Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Staff Training topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges board to expand paraprofessional and support-staff training
Summary
Longtime district resident Lisa Kennedy urged the board to institute regular training for paraprofessionals, lunch staff and security personnel, saying lack of training prevents staff from enforcing anti-bullying policies and safely de-escalating incidents.
Lisa Kennedy, a Bayshore resident with decades of service in district schools, used public comment at the board meeting to press for systematic training of paraprofessionals, lunch aides and security staff who spend significant time with students.
"We are really not educating the least educated, least trained people that work with our children the most," Kennedy said, urging the district to use internal resources (social workers, psychologists and specialized staff) to deliver short, recurring orientation and de-escalation trainings. She said the absence of consistent training leads to inconsistent enforcement of anti-bullying rules and reduces accountability.
District staff responded that building principals and administrators had shared existing paraprofessional training practices with the speaker and offered to follow up. Kennedy asked the board to make training recurring and systematic rather than ad hoc.
The board did not take formal action during public comment but the issue was acknowledged for follow-up outside the meeting record.
