Wa-Nee board hears proposal to widen paraprofessional hiring rules with annual flex waiver

The Wa-Nee Community Schools Board of Education opened a public hearing to review a proposed "flex waiver" that would give the district more flexibility in qualifying paraprofessionals, Dr. Gretchen Thomas said.

Dr. Gretchen Thomas, presenting the item, said the waiver would allow the district to substitute local and state requirements for strict federal paraprofessional qualifications. She said the district could permit new paraprofessionals a year to pass the required assessment or accept "1,000 hours of working with students" as equivalent experience toward qualification, measures she said are intended to widen the hiring pool and support retention.

"It just widens that range, helps us hire and retain paraprofessionals who of course are high quality without that barrier there," Dr. Thomas said.

Board members framed the request as routine and annual; Dr. Thomas told the board, "This is formality that we do every year. We apply for this." The board opened the floor for public comment and instructed speakers to sign in and limit remarks to three minutes; the transcript records the public comment period being opened but does not include individual public comments.

Why it matters: Allowing local or experience-based qualifications can change hiring timelines and candidate pools for in-class support staff. The waiver, if approved by the appropriate authorizing body, would affect how quickly paraprofessionals can be placed and how the district documents their eligibility.

Next steps: The board opened the public comment period as part of its annual application process. No further action on the waiver is recorded in the meeting transcript provided.