Wenatchee School District Increases Staff at Elementary Schools

Wenatchee School District is adding six additional para-educator positions for the elementary schools that have the largest classes sizes in kindergarten through fifth grade (K-5), says Lisa Turner, Executive Director of Human Resources. Columbia, Lincoln, Mission View, Sunnyslope Elementary Schools and Washington will get additional para-educator support.

The new staff will be hired and begin working by the beginning of second semester, February 1, and will be trained in the new reading curriculum, called Reading Wonders, so they can assist teachers by providing reading support.

Lisa Turner, HR Director

“District and building administrators reviewed the possibility of adding additional certificated staff in the classrooms with the highest overloads at K-5,” says Turner, “and did not identify a working solution.”

Turner said part of the difficulty was adding teachers after the school year had begun, including problems with limited space, the teacher candidate pool, and the lack of a model for team teaching.

Turner says administrators share the same goal as instructional staff—to provide support with the least amount of disruption. Administrators decided the best solution at this time is to add the six new para-educator positions.

Turner says they are continuing to study best possible solutions. “We are evaluating the best models for addressing classroom overloads in instruction for the future.”