Special Education Paraprofessional

General Definition of Work

Performs basic human support work assisting classroom teachers by working with individual special‑needs students or small groups, and related work as apparent or assigned. Assists with personal hygiene. Work is performed under the close supervision of the Teacher and Principal.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

• Assists classroom teachers in performing specific duties as assigned or undertaking specialized tasks.
• Assists with lunch, snack, clean‑up, lavatory, clothing and wash‑up routines, personal hygiene, and arrival and departure of students.
• Works with individuals or small groups to reinforce material already introduced by teacher; provides programmed practice activities and repetitions as developed by teacher, therapist, or psychologist.
• Assists with a variety of assignments and tasks associated with the needs of students; escorts students to special classes and therapy.
• Lifts, moves, and operates adaptive equipment.
• May be assigned to assist in special areas such as reading, mathematics, computer lab, library, in‑school suspension, etc.
• Maintains various records and files; grades student work.
• Ensures work assigned to students is completed and returned; enforces discipline and safety rules.
• Notifies respective teachers in writing of the dates a student has been assigned to in‑school suspension; collects completed work and returns it to the respective teacher's boxes.
• Performs a variety of office and clerical assistance tasks for classroom teacher and school office staff; makes copies of various materials.
• Assists with large group activities.
• Guides independent study and other work assigned by teacher.
• Reports student problems to teacher and assists with student problems.
• Assists with the sale of supplies and collection of monies.
• Performs cafeteria, hall and/or bus duties; helps supervise playground and physical education activities.
• Escorts students to classes; assists students during meals.
• Performs the duties of a paraprofessional as required.
• Performs related tasks as required.

General knowledge of the practices, methods, and techniques used in teaching the special‑needs population; ability to maintain confidential files and information and to compile reports; skill in the use of classroom and instructional equipment; ability to operate standard office equipment; skill in the use of personal computers and related software packages, hardware and peripheral equipment; ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with associates, students, and parents.

Special Education Paraprofessional

• High school diploma or GED and minimal experience working with special‑needs children, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This work requires the occasional exertion of up to 50 pounds of force; work regularly requires speaking or hearing, using hands to finger, handle or feel, and reaching with hands and arms; frequently requires walking and occasionally requires standing, sitting, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling, pushing or pulling, lifting and repetitive motions; work requires close vision, distance vision, color perception, and peripheral vision;

vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word; hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels; work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data, visual inspection involving small defects and/or small parts and observing general surroundings and activities; work occasionally requires exposure to blood borne pathogens and may be required to wear specialized personal protective equipment;

work has no exposure to environmental conditions; work is generally in a moderately noisy location (e.g., business office, playground, classroom, light traffic).

• Possession of or ability to acquire appropriate license(s), certificate(s) and/or endorsement(s) for position as required by the Commonwealth of Virginia or School Board.

Principal/Supervisor of Special Education