Peabody teachers, paraprofessionals stage protest at school board meeting

PEABODY – There wasn’t an empty seat inside the Kiley School auditorium Tuesday night. Minutes before the start of the regularly scheduled School Committee meeting, nearly 100 teachers and paraprofessionals arrived to express frustration with their unsigned contract.Donned with green “Contract with Pride” pins, each supporter stood in silent protest during the first half hour of the meeting. It wasn’t until the beginning of Superintendent Milt Burnett’s report that they all stood up and left collectively.Bruce Nelson, President of the Peabody Federation of Teachers, said the absence of the School Committee’s negotiating member at past meetings shows “another indication of a lack of respect” for the work of these employees.Much like that of the Unit A teachers union, negotiations over the contract for paraprofessionals began in May 2007. Since then, they have been working under the expired agreement. Unit C is one of the last units under the discretion of the federation to see a finalized contract.”Hopefully we’ll send a message to the School Committee that these men and women are tired of being ignored,” said Nelson. “This part of the school system deserves to be recognized.”The role of the paraprofessional is an important one, said Nelson. More often than not, the individual works with special needs children who either have visual or audible disabilities and behavioral disorders. They typically work anywhere between 19 and 30 hours each week, but not always by choice. Sometimes their hours are held at 19, the “magic number” that keeps these individuals just shy of eligibility to receive benefits, said Nelson.”Paraprofessionals are the ones who allow teachers to accomplish their job,” he said.According to Nelson, the next negotiation session will be held on March 19. With the upcoming school budget hearings, he remains particularly concerned with the outcome.