PEABODY — The Peabody Federation of Teachers and the School Committee on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that provides increased compensation, additional training, and more access to technology in the classroom, just hours before a planned demonstration at a School Committee meeting Tuesday evening.
“Paraprofessionals play an important role in our schools,” said Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt, Jr. who serves as chairman of the School Committee, in a statement. “We feel that this agreement is fair to paraprofessionals and demonstrates how much we value the work they do.”
The agreement provides a pathway for all full-time paraprofessionals to earn an annual wage of no less than $25,000 per year.
“An agreement such as this has been a long time coming for paraprofessionals in Peabody,” said Doreen Blaisdell, a paraprofessional from the South Memorial Elementary School. “Pay for paras has dramatically increased in nearby communities in recent years and I am proud to see Peabody join that trend.”
Blaisdell had previously said the city was losing paraprofessionals to neighboring communities as a result of “feeling underpaid and undervalued.”
The union and the committee have yet to vote on the agreement, and the federation, in a statement, said that votes would be scheduled for later this week.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala added that “paraprofessionals … provide much-needed support to some of our most vulnerable students,” and he said he was “appreciative that we were able to work collaboratively to reach a fair and equitable contract that values the work of our paraprofessionals and recognizes their professional contributions to our students, staff, and families.”
At Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, a brief update was given on the tentative agreement by Committee member John Olimpio, who said more information would follow at the next meeting.
After Olimpio spoke, fellow Committee member Jarrod Hochman spoke on the negotiations, and said he was displeased with the manner in which some handled the situation. Hochman added that the negotiations were to remain confidential and accused some, including a city councilor, of expressing certain opinions and details of the negotiations on social media. He did not name the aforementioned counsilor, but did state that he lived on Lynnfield Street multiple times.
“I’d just like to express my displeasure with the manner in which some of this was handled. There was agreement, as always, as is custom, between our bargaining team…and the bargaining team for Unit C (Peabody’s Para Professionals Union) that we were going to negotiate confidentially, and that’s a standard customary agreement,” Hochman said. “It’s my understanding that there were some people who used social media platforms to negotiate or express opinions on this negotiation, and some of the people that expressed those opinions were actually members of the negotiating team for this bargaining unit. I don’t like that tactic.”
Hochman said the way in which these members of the bargaining team acted was unfair to the team and the school committee. He again specifically singled out the city councilor in question calling his moves unprofessional.
“I didn’t appreciate a particular city councilor, because that seems the way this councilor at large decides to get behind the keyboard and post on social media by talking about the mayor of the City of Peabody without identifying the mayor of the City of Peabody by name as if we don’t know who he is,” Hochman continued. “I didn’t care for that tactic, I think it’s unprofessional, it’s not warranted.”
Hochman closed his remarks by stating that he took issue with how the city councilor questioned the integrity of a school committee member, and that he needed to speak out against the behavior exhibited by this specific councilor.
“I didn’t like the way that particular city councilor … treated one of the members, specifically of this school committee, whose integrity was brought into question in a social media post of all places, didn’t have the decency to pick up the telephone and talk to the school committee member,” he said. “I find that behavior completely unacceptable. When this type of behavior exists or is being exhibited by an elected official against another elected official…I think I need to speak up and condemn that type of behavior.”
Hochman thanked the bargaining team for its hard work and for being able to get a tentative deal done with the The Peabody Federation of Teachers.
Anne Marie Tobin of the Item staff contributed to this report.
