Manatee finds success recruiting from within school communities

In August 2023, Michelle Sanchez was working in the warehouse section of Marshalls. 

She was responsible for receiving the shipping trucks, getting the store ready and more. 

Sanchez said she was exhausted by the work and missing out on time with her children, Tiago and Luca. 

"I would come home for dinner and say goodbye to everybody because I was tired and had to go to bed," she said. 

When Claudia Ramos, Tiago Sanchez's teacher at William H. Bashaw Elementary School, encouraged Sanchez to apply to become a paraprofessional, Sanchez was interested. 

Sanchez was hired at Bashaw Elementary in August 2023 and said she has no regrets. 

Sanchez isn't the only parent who has changed professions to become an educator for the School District of Manatee County. 

Principals are finding one of the best ways to recruit is to look within their school communities, helping to address the shortage of paraprofessionals and teachers.

Kimberlain Zenon, the principal of Braden River Middle School, said she sees parents, paraprofessionals and teachers with the same passion and love for the school and students as she has and encourages them to pursue the next level. She wants to help her paraprofessionals become teachers and teachers become administrators. 

"Trying to build that capacity within the school kind of leads to sustainability within the school," Zenon said. "You're keeping the same passion, same love all within the building. I wouldn't be in this position without that same love being shown to me, because I didn't see that in myself."

Photo by Liz Ramos

Before becoming an educator, Zenon was working at Manatee County Rural Health to use her biology degree and later went on to child support enforcement when she learned she could use her biology degree to become a teacher. 

It wasn't until her sons, Jeremy Jones and Josh Jones, were in kindergarten and second grade respectively at Braden River Elementary that she looked into earning a teaching certificate. She had been around Manatee County schools all her life, and she was involved at Braden River Elementary when her boys were there. 

In 1996, Zenon started as a science teacher at Braden River Middle and fell in love with education. 

There were benefits for Zenon to be working at the school next door to where her sons were learning every day. She could zip over for after-school activities and conferences and still be involved in the school. 

Growing up in Manatee County, Zenon said teachers always were telling her she would like education, but her response was steadfastly that she was going into the medical field with dreams of becoming either a doctor or a pharmacist. 

"I could have been in the classroom four more years if I would have just listened," she said. 

Zenon said she's debating whether she could still pursue a doctorate but in the education field rather than the medical field. 

Lauren Donnelly was a stay-at-home mother to her daughters, Emma, who is now a sophomore at Lakewood Ranch High school, and Reese, who is now a sixth grader at Dr. Mona Jain Middle School. 

While Emma was in elementary school, Donnelly said she was in her classroom as a volunteer constantly. When Reese was in pre-K, Donnelly was asked if she would be interested in becoming a substitute teacher, and since then, she's only spent more days in the classroom.

"Once Reese got into elementary school, I decided I've always really loved children and I thought it was time for me to get back in the workforce." Donnelly said. "I thought getting my foot in the door any way possible would be extremely beneficial."

Donnelly has worked her way up from substitute teacher to classroom aide to classroom teacher. 

Donnelly now is in her fourth year serving as a kindergarten teacher at B.D. Gullett Elementary School.

"It's kind of ironic because I was an aide for the majority of these kindergarten teachers, and now I'm part of their team with my own classroom," she said. "I love kindergarten. I love that they are still at that age where they want to give you a hug when you come in the door. I feel kindergarten is one of the hardest grades to teach but it's also the most beneficial because they come in as 4-year-old babies not knowing anything and they leave us as big kids."

Photo by Liz Ramos

Donnelly and Sanchez never saw themselves pursuing a career in education, but it wasn't until they were in the classroom because of their children that they were inspired. 

Before becoming a stay-at-home mother and later an educator, Donnelly was selling medical equipment. 

Donnelly said after she graduated from college, the life she expected didn't line up with what she was seeing in her family. "What you saw career wise doesn't line up with the life you want for your family," she said. "Your whole perspective on life changes."

Now Donnelly and Sanchez are able to have the same hours as their children as well as holidays and summers off with their children. 

Sanchez, Donnelly and Zenon all had to make adjustments as they switched careers. 

Sanchez said the transition from working at a department store to the classroom as an English for Speakers of Other Languages paraprofessional and classroom aide was somewhat frightening. 

But working at the same school her son attends means she's spending more time with Tiago Sanchez. They drive to school together, and they're at Bobcat Care, the after-school program, together before they drive home. 

Sanchez said since she's started working at the school, her son has been a "different kid" as they spend more time together. She's seen her son come out of his shell and develop more in school. 

Getting to know the students she works with, seeing them progress academically and learning how to best approach each student has been the most pleasurable parts of her job. 

Sanchez plans to earn her teaching certificate so she can become an elementary school teacher, which will benefit her future, she said.

"That helps me as a woman, as a mother growing up in my life," she said. "As a mom, we're doing so many things for others, and I'm like, 'Wow, I'm doing something for myself now that makes me happy.' I'm thinking about the future."