Paraprofessionals

Paraprofessionals, aka paraeducators, are needed across the Farmington Public School District and the state to provide much-needed support for teachers of students with special needs.

August 15, 2024 8:09 pm • Last Updated: August 15, 2024 8:23 pm By Carrie Czerwinski, Special to The Day

Stonington ― Chanting “this is what we’re fighting for: Stonington paras deserve more,” upwards of 40 paraeducators picketed outside the former Pawcatuck Middle School before Thursday’s school board meeting.

Members of Stonington’s pareducator union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1996, have argued that low wages result in student needs going unmet as the district is unable to recruit and retain paraeducators in critical positions.

At the board meeting, member Kevin Agnello noted that the number of open positions was 11 as of Thursday evening.

Paraeducators are support staff members who assist teachers in the classroom or provide assistance to students with disabilities or need additional support.

“We provide essential services to students, especially those with special education needs who are legally entitled to additional services and support,” said Nicole Jacko, a former paraeducator in the district.

Jacko said she left after one year because of the low pay.

The protest comes after union members voted in June to reject a tentative agreement that would have seen the starting wage for paraeducators increase from $16.35 to $17.61 per hour, sending the paraeducators’ contract to arbitration.

Under the tentative agreement, wages would have ranged in the first year between $17.61 for new employees and $20.96 for paraeducators who have been with the district for years.

Under the current contract, full-time paraeducators working 32.5 hours per week, 180 days per year earn approximately $20,000 in their first year of employment.

In contrast, in nearby Norwich paraeducators earn between $17.96 and $26.81 per hour.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator, single individuals with no children need to work 40 hours each week at $24.13 per hour, $50,194 annually, in order to support themselves in Connecticut.

Allison Schlink, who is entering her 25th year as a paraeducator at West Vine Street School, said Thursday that she continues to stay in the job because the work is fulfilling.

She said paraeducators make a difference in students’ lives, but after almost a quarter of a century, she still earns less than $25 per hour.

The district had previously explained that historical issues including minimal pay increases, frozen step increases and an increase in how long it takes paraeductors to reach the highest pay level have contributed to the stagnation of their wages.

During the school board meeting, Agnello pushed back against the idea that Stonington paraeducators received wages that were drastically lower than in neighboring towns.

He shared data that he said showed that the agreement the union rejected would have made starting wages higher than some neighboring towns and just $.07 behind neighboring Groton.

During public comment, several parents of students with special education needs discussed how vital paraeducators are to student success and how influential they are in students’ lives.

Alyssa Miner, the mother of a student with special education needs at Dean’s Mill School, said her child’s paraeducators were invaluable and that paraeducators were the backbone of Stonington schools.

Kim Harris, a 26-year paraeducator, said that as she begins her 27th year with the district, she still earns just $19.71 per hour. She said the district struggled last year due to staffing shortages, and she was concerned what this year would bring more unfilled positions.

“How will we legally and ethically meet the needs of our students?” she asked.

After approximately half an hour, board chair Farouk Rajab cut off public comment regarding the issue, noting that public comment is limited to items on the agenda, and the paraeducator contract was not an agenda item.

The district is currently facing financial pressures associated with structural issues at the middle school on Mistuxet Avenue, and the district saw $500,000 in cuts to its proposed 2024-2025 budget.

The town has an undesignated surplus of $15.2 million ― $1.2 million more than it needs to preserve its high bond rating. The town used $7.9 million from the surplus to fund capital projects in the current budget.

The hallways and classrooms at Kimberley Park Elementary School are typically quiet in early August.

But on Thursday, teachers there and across the school district returned to their schools to unpack books, arrange desks and decorate bulletin boards for their first work day of the 2024-25 school year, about two weeks earlier than usual.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is one of about 29 districts in the state that will begin the school year earlier than North Carolina law allows. For at least 20 years, the school district started the school year no earlier than the Monday before Aug. 26, adhering to a state law that was established to accommodate the tourism industry.

In January, the school board voted 6-3 to ignore the law and take control of its calendar, a move that many teachers endorsed because it means that first semester exams can be given before the two-week Christmas break.

People are also reading… The new calendar also aligns with the calendar of Forsyth Technical Community College, allowing for more dual enrollment among students.

The school district has not faced any sort of punishment for ignoring the mandate.

This year, local students will return to school on Aug. 12.

Allison Eskridge, a third-grade teacher in her third year at Kimberley Park, was among 4,000 local teachers who were back at work. She said she has mixed feelings about the early return.

“I like staying in the groove of things,” she said. “But it’s hard to come back and not have that little extra time for yourself.”

Jalyn Neely stood amid the empty desks and boxes in her room, wearing a T-shirt that read: “Hello Second Grade.”

“I’m excited to get here and work on my room. I’m trying to get my things together and set up my bulletin board,” said Neely, a second-grade teacher.

Neely said she planned to spend the day making name tags for the desks in her classroom and catching up with co-workers.

While each school in the district handles the first day of school differently, Diamond Gwyn, the principal at Kimberley Park, said she prefers giving teachers time to organize their classrooms on their first day back rather than having them sit through meetings and PowerPoint presentations.

“It’s a relaxed environment (today),” Gwyn said. “Teachers can get started in their classrooms and see what they need and it gives me time to see what they need. Then, we’ll get to the nitty gritty.”

Wanda McLemore, a 16-year teaching veteran, said one advantage to the shorter summer is that it cuts down on learning loss.

“I’m a proponent of year-round school. I hate the student loss of learning. I’m glad we’re coming back early so that we can close the gap on learning retention,” she said.

McLemore, who teaches fourth- and fifth-grade English, spent her day sorting through her classroom set of books and tacking reading strategies onto a bulletin board.

The school board made the decision to change the calendar after many students and staff members had already made plans for August.

The school district has said it will show leniency to students and staff who can’t make the start of school because of pre-existing plans.

Students who filled out forms earlier in the year explaining that they might miss the start of the school year will be given excused absences.

Superintendent Tricia McManus said that the school district has plans to help students who may miss class.

“We’ll make sure they get what they need when they arrive,” she said. “That’s always my biggest concern, student impact.”

Staff members were asked to talk with school leaders about any conflicts.

Heading into the shortened summer, the school district made detailed plans to make sure that facilities were cleaned, grounds were maintained and school bus stops were in place ahead of the early start, McManus said.

The school district also had to hustle to fill vacancies across all departments. That mean earlier career fairs and faster processing, she said. Currently, there are about 100 teacher vacancies, she said.

“When the decision was made to start early, we created goals and metrics for each week, and we kept following them,” she said. “This challenging problem made us better in the long run. I think sometimes you find unexpected benefits, and I think this was one of them, creating solid plans.”

For the first time in its history, the Federation of Catholic Teachers — the union representing Catholic school teachers, librarians and guidance counselors — announced it is expanding to include teachers’ aides and assistants. Approximately 7,500 Bronx students attend its 22 Catholic elementary schools.

We live in an era when leaders in business and the media demand that schools function like businesses in a free market economy, competing for students and staff.

Nice little news story on us. KLKNTV - Lincoln Channel 8 | Nebraska Now

GREAT video and insight about someone who stared out as a paraprofessional, then moved into teaching. Which is my planned path as well once i finish getting more classroom experience.

Paraprofessionals are known as the backbones of the classroom for their work supporting student learning and well-being. But they report feeling underpaid and overworked—a perennial issue that’s only getting more dire as inflation soars and schools struggle to fully staff classrooms.

See a day in the life of a paraeducator as she works with a boy with Down's Syndrome.