Shrewsbury School Committee, paraeducators reach contract agreement

76

Shrewsbury Public School logoSHREWSBURY – After 18 negotiation sessions dating back to December, the School Committee and the Shrewsbury Paraeducator Association (SPA) reached a tentative agreement on a successor three-year contract on Oct. 21. 

The deal was announced during the School Committee’s Oct. 23 meeting.  

“We are very appreciative of the partnership that we have with the SPA and reaching this deal,” School Committee Chair Jon Wensky said. “Both parties, I felt, were very collaborative and transparent about the needs and challenges … Our paraeducators are a pivotal part of our success in this district – they have really difficult and challenging jobs every day, and we really appreciate their commitment to the success of students across the district.”

Shrewsbury’s over 200 paraeducators had been working without a contract since Aug. 26. In the absence of a new contract, paraeducators worked under the terms of the expired deal. The title “paraeducators” includes roles like instructional assistants, special education assistants, child-specific assistants, applied behavioral analysis technicians, media aides, and tutors.

“I am very happy that the negotiations are finally over,” SPA President Noreen Christie said in a statement to the Community Advocate. “We had a strong team of highly qualified and hard-working paraeducators that negotiated with us to make sure the School Committee knew exactly what our jobs are on a daily basis, and that our love for the students we support drives us to work as hard as we do.”

“I am pleased we made progress this time,” she continued, “but I will still be wearing my ‘We Are Worth More’ button.”

RELATED CONTENT: Negotiations ongoing as paraeducators work without contract

The new tentative contract includes several new agreements. 

The tentative contract offers new “top steps” — compensation levels commensurate with experience — for certain positions. Paraeducators will receive an extra paid holiday, increased paid professional development, and an increase in work hours for certain positions. Paraeducators who assist students in the restroom will receive a $450 toileting stipend.

Though the agreement – which covers the 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027 school years – likely came later than both sides would’ve preferred, a tentative contract was reached earlier than in past cycles. Negotiations for the now-expired deal dragged into January 2022 and included a rally. School Committee members characterized this contract’s negotiation process as “collaborative” and “transparent.”

“Of the three [negotiation] cycles I’ve been a part of, this one’s been by far the best,” said Wensky.

Other School Committee members, including Sandra Fryc and Superintendent Joe Sawyer, were pleased with the tentative agreement. The committee also voiced its appreciation for the district’s staff of paraeducators.

“It was a very good negotiation. There was a lot of back-and-forth conversation. I think the SPA team helped us understand some of the real pain points and areas we needed to focus on … Our paraeducators are pivotal to what we do as a district, and we couldn’t do the work without them,” said Fryc.

“These are really, incredibly important roles in our school district. Every time you visit a school, you can’t help but see the impact that these paraeducators are making, supporting students, supporting staff, and making the schools work well,” said Sawyer.

No posts to display