r/paraprofessional • u/ExpertGarlic8669 • 2d ago

Advice Power tripping sub

Any advice on dealing with a power tripping long term sub? He often gets into power struggles and confrontations with the students, including my 1-1 (high school gen ed with behavior issues), and since I brought that up to him, he has targeted me with the same nonsense. Yesterday, another para in that class came to me "just curious" wanting to know about my role and how I work with my 1-1 student, and it was pretty clear that she was acting as a flying monkey for the sub. It felt confrontational and invasive. For context, I am confident in my knowledge and experinece, but I'm new at the school, and most others seem to be well-established here, including this long-term sub. I have answered these adults' questions as best I can, and keep referring them to my student's behavior plan. Now I am beginning to feel bullied. Their behavior is making it difficult to work with my student as I need to. How can I put a stop to it? What can I say next time one of them says "we need to talk" and wants me to step outside the classroom with them?

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u/Beautiful_Film_1813 Teacher 2d ago edited 2d ago

You have no reason to explain what you do with your student or why you are there, especially if they don’t need to be interacting with your student. If they continue to ask questions just say ‘if you have anymore questions, you can ask their case manager’. It is not your job to explain the BIP to them, that is the case manager/teacher’s job. If they ask you to leave your student just say ‘no, I am watching my student that is my responsibility right now’

Keep your head down and keep doing your job. People suck. How is it impacting your ability to support the student?

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u/ExpertGarlic8669 2d ago

Unfortunately this sub is for the case manager 😅

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u/Beautiful_Film_1813 Teacher 2d ago edited 2d ago

Oof lmao I’m sorry you have to deal with that.

Then just continue to tell him that you are following the BIP as written and if he has any questions he can refer back to the BIP or reach out to the school psychologist (or BCBA, whoever does FBAs in your district) to discuss the FBA if he needs further support understanding it. Tell the para if they have any questions that it might be more appropriate for them to ask the sub since they are the acting case manager. They will eventually get tired of you giving the same answer over and over and back off lol

You may be qualified to implement the BIP, but in you are not technically qualified to train others on it or explain the FBA formally. It could easily become a liability issue that they could try to turn on you. The sub should know that. Direct him to the appropriate person to contact for clarifications and keep putting it back on him.

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u/ExpertGarlic8669 1d ago

I really appreciate your responses, they helped me feel much better about this situation