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By Vanessa Bartlett and Aaron Hall
BTU members rally in Jamaica Plain on Thursday, January 16.
BOSTON—On Thursday morning, public school teachers across Boston participated in informational pickets at three Boston schools prior to the start of the school day. Members of the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) have been working under an expired contract since August, and these informational pickets may be a sign of BTU members’ growing agitation.
One of the main issues that BTU members raised was the low pay for paraprofessional teachers in Boston.
Paraprofessional educators work with students who have special needs to help them succeed in a classroom. According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, an individual needs to have an associates degree, 48 credit hours in post-secondary education, or qualification from an assessment to apply as a paraprofessional.
Paraprofessionals (“paras,” for short) play a critical role for special needs students performing functions from helping with toileting and hygiene to adapting instructions from the teacher. Currently, paraprofessionals are paid around $30,000 annually.
Mary Thomas, a paraprofessional who works at the Curley K-8 school in Jamaica Plain, told Working Mass, “We’re fighting for living wages for paras. Paras can’t subsist here. They can’t sustain living in the city that they work in and they live in and a lot of our teachers can’t either.”
Thomas has worked as a paraprofessional in the BTU for 12 years and said that paras like herself have had enough. “I think the last time we were given a raise, it was a dollar, on a salary that is already unsustainable in a city where you need about $70,000 as a single person to live,” said Thomas.
BTU President Eric Berg addresses picketing educators.
Paraprofessionals’ working and living conditions are going to be a central point of contention in the BTU’s fight for a new contract, according to BTU president Erik Berg.
“Boston is unique among communities in Massachusetts and maybe around the country in requiring a single general education teacher to also be a special education teacher. We’re seeking an end to the city of Boston’s practice of…depriving students with disabilities from the necessary specialized instruction delivered from an additional teacher, which is what they really need to learn and thrive,” Berg relayed.
American Federation of Teachers – Massachusetts (AFT-MA) president Jessica Tang, who was also at the Curley school informational picket, added that they are trying to fight for a livable wage for educators, including paraprofessional teachers who “…are [the] lowest paid workers in [their] bargaining units.” Tang was formerly the president of BTU before taking the top job at AFT-MA, the AFL-CIO affiliated state-wide educators’ union which represents around 25,000 educators across 7 school districts, including Chelsea and Springfield; the larger state-wide educators’ union, Massachusetts Teachers Association, is not a member of the AFL-CIO.
AFT-MA President Jessica Tang attends informational picket.
Vanessa Bartlett is the vice-chair of the Working Mass editorial board and a member of Boston DSA.
Aaron Hall is a biotech worker and a writer for Working Mass.
Photo Credit: Vanessa Bartlett
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