New Bedford paraprofessionals file complaint after district adds new duty: changing diapers

NEW BEDFORD — The New Bedford Federation of Paraprofessionals/AFT 2378 has filed a legal challenge against New Bedford Public Schools over what members say has been a new addition to job duties for some this year: paraprofessionals can be required to change middle and high school students' diapers, some of whom are of adult age.

"We are performing diaper changing and toilet duties with adult students," said New Bedford High School paraprofessional Lawrence Genereux during the public comment segment of Monday's School Committee meeting. "This year (Supervisor of Special Education Instruction) Ms. (Elizabeth) Camara instructed the paras at the high school to assume those duties saying there was a clause in the job description. We neither have the staff nor do we have the proper training. It can be a health issue if a para doesn't clean a student right and the student ends up with a rash or an infection."

AFT 2378 President Jill Zangao — a paraprofessional at Campbell Elementary School — said that some paraprofessionals took a brief training at the high school this year which the union feels was insufficient, also noting not every paraprofessional was able to attend.

"It was early in the year, the second week in," Genereux, who was at the training, told The Standard-Times on Thursday. "They had a nurse and a PT (physical therapy) person there, and Ms. Camara came, to watch how we lift them (students), and they gave us a couple of tips. They observed us for like five minutes."

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What the complaint document says

Zangao provided The Standard-Times with a copy of the union's "charge of prohibited practice" filed with the Mass. Department of Labor Relations against the district on Nov. 7, which states: "This school year (2022-2023) the New Bedford Public Schools unilaterally added a duty to the paraprofessionals in the Transitional Resource (TR) rooms by requiring them to [perform] diapering duties of middle school and high school students in the program. This work had previously been performed by Certified Nurse Assistants (which are also in the bargaining unit) or the school nurse.

"There has not been training and the current equipment is insufficient for the safety of the paraprofessionals (or the students.) The Employer has unilaterally changed job descriptions to justify this change."

As also stated in the document, the union's desired outcome would be to "Restore the status quo of having this work performed by CNA and nurses and bargain in good faith."

A look at the most current contract between the district and paraprofessionals' union states, "If the following duties are required they will be noted on the postings: toileting/diapering, feeding and/or lifting residents of students and/or ABA."

As of Thursday, all 36 paraprofessional job listings found on schoolspring.com for New Bedford Public Schools — entailing 40 open positions — included language under "DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES" stating that successful candidates "May provide personal care assistance to students including but not limited to toileting/diapering, feeding, physical lifting of students for hygiene and body positioning changes," as well as "Other duties related to support of students as directed by Administration."

How the issue started

Genereux, who's been a paraprofessional at the high school for a total of 11 years, says while it's possible the language requiring diaper changing as part of paraprofessionals' potential duties has existed for some time, it was never something they were required to do.

"Everyone had an option, at least. If you didn't feel comfortable doing it they had CNAs who'd do it," Genereux said. "Just last year we had three or four of them doing it."

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Zangao said she had informally started communicating with NBPS Executive Director of Human Capital Services Heather Emsley about paraprofessionals' concerns starting back in September.

"I went back and forth by email several times from Sept. 1 to around Sept. 7 with Heather about how I didn't think paraprofessionals should be diapering students at that level," Zangao said. "We're supposed to have CNAs in our unit. It's in our collective bargaining agreement."

Both Genereux and Zangao said the New Bedford paraprofessionals union has successfully fought a similar battle with the district some years back.

Paras' problems with the practice

According to Zangao and Genereux, having paras change older students brings up respect and boundary issues around something that could be sensitive for some.

"I think at the middle school and high school level, we're working with young adults; it's not like we're changing babies. They deserve dignity and privacy," Zangao said.

Genereux echoed that sentiment, also raising the point that some students are non-verbal or may be otherwise unable to express if they are uncomfortable with who is changing them.

"If I'm ever out, one of my students who's non-verbal and just used to me doing it may have to be changed by someone they don't know that day," he said. "These kids are over 18 — some are 20, 21 — so just to have anybody changing them could be embarrassing."

While Genereux says he doesn't mind changing diapers for his students when it's needed, the time-consuming trips to the bathroom pose a safety hazard.

"On Oct. 17 we had a couple paras absent, and we had a student pull a fire alarm," he said. It's a situation he brought up at the School Committee meeting as well, noting that at the time, six paraprofessionals were performing changing or bathroom duties, while two teachers were left to escort students from three classrooms out of the building by themselves.

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"The teachers ended up making out alright but what if that was real?" Genereaux told The Standard-Times. "That's why I say I don't mind doing it (changing duties) but I'd rather be in the classroom."

According to Genereux, a bathroom trip with a student requires two staff members and could take anywhere from five to 25 minutes; and a student will typically be taken there three times a day.

New Bedford paras union persists with budget claims

According to a printout distributed by AFT 2378 members to attendees of the latest School Committee meeting on Nov. 14, the average pay for paraprofessionals in the district now is $22,000 a year, and the union's most current proposal of $8,120,033 is "$1.55m less than the $9.7m that was budgeted." The printout cites that the union's proposal would raise the average paraprofessional pay rate to "roughly $26,000" a year, "and would still allow the District to employ 380 Paraprofessionals."

"Tell Superintendent (Thomas) Anderson and Mayor (Jon) Mitchell New Bedford Paraprofessionals deserve the fair wage they seek," the printout reads, providing email and phone contact information for both Anderson and Mitchell.

Another informational document provided by AFT 2378 cites an exact amount of $9,668,851 for the total funds that should be dedicated to paraprofessionals according to the district's budget, and $7,348,180 as the district's current offer in the ongoing negotiations for a new three-year contract. The prior contract expired July 31.

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"After gross pay, I don't even make $17,000 a year," Genereux told The Standard-Times, noting he is on the lower end of the pay scale due to not having a college degree. Asked of any difficulties relative to living on that wage, he shared that he resides in subsidized housing. "So the rent is according to my income," he said.

NBPS' financial administrator addresses paras' perspective on budget

After the public comment segment of the Nov. 14 School Committee meeting concluded, NBPS Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Andrew O'Leary was asked by School Committee member Chris Cotter to offer an explanation relative to AFT 2378's claim that the district is trying to short paraprofessionals on their budget allotment.

"If you go back to the budget book that broke things out by departments ... if you added up every school ... you get 9.6 (million dollars)," O'Leary said. "Then other places in the budget book, you'll see a couple hundred thousand for special ed. over time, a couple hundred thousand for longevity, but overall all those roll up to the report you're seeing here which is that 10.1 million."

At the start of the Nov. 14 School Committee meeting, an audio recording of Anderson — who was not present due to a family emergency — was played, in which the district leader said, in part: "Our teams are being creative and working with families to provide the appropriate services on all levels despite inaccurate depictions of this. Although we were challenged with staffing issues like many other districts across the country, we do put our students first and we're doing what is necessary to help them maximize their potential."

When asked via NBPS' spokesperson if the district had response to any of the claims made at the meeting, as well what that part of Anderson's recorded statement was in reference to, a response came in the form of a short quote from Emsley that read: "Paraprofessionals in the District perform a variety of important duties, including personal care duties, to support the students of New Bedford Public Schools."

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Parents, teachers and others speak up for New Bedford paraprofessionals

At the Nov. 14 School Committee meeting, paraprofessionals were joined in support by parents, current and former teachers, and other community members, where speakers advocated during the public comment segment for a larger piece of the school budget to go to paraprofessionals than what district negotiators have reportedly offered thus far ahead of the next mediation session set for Dec. 7.

"I'm not really a fan of public speaking but tonight I feel the need to speak up," said city resident Steve Silvestri, noting he is the parent of a child with special needs who has "many challenges in life." "We have been through many challenges as parents, too," he said, "and none greater than when sitting in her annual IEP (individualized education plan) meetings and being told she is eligible for services, or that she needs services, but that the district couldn't, or wouldn't, accommodate them.

"It is not that they haven't been allotted the money needed to provide the staffing. I believe ... they have chosen not to provide adequate staffing for our children."

Carmen DeJesus, another speaker who identified herself as a parent of a child with special needs — a son who attends Hayden-McFadden Elementary School — said she hadn't realized prior to that evening how little paraprofessionals are paid.

"My son's para, from the start of the day, not only does she become a parent, she becomes a nurse, she becomes a protector, and the level of loving my child is phenomenal," DeJesus said at the mic with her son there in her lap. "It has happened where my para has unfortunately gotten hurt by another child with a disability, and she's protected my child and that is her sole job is to make sure that he gets what he needs in the school and I just think that they don't get paid enough to do four, five different jobs...."

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In advocating for a higher, livable wage for the paraprofessionals, New Bedford Coalition to Save Our Schools Dr. Ricardo Rosa said he had a recent conversation with one living in unfortunate circumstances. "Not to long ago I was speaking to a paraprofessional who related to me that she could not leave a toxic relationship even if she wanted because she could not afford to do so," he said.

During his time speaking, Rosa also advocated for changing the paraprofessional job title to "'education support professionals,' or better yet, 'educators,'" saying that the "paraprofessional" job title "misrepresents their actual work."

"I don't want my children to be put in the care of someone who the system sees as less than professional," Rosa said.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford paraprofessionals file complaint against diaper duties