Personal Care Aide - Lumberton Elementary School

Special Education Personal Care Assistant

This position reports to the principal and receives guidance from the principal, lead teacher, and administration. It is compliant with position, salary, and FLSA regulations. The qualifications include a high school diploma or equivalent, with previous work experience considered. The ability to lift 40 pounds is also required.

The job goal is to assist in maintaining an appropriate classroom and environment so that students may learn effectively. Under general supervision, the role provides individual assistance that allows a student to remain in school with access to the curriculum and educational environment. The employee accompanies the student for the entire school day, maintaining the safety of the student and assisting with basic human functions such as breathing, toileting, eating/feeding, as well as any behavioral management needs.

The employee collaborates with the supervising teacher to administer and/or monitor any therapy, medication, and/or special treatment required by the student. The employee assists students with mobility needs including transferring students to and from wheelchairs/toilets as well as any individual equipment. Personal Care Assistants may also be directed to perform secondary job responsibilities in cases such as teacher workdays or student absence.

The employee assists teachers with clerical duties as directed.

Job duties include assisting the teacher in duties of diaper changing, supervising children as requested by the teacher, supporting and assisting in feeding assigned students (with and without feeding tubes), providing escort and assistance to assigned children as necessary, working on assigned student or students' individual skills and self-help skills that will be supervised by the teacher, operating and caring for equipment used in classroom for personal care needs and instructional needs, assisting with washing hands and toiletry needs of assigned student(s), maintaining confidentiality and ethical behavior as expected of highly qualified teachers, performing other such duties and tasks regarding personal care of students as the supervisor may assign, performing other such duties as assigned by the building administrator including but not limited to before and after school duties, following all rules, policies, and procedures, along with state and federal regulations pertaining to school issues, constantly monitoring the safety and well-being of the student;

monitoring student attitudes and encouraging self-esteem, assisting with the supervision of the student during emergency drills, assemblies, play periods, and field trips; monitoring the student during lunch, recess, specials or electives, hygiene routines, and snack time, working with individual students to reinforce learning of material or skills initially introduced by the teacher, striving to maintain and improve professional competence, participating in the development and support of the broad school vision, alerting the teacher to any problem or special information about an individual student, maintaining the same high level of ethical behavior and confidentiality of information about students as is expected of teachers, serving as the chief source of information and help to any substitute teacher assigned in the absence of the regular teacher, performing related duties and responsibilities as requested by the teacher and/or principal, regular, dependable, punctual, in person attendance is an essential function of this position, performing such other and not specifically enumerated duties as may be requested by the Board of Education, superintendent, administrator, director or established by district policy, reading, understanding, and abiding by Employee Conduct Policy, all other district, state, and federal policies, and procedures and protocols as established by LCSD and the Mississippi Educator Code of Conduct, personal care assistants are assigned/reassigned to school locations by Special Services are based on individual student need.

Physical demands include talking or hearing, standing, walking, sitting, using hands for fine manipulation, handling or feeling, and reaching with hands and arms using equipment such as a keyboard and video display panel. The employee is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, reach, crouch, or crawl. The employee must regularly lift and move up to 35 pounds and occasionally up to 75 pounds.

Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

The work environment is not a standard office setting; but rather encompasses the entire active school campus both inside and outside the facilities. The noise level in the work environment is usually low to moderate and occasionally high.