‘They’re the catch-all’: Lincoln paras celebrated during American Education Week

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Public schools throughout the nation are participating in American Education Week, highlighting the various aspects of education.

Lincoln Public Schools highlighted education support professionals on Wednesday.

These roles include health, custodial and student services, as well as paraeducators.

Caitlin Acree is an LPS paraeducator who works throughout the district with different students to help them meet their goals.

“Someone gets 100% on a math test that they’ve never gotten before, that joy is not just equal but expanded so much,” she said, “because they know that they have people who are rocking their world in the back and are cheering for them.”

On Wednesday, she worked with special education students at Northwest High School on flexibility and mobility.

Acree said honoring paraeducators and other support staff is important because of the hard work they put in.

“They’re the catch-all,” she said. “They do anything and everything that anybody can think of. And if you haven’t thought of it yet, we already did it.”