School board votes to fire Delray Beach teacher; special needs programs face staff shortages

Editor's note: This story has been updated from an earlier published version. Because of a reporting error, this story incorrectly stated the employment status of Alisa Wampler with the Palm Beach County School District. The school board voted at its Jan. 17 meeting to approve the superintendent’s recommendation to terminate Wampler effective Feb. 8. She appealed on Feb. 5. The Post regrets the error.  

The school board has voted to fire a special education teacher of nearly 20 years after she left a student with special needs behind and alone in the cafeteria at Pine Grove Elementary School while the rest of her students went to the classroom to start school for the day.

Although she worked at the school district for 17 years without incident, it was the third time in two years she'd left a student by themselves at the Delray Beach school, according to district investigative records. She has until Feb. 8 to appeal.

Alisa Wampler got a reprimand from the school district for one incident in February 2022 and was suspended for five days in April 2023 for another. She called the latest incident a "horrible mistake" in interviews with district investigators but said that the morning breakfast scene with students is "chaotic." She detailed the difficulties of corralling 21 students, several with special needs, through the cafeteria with the help of just one paraprofessional.

Her firing shines a light on a bleak reality for students with special needs, their families and the teachers trusted to educate them: There aren't enough paraprofessionals to cover all the needs of students in district ESE programs.

In fact, the number of unfilled paraprofessional positions in the district has more than doubled since the 2020-21 school year. That year', there were's 70 openings represented 5% of the total paraprofessional workforce.

Last year, district records show 156 positions were open, representing 13% of the total workforce of 1,151 paraprofessionals. More than 60% of the openings were at elementary schools where young students typically rely on their paraprofessionals the most.

"There's a lot that's lost when we don't have enough (paraprofessionals)," West Palm Beach education lawyer Shahar Pasch said. "We lose out (on) safety for students and safety for teachers, because there's a lot of ways kids can get hurt when they're not properly supervised. And we lose out on education. If a teacher is disrupted, that child is not learning and the other children in the classroom aren't learning."

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The consequences can also be deadly. In 2015, a 19-year-old student at William T. Dwyer High died after he choked on food in the school's cafeteria. His regular paraprofessional worked with him one-on-one and knew to cut his food and supervise him closely at meals because he had a history of choking.

But on the day Kedar Williams died, school officials told his mother that paraprofessional was "no longer available." He was supplied a substitute paraprofessional who was in charge of supervising him and another student in the cafeteria.

What is a paraprofessional?

Paraprofessional employees, called "paras" by many school teachers, are noninstructional employees who help support special education teachers and students with special needs at the elementary, middle and high school level.

Paraprofessionals are not issued a teaching certificate by the Florida Department of Education like a teacher is but must pass a statewide assessment that evaluates their reading, writing and math skills as well as their ability to use those skills to help students in the classroom.

Paraprofessionals who work with students with special needs often take on many other duties, Pasch said. They can help clean up messes at meal time, help a child use the bathroom, redirect their focus during a lesson, help them take breaks if they're overstimulated or manage bad behavior in accordance with the child's IEP, or individualized education plan.

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While teachers are paid a minimum salary of $51,500 per year, paraprofessionals' starting salaries are between $16,600 and $22,500 based on their job title. Paraprofessionals are covered by one of two different unions depending on their job titles.

The low pay hardly represents the crucial role paraprofessionals play in special education and in general education classes, Pasch said.

"How much do you think you would want to pay someone to feed your child? To make sure your child stays safe? To help your child toilet? To be there when your child is so escalated that they become physically violent or to run and catch your child?" she asked.

Special education teacher concerned about staffing shortages in previous investigations

Wampler wasn't new to the world of teaching students with special needs. She was hired at Pine Grove Elementary in 2005 after earning a master's degree in special education.

She had an unremarkable first 17 years at the school where she achieved positive evaluations from the principal. But in January 2022, Wampler was reprimanded by the district after a student with special needs became separated from her class at recess and was missing for nearly an hour. The student was found off of school grounds, although the district investigative report does not say where.

In the minutes before the student went missing, Wampler told investigators, her two class paraprofessionals were supervising recess from a bench with her before she saw another student who had wet their pants and needed to be changed inside the school. After she changed the student's pull-up, she returned to recess before bringing her class inside.

Although she told the paraprofessionals she was bringing half the class inside and they should round up the remaining students and meet her back in the classroom, Wampler didn't do a headcount. As a result, the paraprofessionals brought three students back to class instead of four because they thought all the remaining students were with Wampler.

Wampler was adamantly remorseful in her interviews with investigators. She said she thought the student came inside with one of the paraprofessionals.

"I am so, so sorry, I let the student's mother know, there was no excuse, I should have done a headcount when I got back to the playground and I didn't, it's something I will live with," she said in an interview with investigators.

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But a similar incident unfolded in Wampler's classroom in November 2022, when she left a young student alone as she took her other students to lunch. The student was alone for about 20 minutes on Nov. 16 before another teacher found him.

Principal Shauntay King told investigators that "no one seemed to realize that the student had been missing." Fellow teacher Cherline Collot told investigators that she found the student playing with toys in the dark classroom and that he did not appear upset that he'd been left behind.

Although the student wasn't alone for long, any situation in which a student is unsupervised can be dangerous, mental health counselor and child behavior analyst Natalia Herrera said. Students with special needs may put toys in their mouths and choke, fall and be unable to ask for help or have seizures, depending on their medical history.

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"Especially with our neurodiverse community, especially in a classroom where you are trusting the teacher to keep your kids safe, it’s not OK to leave a child with special needs unattended," she said. "That is the teacher’s responsibility to their students."

Wampler was suspended for five days. She served her suspension in April 2023 and returned to the classroom.

'We have been very short staffed,' special needs teacher says

In her interviews with investigators, she lamented the lack of staff and support.

"I have been teaching (special education) for 19 years. For the past two years, we have been very short staffed," she wrote in a statement where she explained that two paraprofessionals were "shuffled" between her class and another class.

"I have the lower functioning students. The other class had the more independent students," Wampler said. "Mine were non-verbal, non-independent in the bathroom, (and) needing lots of support."

After the latest investigation began, Wampler was moved to Lantana Elementary for the 2023-24 school year.

School program offers tuition assistance for paraprofessionals

Despite increasing numbers of vacancies for paraprofessionals in public schools, the school district is trying to make the job more desirable. One plan is creating pathways for employees to move from non-instructional positions to teaching jobs.

School Board Chair Karen Brill said a new district program is covering up to $700 per course for paraprofessionals who go to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in special education, deaf education or visual disabilities.

Brill, whose son worked with a paraprofessional as a child in Palm Beach County schools, said they're needed in both special education classes and general education classes.

"Paras are really important. They play a critical role in the classroom, ss critical as the teachers," Brill said.

Wampler has the right to appeal until Feb. 8. If she appeals her firing, Wampler will remain on unpaid suspension until the appeal process is complete.

Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: School board votes to fire Delray Beach teacher Alisa Wampler