Special Ed Aides Get an Emotional Farewell

In a farewell to the arms who help children with special needs, paraprofessionals were honored last night by the Special Education Parent-Teacher Organization. The evening closed a chapter on contentious and sweeping budget cuts that led the district to fire nearly 80 teaching aides who work with children with physical needs and challenging behaviors in the classroom.

Paraprofessionals were honored for their "outstanding service and passionate dedication" by the Special Education PTO, an advocacy group comprised of educators and parents. "I won't talk about the way you've been treated," said Barry Berg, a parent advocate and member of the group's executive committee. "I'm trying to be upbeat, and boys don't cry."

Still, emotions ran high. Paula Bethea, president of the South Orange Maplewood Education Association (SOMEA), wiped away tears during the tributes. "It's heartbreaking," she said.

Special education was especially hard hit in South Orange and Maplewood schools in order to absorb the huge losses in state funding to public education. The cuts came swiftly, literally within hours, during intense number crunching. "I didn't see this coming," said Bethea, expressing regret that the union failed to protect the jobs.

Special education advocates and teachers say the loss of the paraprofessionals will have a profound impact on the classroom. Many have years of experience working with children with special needs. "I have seen you create bonds of love and trust with our vulnerable children for whom each day at school is a scary obstacle course to overcome," said Suzanne Turner, a parent advocate from Marshall School.

On Tuesday night, the sadness and worry lingered among the mingling parents and professionals. Many are not yet resigned to the immeasurable loss. A photo montage—some posted with this story alongside photos of Tuesday night's reception—provided a backdrop to the path that led to the evening's farewell, including a protest march and moving testimony at meetings of the Board of Education.

"My heart is breaking for the children," said Joan Hernandez, a paraprofessional who works with children on the autistic spectrum at Clinton School, during Tuesday night's appreciation reception.

About 75 educators joined the Special Ed PTO inside the meeting room of the district's Central Office. The event was organized by Karen Izo and Ursula Boehmer, executive committee members of the PTO, and other parent volunteers with generous donations by the Parent-Teacher Associations throughout the district. Local businesses and community groups donated the flowers and gift certificates awarded to the aides for dining, shopping and fitness.

Part of the sadness of Tuesday night stems from the wealth of academic, professional and educational experience the paraprofessionals bring to their jobs, including an aide who provides Braille transcription and translation services to a blind student. Many aides working with autistic children have experience in applied behavioral analysis, a data-based strategy for teaching children with disabilities.

"They (district leaders) counted on these people coming back, and they're not," Bethea said.

Second-grade inclusion teacher Janine Guida Poutre said she couldn't do her job without the support of the paraprofessionals in her classroom. Crediting their "patience, caring, open mindedness, patience, kindness and patience," the teacher said the aides provide "more than anyone imagined."

The paraprofessional jobs have been outsourced to the shared service consortium, Essex Regional Educational Services Commission (ERESC), which has posted the job listings on NJHire, a networking recruitment tool of the New Jersey Department of Education.

ERESC is moving to fill 28 teaching aide jobs for summer school beginning on July 1. Twenty paras currently working for the district have applied for those jobs, the agency said.

For September, the 76 aides currently working at the schools were offered jobs at $18 an hour—wages less than school custodians—and no benefits. More than half have declined the offer for a job that paid upwards of $35,000 with health insurance under the union contract, Bethea said.

Many of the paraprofessionals leaving their jobs said they do not know what the future holds. Some plan to substitute teach and tutor. Another said she may resume a law practice.

"I hear Starbucks has benefits," said Paul McArthur, a teaching aide for preschoolers at Jefferson School. (He wasn't joking).

"Regardless of your future plans, please know that you are truly valued by the parents, children and teachers in the community," said Turner, the parent advocate.

The Special Education PTO gave each para a box of chocolate kisses and poem: "One hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, how much money was in your bank account, nor what your clothes looked like. But the world may be a better place because you were important in the life of a child. Thank you for all you did for each one of our special children."

In response to the loss of the trusted and experienced paraprofessionals, the Special Education PTO is planning a workshop to help parents become better advocates for their children. Well-known special education advocate Renay Zamloot will be offering advocacy training for parents of classified students on Tuesday, June 15 from 7 to 9 p.m. Parents are asked to contact the Special Ed PTO to register for the event.