Why Do Full-Time School Support Staff Roles Require Letters of Recommendation? A Teacher Explains
Last week, I stayed after school for our district’s hiring committee meeting for a full-time special education para position. The folding table we used was still sticky from the PTA bake sale set up that morning, crumbs of chocolate chip cookie stuck to the edge of my notebook, and I was drinking my third coffee of the day from a chipped blue conference mug I’ve had for three years. We got to the 12th application, and I recognized the name immediately: Sarah Mendez, whose older son was in my 4th grade class two years ago. She’d been subbing para roles at our school on and off for 12 months, and I’d seen her calm, steady way with kids who struggle with big emotions. There was just one problem: she’d turned in her resume and background check form, but forgot to include the two required letters of recommendation.
Our admin lead shook his head and said we couldn’t move her forward, per district rules. After the meeting, Sarah texted me, frustrated. She said, “You’ve seen me work here for a year. I know half the kids by name, I helped cover Leo’s class when his para was out on leave for six weeks. Why do I need a piece of paper to prove I can do this?” I met her at the diner down the street after school the next day to talk it through, and it got me thinking most parents and even new teachers don’t understand why this rule exists—it’s not just arbitrary red tape.
I remembered that day last November when the fire alarm went off mid-morning, unannounced, for a system test. Leo, my student with autism who hates unexpected loud noises, had a full meltdown in the hallway. His regular para was out sick, and Sarah was filling in. I saw other adults try to pull him into line, tell him to calm down so we could all exit, and Sarah just stepped between them, grabbed Leo’s favorite dinosaur fidget from his backpack, and walked him to the quiet supply closet by the office. She sat on the floor with him for 22 minutes, I checked later, while the rest of the school cleared out and the fire department did their inspection. She didn’t pressure him to stop crying, didn’t check her phone, just talked to him about dinosaur bones until he was ready to come out. I saw that, I told Sarah that day she was amazing. But I also get why we still need those letters.
A lot of people see full-time support staff roles as casual, easy work that doesn’t need much vetting. But the truth is, full-time paras, recess aides, school nurses, and after-school program coordinators spend more one-on-one time with our most vulnerable kids than anyone else. They help kids use the bathroom, change clothes after accidents, drive them to speech therapy, sit with them when their parents are late for pickup for an hour after school. They have access to private information about kids’ disabilities, medical needs, and family situations that most people don’t. A background check is non-negotiable, but it only tells you so much. It won’t tell you that an applicant regularly left kids unsupervised at their after-school job at their last district, or that they talked about kids’ private diagnoses with other parents in the parking lot. That’s the stuff letters of recommendation catch.
A few years ago, we were short-staffed and desperate for a full-time recess aide, so we made an exception for an applicant who had a clean background check but no letters. We thought it was fine, we’d just get them later. A month in, we got a call from his previous employer, who was shocked we hired him. He’d been written up three times for leaving first graders alone on the playground while he went inside to get coffee, and the only reason he wasn’t fired was because he quit before the investigation finished. No background check showed that, because he never had any criminal charges. A letter from his old supervisor would have told us that upfront.
For people new to education, like Sarah, who was a stay-at-home parent for 10 years before she started subbing, it’s easy to think that what people see at your school is enough. But when you sub, you’re only covering a shift here and there. You don’t have to show up at 7:30 a.m. every single day when you’re up all night with a sick kid, you don’t have to document daily progress notes for 8 different kids every single week, you don’t have to hold your tongue when a frustrated parent yells at you over a miscommunication. A person who supervised you for months—whether that’s a PTA board leader you worked with on the annual fun run, a former boss from an office job, or a teacher you’ve subbed for regularly—can speak to those consistent, day-to-day traits that matter most for full-time work.
When we talked at the diner, I gave Sarah a few quick tips to get her letters together fast. I told her she didn’t need letters from people who worked in education, either. A letter from the PTA president who saw her show up early every Saturday for 3 months to set up for fundraisers, handle upset vendors, and keep track of 20 volunteers works just fine, because it proves she’s reliable. She asked me to write the second one, which I did, focusing on what I’d seen of her judgment with kids, not just that she’s nice.
Sarah turned her application back in last week, and she’s got an interview scheduled for next Tuesday. The system isn’t perfect, of course. I’ve read glowing letters for people who turned out to be a bad fit, and I know great people who’ve missed out on jobs because they couldn’t get someone to write a letter for them. It’s still just one tool, not a perfect test. But it’s an important one. When you hire someone to be with your kid for 6 hours a day, to help them through some of their most vulnerable moments, you want more than just a clean background check and a nice interview. You want people who’ve worked with that person before, who can tell you what they’re like when no one is watching. That’s all the letters of recommendation are really asking for.
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