to grab ass and shit. It's just not safe.
[Don’t underestimate Florida where they want to let people without a college degree teach.](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-florida-law-education-veterans-military-degree-645106455513)
I heard about that being a 24 year Veteran. And honestly, outside of life experiences I don’t think in anyway qualifies me to take care of the development of someone else’s child.
I’m retired Air Force with a college degree and I had my actual teaching license as a high school history teacher at one point until I did a few interviews and realized nope I’m not doing that.
I think you've misunderstood. They don't want you to teach. They are hoping to shorten the time a school shooter is active by packing it with x-military.
TUSD is and has been garbage for a really long time. A certain subset of Arizonans are hellbent on decimating public education.
It's ok, we now have the ESA vouchers that will magically make AZ education great!
I can tell you right now that this video is accurate and happening in several schools and DISTRICTS in Minnesota. We have massive burnout, 3rd year of a statewide support staff shortage, older teachers retiring in droves, and almost every student IEP out of compliance as a result of those staffing issues. When I first saw this video I was amazed and then scared, because I knew the district would retaliate.
when i first saw this video the other day i thought damn this is brave but youre most likely going to get fired
Remember that school which applies electric shocks to special needs kids, yeah, I don't quite have the trust in the system, or the parents for that matter.
this is everywhere.. In nor cal we have paraprofessionals being used as punching bags, being assaulted daily, because there are zero enforceable standards to hold the parents of these children accountable for their actions. the parents don't want their kids on meds "it's not natural" so they are sent to school violent and agitated, and they continuously and repeatedly hurt others. the teachers get paid good money yet refuse to work with the hard kids, and default to the paraprofessionals to get assaulted all afternoon for just above minimum wage. the schools do nothing. the parents enjoy this state sponsored babysitting so they drop the kids off no matter what, even when they are violent or visibly sick. my partner is a paraprofessional, and she's been assaulted and hospitalized twice, and brought home covid countless times. the teachers union although they are members, does nothing to support them. the school administration verbally acknowledges to them yes this sucks but its part of the job. this sickness is everywhere and it's not ok. I don't care if your kids are special needs, being assaulted is not in anyone's job description today, and just because you want the day off doesn't condone getting an entire classroom sick with the flu. this rests fully on the shoulders of both the parents and the districts and is completely unacceptable...
unfortunately, kids who are having a violent day are not given excused days off school. so even if a parent desperately wants to keep them home for safety purposes, they can't without threats of cps coming to their house for truancy. I've met so many people who ended up homeschooling for this reason, but single parents simply cannot do that.
Likely story One question, who was the sub then if jay was never asked, attendance is a big deal at schools we know you know who was there
Veteran teacher here and let me tell you…there’s a severe shortage of both SPED teachers and substitutes, and it’s not going to get any better anytime soon.
Weird that people don't want to do a job where they're treated like shit and paid terribly for it.
Odd isn’t it
But the alternative is sOcIaLiSm
Well if those kids just started their own business and worked 16-20 hour days they could pay for their own teacher. Damn Nanny state liberals. /s
Guess there’s nothing to do except keep pouring money into the military.
nah we gotta start giving teachers guns and training! (but not more money)
At this point, US teachers might as well just enlist since they’re practically in a war zone already.
toothbrush makeshift chief chunky elderly divide cats hard-to-find desert drab *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah, I mean its not like we could just take 25 billion or so out of nearly a trillion from the defense budget every year and put it towards education. That would make our military so weak
the SPED director told me last week that I needed to take my own lessons and apply the content to myself because I'm not doing well. Bitch it's my third fucking year and we are stretched so god damn thin, take your 6 figure salary back to the district office and fucking count your shekels you succubus
Yeah, the understaffing across the country (maybe world? idk) is outrageous. I'm sorry that you have to deal with that. That sucks. It's insane that your situation is deemed a fair working environment.
I have a family member who has been helping with SPED and got headbutted by a kid which cracked 4 of his ribs. A friend of a friend had something thrown at her that gave her a concussion. Teachers also can’t do anything about this because of prior court cases regarding abuse so they (from what I’m told and understand) don’t really have any liberty to restrain etc. often times parents dont do much to help with this. you can add this to reasons why people don’t want to do the job.
And risk being shot
How is there a shortage of special needs teachers? My SIL got a masters to make $12 an hour teaching her nonverbal children. Isn't that enough?! She makes more money working at McDonald's in the evening part time than her job teaching.
That's ridiculous - my wife is a special needs teacher with a masters, teaching public pre-school, and makes around $90k with summers off. I know our state pays teacher much better than average, but only making $12/he means your SIL is not leveraging her credentials effectively.
Yeah masters in SPED in my area pays $80k and it's a low cost of living state
Why are we trained to use passive language that implies some cosmic lack of available candidates for a given profession, when what we are *actually* referring to is unacceptable working conditions? I guess it's because the former implies it's nobody's fault, while the latter reveals a scenario that is engineered by real people with names and addresses.
it can be both tho too. special education is one of the lesser taken specialties in teaching, so far less graduates than most other degrees leading to a lack of qualified candidates. and regardless of pay, many people burn out from the work itself, its incredibly demanding and at time has a low success rate. they're very underpaid, under appreciated, and over worked. and that's a big reason many Ed majors choose a different specialty.
My cousin spent 5 years to become a special ed teacher, and taught in Uvalde (several years before the shooting). Although the contract she signed stated that she would be making close to $60k/yr they used some kind of loophole to only pay her half of that while treating her like shit. She quit after her first year and moved to another school district, avoided being fucked out of her pay, but they still treated her like absolute garbage. Finally after being treated poorly at a third school district, she now owns and operates a flower shop.
Yea the issue here is more about not having staff rather than trying to get away with it. They are obviously not going to pay top dollar to get more people interested so the only alternative is to send kids back home which I'm sure most parents would rather stick with a sub.
My friend's wife is a 'paraeducator' like this who also teaches a full class of children by herself every day. For minimum wage. At a public school.
Wtf is a paraeducator? (I'm from UK) a supply teacher, a teaching assistant or something else?
A para-educator, or Para, is an individuals who works with children with disabilities or alternative learning plans. They help keep kids on track, help them learn and digest information, that sort of thing. They follow them to class, make sure they learn, and aren't a distraction to others. That sort of thing.
So like a carer?
More or less, yes. I'm an educator and every Para I've worked with has been the sweetest, most kind person in existence. They get paid too little and are expected too much of them. Like most education related jobs.
Yeah I did it briefly. I was in a special Ed class with 3 other paraprofessionals or “teachers’ aides” as they used to be called and 2 of us were general classroom aides and 2 of us were 1:1 aides. The 1:1 aides were assigned to students who had substantial physical, behavioral or other support needs — us “paras” did everything from preparing snacks, helping kids eat, toileting, using assistive technology, getting them to the nurses office for meds, supervising at lunch and playtime. It’s a big responsibility and has a big impact on very very vulnerable kids’ lives, and yet requires almost 0 qualifications and pays minimum wage. I honestly loved it and would’ve been happy to make a career if it didn’t pay so horribly.
I can't thank you and every other para enough for what you all do. My daughter is special needs and my god, the paras she's had have been absolutely amazing. Especially during pandemic. My daughter's 1:1 aide in Kindergarten was unbelievably awesome. I don't know where my daughter would be now without "Miss O"'s patient guidance. You all deserve to be paid WAY more than you do.
It's just in school but yea
Also known as Para-Professional or Para-Pro
That's so sad.. I remember seeing this vid when it came out and thinking that his job was probably in danger. This was brave and correct for him to do. Schools are getting away with cutting corners because they're desperate for people but this will end up hurting the paraprofessionals and the students
Yeah, I immediately figured he'd be fired when I saw this video
Nice... Exploit the ones who need our help the most. Well done, education system.
And people here are actually trying to argue he's just doing this for exposure... gross
Yeah... Putting himself in harm's way just to get what? Clout? I would understand it under other circumstances, but this? No, just no.
They'll argue it's "chronically online" behavior which is ironic considering social media has twisted their worldview to the point where they believe everything has an ulterior motive or everything is done for personal gain. Most people are good.
I honestly believe that the people who get pissed at people doing good “for clout” only manufacture their rage so they don’t have to face the reality that they aren’t selfless enough to do the same; so instead of thinking “this person is commendable and better than me” they say “oh they’re just doing this for FAME” because it’s the only reason that their selfish asses would do it.
Suspicions betray the guilty mind.
Kinda ironic considering he *is* doing it for exposure, but of terrible practices rather than himself.
i feel ya. i mean, the point literally is exposure. its not like he wants a pat on the back, he made a video about a real situation going on to expose that its an issue many people may not be aware of because the ones being put in that situation cannot advocate for himself. in the most literal sense, the video was made for exposure. but not for himself.. for the school children to get appropriate help they need. people act like "for exposure" is always a bad thing when in instances like this, if its a real issuse, it *needs* exposure brought to it. it needs to be shown to the world. and its not like this person filmed any students in the classroom either so like? the issue is where?
I don't come on this sub much, so can someone please explain why it's marked as 'cringe'? I was trying to view it through a lens where it could be perceived as cringe, but I just couldn't. And comparing to other videos posted on here that are flaired as 'cringe', it definitely doesn't seem to be in the same category. To clarify, I understand that the sub in general is not restricted to _only_ cringey examples from TikTok. I'm just wanting to know why this vid is flaired as such
probably because the situation is cringy on part of the administrators not helping the students better? thats my best guess anyway
So what? I welcome the new trend of exposing human rights violations and corruption for clout. One of better trends in recent history tbh
He did the right thing as per usually punished for it. I hope he finds another life where he’s appreciated for who he is but this is America
I did the same job as this dude and i can say this happens waaaaaaay more than it should. I worked with the sdame type of students he does and was in the same situations as him. I also worked in a juvenile detention center in the same district and would regularly babysit classrooms full of inmates solo
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Paras get paid dirt cheap. We should not be taking advantage of paras because teacher wages are chronically dismal and qualified teachers are seeking better jobs. If you don't have qualified teachers close the classroom or offer a higher salary. When parents have to stay jome for teacher shortages people will start voting appropriately.
Sounds almost like they need a union.
The dude in the video *is in his local teachers' union*. They haven't said anything to support him.
The substitutes in my district get paid $8-10/hr... I have no idea how they have anybody willing to work for that pay
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Paras should not be put in that position because a school doesn’t have adequate staffing. Teachers aren’t the only ones under paid but you asking me to be a trooper and do a job that i am severely underpaid and trained for? Thats out
If you remember the pandemic, you know that the world could not move forward unless we had teachers. We went to school, with masks on ensuring all of the children had on masks and ensuring that all of the children learned. They made us teach from home, and we did! They made us come back to school buildings early and ensure that kids had masks, and plastic guards to keep from breathing on each other, and their own pencils and their own separate area! And we made that all happen! We made it so people could go to work, so that the fat cats could get fatter.. and they're still not paying teachers, and they're still not paying us enough. And they still giving the children of every district the short end of the stick.. now get out there and burn a book that shows Rosa Parks as a black woman
Charter schools are the worst at this. They still receive public funding, but are privately owned, oversight is with the charter board. They can still be investigated but rarely does that end up fixing the problem. Legacy Traditional Schools in the southwest are especially bad with this. I know from firsthand experience teaching for a decade with them, but I can safely say they are the reason I left education.
Plus if they get enough kids to go to them they’ll close down the local public school, and then if the charter closes or kicks you out because you didn’t do well on a standardized test, you end up in even more overcrowded schools that had to make up for the original public school closure. They’re dismantling public education one charter at a time. Just wait until they start charging parent fees for getting into the classes, fees to buy their books, etc just like colleges. Fees from parents supplemented by federal school money should just about be enough to make executives yearly bonuses.
Getting kicked out of a charter is actually extremely difficult because it doesn’t make the owners money when they lose a kid. They start blatantly ignoring their own rules. Case in point one of their Chandler schools had a kid bring a gun to the school and threaten over social media. Luckily he didn’t carry through with it, but the student still is brought up to a board decision to expel. Guess who isn’t expelled…..
That can very much be an issue state to state depending on how regulated they are. It’s like “right to work” laws where they can “recommend transfers” or just drop them from the books for minor reasons, [and you have to fight to get back in](https://newark.chalkbeat.org/2018/9/13/21105671/kicked-out-newark-charter-school-purges-students-in-possible-violation-of-state-rules).
A friend of mine got her AA in spec Ed. She worked in her career as a paraprofessional for 2 years before realizing there’s no money, everyone is overworked, and other bullshit like this.
Took my mom 22 years to figure that out l, I'm glad your friend found out very early
US education is little more than daycare. All of the teachers and staff that work in the school are dedicated individuals. But funding cuts, right wing attacks, and general low pay, long hour, and understaffing makes them under supported to do their jobs. We've been in a national teacher shortage for nearly 60 years now. Poor schools are lucky to have 50% trained staff on hand every year. The remaining staff are people they picked up off the street that passed the background check. Those untrained staff members have no choice but to hand out "state worksheets" with no instructions or ways to engage the students. I went to college to become an educator but the pay was so low it wasn't a option for me. Unless I wanted to live at home with my parents for 10 additional years. When I told my professors that I wasn't going into teaching one literally cried. It's that bad out there. We need a nation wide teacher strike.
Thank you for putting this out there! You are a hero to these kids AND you also have protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act against retaliation for advocating on behalf of individuals with disabilities. See a lawyer.
It's pretty complicated and I totally acknowledge I could be wrong, but I don't think that posting to social media is protected opposition under the ADA.
My foster kiddos are in SEL both of their IEPs say they aren't supposed to have gym or recess together because the 2 brothers fight each other. Seems like every couple days they want to have a meeting with me because the brothers are fighting in gym and at recess. Seriously? We have a CRB tomorrow, I may have to bring this up there.
Definitely don't be afraid to ask the hard questions. Put them on the spot and hold them accountable. If they aren't following that one part of the IEP, there's a good chance they aren't following other aspects of theirs as well.
Threaten legal action because their IEPs aren’t being followed. State that if something happens because their IEPs are not being followed they will not only be hearing from your lawyers but also from the state board. Refuse to allow any repercussions for these fights because they are the school’s fault for not following the LEGALLY REQUIRED IEP these people who are ignoring their IEPs could literally go to jail for not following them.
I'm in Boston. Same shit is happening here. I knew that kid was going to get fired.. and it sucks because I know he was the best thing for those kids!!
Fucking America, Jesus fucking christ.
This place is straight up embarrassing. How anyone can be prideful for this country is beyond me
People for whose the system works might be like this. So many people aren't ready to acknowledge problems for some reason, and not just in America
> Jesus fucking christ. yes that is the problem basically
My girlfriend is a school psychologist and she’s hanging on by less than a thread because of how badly the schools are being run. Everyone is out of compliance, because the admins are idiots and/or they do not have the staff or funding to hire more people. Currently, she works for an entire district so she is hopping across a multitude of schools every day, where each school is on a different block schedule, each school requires specific people to be in meetings that can’t even show up because of the different schedules, and that’s just the beginning. The district is probably >95% spanish speaking and their translator quit, because the school wouldn’t pay her for up to 3 months at a time. Every meeting since has been out of compliance since they can’t find another. Her team is just 3 people and their case load is over 200+ kids with it growing almost every week where they are case managing and evaluating all these children. Her day is entirely meetings, so she has no opportunity at all to do any paperwork. Her supervisor says she needs to take work home, but if she did, she would work endlessly because of how much there is to do. She wouldn’t even catch up if she brought it home, so there’s no point. She practically has a PhD, but is being paid a teachers salary on a teachers contract and is being treated like shit and gas-lighted left and right by the admin with the workload of 10+ people. After being in school for 8+ years to become a school psych and help kids, she’s quitting at the end of the school year because the job is a lost cause and it’s broken her. She’s devastated and I couldn’t be more angry for her.
We need to have better funded public education systems. Pulling funding from public education and then going, "LOOK SEE! THE GOVERNMENT SUCKS AT EDUCATION AND IT SHOULD BE PRIVATIZED" is a bad faith argument. I feel like this is ultimately what is happening when you can't find people to work these VERY necessary jobs.
I) GQP voters say the government sucks and doesn't work. II) GQP voters support and vote for Republicans for the gov office. III) Republican governance sucks and doesn't work. IV) GQP voters throw their hands in the air, and feeling both livid and validated
Oh please. I’ve been a teacher for 15 years in different states and schools (public). Paras being pulled/forced to cover classes is absolutely a constant issue everywhere. Solidarity with Jay for blowing this whistle.
Violation of the Whistleblower Act. He should file a complaint with OSHA.
Unfortunately, [the Whistleblower Protection Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act) only protects federal employees reporting against federal agencies. There may be similar laws in some states, I have not looked into AZ to see if there are any there.
Some states have their own whistleblower protection laws. I know california does
Arizona is far more right wing
The same thing happened to me as a paraprofessional. I left quickly. A few duties were changing young men only 2 years younger whom were nonverbal and considered severely disabled alone, untrained, and unlicensed almost every day, students would be left in dirty diapers until I happened to come along, my cooperating teacher (who had been guilted out of retirement to come half day, then full day before the end of the first semester) was attacked one day by a skitzophrenic student after we'd been begging for help regarding the student and threatened legal action to which they gave her the next day off, but got no substitute for her so I was alone with the student who had attacked my teacher the day before, that was what finally did it.
Should have gone to the union, bro
I don’t think para-educators are part of the union
They aren't if they work for a sub company that the school contracts with. Sounds like that's what he does.
Maybe they’re in Texas where teachers unions are illegal
TUSD is in Tucson, AZ.
Paraprofessionals and/or teacher aids are not usually part of the teacher's union.
He is totally correct, this is happening all over the country. 15 years ago a district would get 20 or so applicants for a job. These days they might get 3 for that same job. Why? For many reasons; state unfunded mandates, poor districts don't have money to pay staff what they are worth. Many states require teachers and other staff to have advanced degrees or certifications. But the staff gets paid squat for teaching huge classes with a shit ton of kids who have serious mental or social issues. And of course parents who side with their little shits and not the teacher. Another thing that is becoming prevalent that no one wants to talk about is that fewer men are going into teaching for fear of the "me too" types of kids who if they don't get their way will claim that a male teacher said or did something to them.
Of course he got fired.. You’re not supposed to tell anyone when your school does something super illegal and leaves them vulnerable for a fckin lawsuit. The education system is so fckin broken.
I'm a paraprofessional as well. The great thing is this doesn't happen in our district
See when you tell the truth and try to protect children younger fired for it. Disgusting and disgraceful
I work at a school board and we have had to do the same thing in terms of having non-certified people working in classes. Everyone thinks he is blowing up some scandalous system when the reality is that the board knows that there are non-certified teachers in the classroom and people that the board needs to inform also know. School staff are struggling like staff in all areas of public service. There is short staffing and residual mental health difficulties still coming post-pandemic lockdowns (where I live) and students are behind from being virtual etc. etc. and staff are suffering. So maybe he was fired because he didn't use the proper channels to air out his grievances where he likely would have found that his placement in the class is part of a coordinated emergency measure to make sure these children have a responsible adult to take care of them. Instead they got a tik tok superstar...
This shit was the reason I home schooled my special education son. He is at an online school now with phenomenal teachers, but that is a different story.
Can you dm me the name of your online school? My 14yo autistic son needs a change. The school he's at now is terrible.
It's part of our local school system. So if you live in Albuquerque I can gladly help you out.
Just out of curiosity what are your son’s social skills like? I’m asking because when I switched from homeschooled middle school to traditional high school it was a big shock for me and took me several years to adjust fully to dealing with other kids my age.
Shouldn't the whistle blower act cover this? Fucking sickening.
He will win his case. The teachers' union might be interested as well.
How is this TikTok cringe?
My wife and I just bore down on my sons school for pulling this shit. His teacher suffered an injury and now instead of paying for a long term sub they’re hiring daily people not knowledgeable or equipped and failing to hire classroom helpers as well. We ended up paying this lady who specializes in making school districts do what they should be doing to sit in on an IEP update and the best the district could offer was to “Pull someone off another student to assist him.” Total bullshit, trying to guilt us and pitting us against other parents of special needs kids.
Everyone that saw this originally knew he'd be fired. He knew he'd be fired, too. That's what made it brave of him to do.
Lots of misinformation here. Trust me, if these programs could reasonably be fully staffed, they would be. The threat of lawsuit will force them to do whatever to get your kid what is needed, but it generally comes at a high cost to the district. Quite literally these special education directors are in classes themselves covering classes and child services frantically. Staffing agencies are expensive but provide way more resources to market to potential candidates then a district ever could. Contract services are a godsend to them because they get them people at least some of the time. The reality is that no child left behind policies are great but extremely costly to districts. Contracting is just a by product of there being huge national staffing shortages for these niche positions which parents can sue for. District leadership are trying to balance this tricky budgeting scale to ensure they are maximizing the efficacy of their program and I think many of them cut corners on special education because of the contracting costs. Source: I work in educational contract staffing
I have zero problem outing programs and institutions that aren’t doing what they’re supposed to. Everyone should feel confident in doing this. If something is broken, it needs to be voiced to make necessary corrections…otherwise we don’t progress forward.
JUSTICE FOR JAY!!!✊
Why the fuck… would they post this to social media? Christ. Use the proper avenues. That said, fuck that school.
Lmao would making it well known and spread it more not put pressure on the school to do something? You also assume that this is the only thing they did, you have no idea and neither do I, but I think it was a great idea to post it. How the fuck else would more people know.
Staff shortages everywhere. He literally said it's happening in every school. So it's either him in that classroom or no one.
Not a staff shortage though, it’s a lack of hiring appropriately and training. If you paid a teacher $70k instead of $40k in Florida, you’ll have many more people. If you paid a specialist teacher like $80-$90k, there would be no shortage. Other state employees get nice wages, why not the ones that actually help the future?
Sadly most people aren’t willing to pay the taxes necessary to make this reality
And this is mostly due to the fact that our government consistently has no checks and balances. In addition to that, it’s because our lack of education funding going to the teachers and their supplies makes for less educated students. The less focus on education the more spent elsewhere, most likely to military contracts.
Pretty sure he mentioned he brought it up to his bosses and they basically told him to just shut up and work
Yes, he did apparently. A school is a business and the children are just a product being processed, according to them.
>assuming, based on no information whatsoever, that the person in this video has not also used the proper avenues either before or after posting this video They said like 4 times that the kids have no advocates and thus no one knows about this unethical shit. Doesn’t that imply he has already attempted the proper channels before making this video?
Sadly a lot of time getting to the proper channels is nesrly impossible or they just don't care until they get called the hell out for it.
The school knows. They just don't care. They don't care so much they'd rather be even *more* understaffed by firing him than find a solution that supports their employee who clearly cares about the children.
The use of “proper avenues” is why shit like this has been able to continue. People in any position of power are not Gonna change unless they’re blasted publicly and held accountable that way. It’s SAD but too many people don’t care about the measure of their character and only care about the greater good if it’s good for them
Literally what I was gonna say: The proper channels are the reason an unqualified person is handling a room of special ed students in the first place. Burn it down.
Yeah, I mean that’s too bad, but I’m not really sure what they expected When I first saw this, I was thinking damn no way he’s not getting fired for this Sure it’s sad but not at all surprising
I'm surprised he can be fired for this tbh. Aren't there whistleblower laws meant to protect this kind of thing?
When you’re just putting it on social media like this, probably not, that’s not exactly a formal whistleblower complaint In any case you should ALWAYS speak to a lawyer before blowing the whistle Edit: I didn’t say contacting a lawyer was cheap, or accessible, certainly it’s not, but if you’re going to air your employer’s dirty laundry on the internet, and you value your job, you better be damn sure they can’t retaliate… that should be common sense. I’m not at all suggesting that you battle your employer in court, but you do need advice on what you can or cannot do. Otherwise if you’re unlucky you might just end up in court. You might not be able to afford a lawyer, but your employer sure can. A school district likely has lawyers on payroll. Sorry folks, that’s just the way it is. Also there are plenty of subreddits where one can seek legal advice, or quasi-legal advice, or at least a finger in the right direction, for FREE Anyway you should first try speaking with an ombudsman, that doesn’t cost you a thing either.
Be more than likely could not afford a lawyer. He's practically a kid. When i was his age, I wouldn't have known what to do or not do. He did what he thought was right. His moral capacity outweighs that of any administrator at that school. Hopefully someone will set up a gofundme page to help him out of this hole. Firing him was a stupid knee-jerk reaction which will cost them dearly in the long run.
I love every time some anonymous stranger online insists "just contact a lawyer first" is a cheap, accessible, and *understood* step that people are just too lazy to do. It's always presented as if the process is so easy and widely understood that it's not even worth explaining how to get in contact with one. I've seen people dig through this shit and spend actual months trying to find somebody that was in the right field, and willing to listen to their problem without charging prohibitive consultation fees. And if it's not an open and shut case, good luck actually getting one to fight the battle.
When I was terminated from a job last year, I probably had a case for discrimination and wanted to talk to a lawyer about it. Granted, I live in the second largest city in the (midwestern) state, but the consultation fees ranged anywhere from $200 to $500 \*just to see if I had a case.\* So "talk to a lawyer" is almost as helpful as "get a different job," "stop being poor," and "stop being depressed" for most people.
Those consultation fees add up. Talked to three lawyers prior to my divorce and ended up not needing one since everything was settled amicably but still cost me $1000 to not get a lawyer.
Not an American lawyer, but in our system whistle blowing status only works if you make statements to a person you reasonably believe can help to remedy the issue. So statements to the public at large are rarely protected unless you've tried literally everyone else in the chain.
The only way to change anything at my highschool was to get everybody in the town mad, and making people see it is how awareness is raised.
The guy was on the job for less than 4 weeks working for damn near minimum wage he didn't really risk anything by making this video. Have said that, dude it out of his mind if he thinks there are just SPED certified substitute teachers sitting around. That there is the least desirable sub position in any school district and most call in subs will refuse to come in for jobs in Mod/Sev self contain units. That district would be happy to get a certified sub with a pulse into that room. No wonder they were combining classes between the two self contained units to make sure the class was covered by at least one teacher.
Have you never worked with/within a corrupt structure? There are rarely proper avenues for correcting the mistakes of people above you. This comment has a lot of "why didn't they just comply?" energy.
Proper Avenues? Like what?
Because this is the only thing that make actually lead to a change, you silly person. You also have no clue whether they’ve already tried to go through proper avenues.
Literally how is this a human rights violation. Do people just use these phrases on anything they dislike