New Bedford paraprofessionals say the city is violating special education mandates

NEW BEDFORD — Members of the New Bedford Federation of Paraprofessionals/AFT 2378 say the city school district is in violation relative to many students' individualized education plans — or IEPs — when it comes to paraprofessional support, suggesting that a shortage of paraprofessionals is a problem of the district's own creation stemming from an unwillingness to offer fair wages, as negotiations on a new three-year contract continue to stretch beyond expiration of the prior one.

"We've been in negotiations for almost a year now," said Local 2378 President Jill Zangao outside of this month's School Committee meeting at Keith Middle School, where union members had lined the sidewalk, holding signs that read things like, "We [love] our jobs! But not our pay," and "IS THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE LAUNDERING MONEY??"

According to Zangao, a paraprofessional at Campbell Elementary School who started working in the district in 2015, New Bedford Public Schools' previous contract with the union ended on July 31.

"The district did budget $9.6 million for paraprofessionals and our offer comes in much lower than that," she said.

A printed handout that was distributed by union members outside the school entrance before the start of the School Committee meeting listed claims — among others — that "a major shortage of Paraprofessionals" is "jeopardizing student safety while violating IEP protocol," and that the "School Committee budgeted $9,668,851 to be spend on Paraprofessional salaries and stipends for the current school year. ... In the current round of negotiations for a successor collective bargaining agreement the Committee financial proposal is only $7,508,080...."

"WHERE IS THE REMAINING $2.1M GOING?," one demonstrator's sign questioned.

According to Zangao, the union's latest proposed figure of $8,624,758 — which includes salaries, stipends and longevity money — would amount to an average paraprofessional salary of $26,000 a year while the current average salary stands at $22,000. The district's latest proposal is $8,120,331, according to information provided by the union.

Union leader: IEP violations compromise school safety

When asked if the district had any response specifically to union members' claims of IEP violations, the administration responded to The Standard-Times via email: "Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are written to provide each child with the supports that they need. NBPS is committed to providing all necessary accommodations."

But according to Zangao, the district is failing in that charge. "When we first sat down in the beginning of negotiations, they said they were 101 (paras) short," she said. "On my last check we had roughly 310 paras and they want to get to 400. So I can definitely say there's 90 kids without paras but that number is most likely higher.

Zangao explained that students' IEPs may call for a student to receive paraprofessional support at school on a 1-to-1, 2-to-1 or "small group" basis depending on the level of need, with 1-to-1 para support typically reserved for students with the highest level of need. However, this is often compromised due to availability issues, she said. "If you're a small group para with three kids in your group and there's a kid who needs one-to-one, essentially you're taking on the four kids," she said. "But let's be honest — if that one-to-one student is so high-needs, you're giving all your attention to them and the other three are not getting anything."

Zangao also noted that students assigned 1-to-1 para support are often those with the highest medical needs or students who exhibit potentially dangerous behaviors like the "elopers" who are known to run out of classrooms and/or school buildings. Due to the nature of those students' needs, Zangao says it creates a safety risk when they cannot receive the services designated in their IEPs. "There are currently 1-to-1 students with no para support," she said.

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For parents of students with IEPs who feel they are not being fulfilled, Zangao says being vocal about concerns is crucial. "At this point it is so important for parents to get involved or advocate for their child, otherwise the district isn't going to let DESE know that they are in non-compliance," she said. "Unfortunately, parents don't always know how to go about it or how much power/say they have in their child's IEP."

Union, district at odds over spending

During the public speaking portion of the School Committee meeting on Monday, Oct. 17, paraprofessional union member and parent of two children in the district, Michelle Willis, addressed the committee.

"My children have had so many wonderful educators in their lives, and I want to know that those educators are able to get some rest each night and pay the bills each month," Willis said, later noting that paraprofessionals — or "paras" for short — do not collect unemployment over the summer. "I personally have watched too many amazing paras struggle with the decision to stay or leave the job, because they can’t afford to survive at the current rates. Their students make massive gains academically and social-emotionally, only to fall behind after the loss of yet another high-quality member of school staff."

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The next day, New Bedford Public Schools administration released a statement to address any assertion that 1.75% stands as the district's proposed pay raise for a new contract. During her public comment the night before, Willis had stated, "Calling a 1.75% raise 'generous' is frankly insulting."

"Inaccurate information presented at the October 17th School Committee meeting during Public Comment requires correction," the NBPS statement read. "Counter to the statements made by the Federation of Paraprofessionals that NBPS has offered an increase of only 1.75%, is that NBPS proposals include an entirely new competitive salary scale in year 1 of the agreement, with increases ranging from 4.40% to 5.31% in year one alone."

"Our 2023 Fiscal year budget is $9.7 million for Paraprofessional base salaries alone and a total of $10.1 million when including projected Paraprofessional overtime and longevity payouts," Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Andrew O'Leary is quoted in the statement. "The publicized figures from the Federation imply that we should divide the current $9.7 million budget based on last year's staff numbers, which was based on last year’s student enrollment numbers and students’ needs.

"Our new budget is based on the 400 Paraprofessional positions that we have identified to meet the needs of our current students. To have a contractual maximum of how many Paraprofessionals we can hire, as the Federation has proposed, is not in the best interest of the students we serve."

Presented with the district's statement, Zangao said NBPS' citing of the 4.40% to 5.31% range as a proposed Year 1 pay increase is correct, adding however that Willis' statement to the committee Monday night should not be viewed as inaccurate. According to Zangao, the district's proposed increases for years 2 and 3 of the three-year contract would be 1.75%, respectively; and the administration's rejected initial proposal had the Year 1 increase at 1.75% as well. "So they're focusing mainly on the first year," she said. Furthermore, Zangao said most paraprofessionals are not on steps that would entail the higher end of the range proposed by the district in Year 1.

Responding to O'Leary's quote on the union's proposed hiring limit, Zangao clarified that the measure seeks to limit new hires funded from allocated school budget funds, not on all new hires in general.

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"Our current proposal allows them to hire an additional 40 paras than we have currently. That will bring them to 350 paras total which would be the highest number of paras they've had in several years," Zangao said, noting ESSER money can be used to hire beyond the 40 additional paraprofessionals should the district seek to add positions and find the candidates to fill those spots, although she says she finds it doubtful. "There's nobody knocking down the doors to join this profession based on how low the pay is and how challenging the work is."

According to materials provided by Local 2378, citing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, there are $721,569 in ESSER 1 money, $15,537,740 in ESSER 2 money and $42,392,804 in ESSER 3 money available for New Bedford.

Listings on schoolspring.com — used by many school districts as a primary resource to post job openings — showed a total of 32 New Bedford Public Schools listings for various types of paraprofessionals, reflecting a total of 40 open positions as several listings entailed more than one job opening. Posting dates for the listings range from Aug. 23 up to Oct. 19.

On how the paraprofessionals union arrived at their figures, information from Local 2378 says: "To determine the cost of the proposals we applied each side's to the salary schedule, then placed every employee on their appropriate step at new rates."

'Committed to this process'

Asked for comment, Mayor Jon Mitchell — ex-officio chair of the School Committee — responded via email through a city spokesperson: "Although the city has a long-standing practice of not commenting during ongoing contract negotiations, I want to make clear that we are proud of the important work performed by the school department’s paraprofessionals. I am hopeful that the school administration and the union will be able to arrive at a contract that both offers fair compensation for paraprofessionals and enables them to provide the highest possible support for the students they serve.”

“We are committed to this process and to continue being competitive and fair with all NBPS staff," New Bedford Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Anderson is quoted in the district's statement. "Everything we do must be in the best interest of ensuring that we are providing a high quality educational experience for our students. Our focus is always on improving the teaching and learning experience for each of them.”

As for any future demonstrations, Zangao says Monday was the first — and hopefully last — of this negotiation cycle, but that depends on the outcome of an upcoming mediation session set for Tuesday, Oct. 25.

"If that doesn't go well then we plan our next one," she said. "Last time, when our contract was already expired for two years, we started demonstrating in January and we didn't ratify until June 14. Hopefully it doesn't take six months."

Background: New Bedford paraprofessionals claim wages unfair (2021)

Spending a school budget: What the law says

When asked if public school districts in Massachusetts are required to spend all budgeted funds according to their originally intended purpose as presented upon approval of that year's budget, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education cited the following from Mass. General Law C.71 §34: "The vote of the legislative body of a city or town shall establish the total appropriation for the support of the public schools, but may not limit the authority of the school committee to determine expenditures within the total appropriation."

By the numbers

How many paraprofessional job listings does each school have?

• Hayden-McFadden Elementary School: 10

• Roosevelt Middle School: 5

• Elwyn G. Campbell Elementary School: 4

• New Bedford High School: 3

• Normandin Middle School: 3

• Jacobs Elementary School: 3

• William Taylor Elementary School: 3

• Carlos Pacheco Elementary School: 2

• Betsey B. Winslow Elementary School: 1

• Ellen R. Hathaway Elementary School: 1

• Sgt. Wm. H. Carney Memorial Academy: 1

• Abraham Lincoln Elementary School: 2

• Renaissance Community Innovation Elementary School: 1

• Thomas R. Rodman Elementary School: 1

— via schoolspring.com as of Oct. 20)

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford paras union says district is in violation on many IEPs