Instructional Aide for Mesa Public Schools - Special Education Instructional Aide Mesa Public Schools Employee Review

I love my. team and that I am able to make a difference.

There is low pay for this job.

Teachers' rights are generally observed, with prep time and reasonable planning included in the day.

I don't blame the district (I blame the state for allowing charter schools to get state funds without credentialing teachers or having to deal with so-called "problem children"). However, in their efforts to keep their numbers up, the district is sacrificing equity and social justice and replacing it with "choice schools" and allowing neighborhood school quality to vary so much that many schools find it difficult to keep their teachers at all. Behavioral programs have been severely cut, which is a shame since the staff in the MPS behavioral services department is phenomenal. We should be doubling their budget, not cutting it! SPED teachers are given an unreasonable workload and have lost their clerks. They are leaving because they can't keep up. Unfortunately, the ones who suffer the most are the ones whose parents can't or won't speak up. There has to be a better way to keep up with the budget than throwing away our most vulnerable little ones. I don't wish the district's budge on anyone, but I really think we can do better.