As a retired long time school tesacher, I also see nothing wrong with the aide working additional hours and being paid privately. Saying that, the only way for the teacher to have handled this is to have cleared it with the higher ups----to prevent exactly what is happening here.....talk about it from the other paras.

If the teacher feels she she needed more help that the district was providing her, then the offer to pay the aide herself makes sense. Everybody should think that the education of the students comes first. This would be no different that a teacher buying her own materials to supplement what the school gives her and we all know that is done commonly.

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Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

E. Roosevelt