New Kensington-Arnold looking for monitors to help with substitute shortage

New Kensington-Arnold School District is seeking classroom monitors to help with a shortage of substitute teachers, Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed Act 91 into law in December to address the staffing shortage.

Under the pilot program, monitors are allowed to oversee classrooms but not allowed to instruct students, grade assignments or create work.

It expires on June 30, 2023, after which the state Department of Education will release a report on how it was used and if it helped ease the substitute crisis.

Schools were able to ask the Education Department for permits for classroom monitors beginning Feb. 4. They are available for this school year and next.

Sefcheck said New Kensington-Arnold wants bring on as many monitors as it can get.

Sefcheck said monitors will take attendance, help students log into Teams to work on class work, ensure students follow classroom rules and notify teachers or administrators of progress or issues.

“They are hourly workers that are called in as-needed based on teacher absenteeism,” he said. “They function much like a substitute, but they cannot do any grading or lesson planning.”

Requirements to be a classroom monitor are:

• Must have completed at least 60 semester hours, or the equivalent of courses, at a regionally accredited college or university in Pennsylvania. Or, must be currently employed as a school paraprofessional with at least three years’ of experience.

“Paraprofessionals work in the classrooms to help teachers with students that have special needs,” Sefcheck said. “Additional personal care aides stay with a specific student throughout the day.”

• Must meet the pre-employment requirements for background clearances, citizenship and good moral character under the state school code and child protective services law.

• Must be at least 25.

• Must have completed training on classroom management provided by an intermediate unit and approved by the Education Department.

Additional considerations apply to paraprofessionals serving as classroom monitors. The act requires they be paid at their existing contracted rate or the school’s daily rate for substitutes, whichever is higher. They should not pay for intermediate unit training and are to be evaluated only on their responsibilities as paraprofessionals.

How much monitors who are not employed by the district would be paid has not been decided, Sefcheck said. They would be assigned to schools as needed.

If monitors are used for students with disabilities, schools have to ensure those students’ needs and requirements are met.

The school board approved advertising for classroom monitors at its meeting Tuesday.

The law requires districts to report to the state by March 31, 2023 how many monitors it uses and the number of days they were used. Districts also have to report their daily substitute teacher pay rates for the 2020-21 through 2022-23 school years.