SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – For the past year, students and staff at South Orange Middle School (SOMS) have been greeted at the front door by Omar Ortega’s bright smile. Now, they’ll have to go further into the building to see that smile.
That’s because Ortega, who has worked the past year as a security guard, is now a teaching paraprofessional at SOMS.
“When I saw they were looking for help, I decided to give it a try,” said Ortega, a 2014 graduate of Newark’s American History High School. “Everybody’s excited about it. I guess I made a good choice.”
Currently, Ortega is working one-on-one with a student who has autism in Teacher Ashley Saraceno’s self-contained classroom for students with autism who are in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.
“I know the students really miss seeing him at the security desk, but we are very lucky to have him in our classroom!” said Saraceno. “He has a great rapport with the students and is very patient and flexible. He has only been with us for a few days but we are extremely happy to have him.”