After reporting last week that there more paraprofessional classroom aides recruited than spaces to fill, South Orange-Maplewood School District administrators say they were left scrambling to fill spaces after the third-party vendor provided new information over the weekend.
Paraprofessionals are teachers’ aides who work with special needs students in classroom setting. Some paras work with multiple special needs students; other paras work one on one with students, depending on the student’s level of need.
Supt. Jason Bing reported on Tuesday night, Sept. 1, that the school year started earlier that day with 138 permanent paraprofessionals and 24 temporary support staff for a total of 162 positions covered out of the total of 184 needed.
“Last week I indicated at our board meeting that we had all our paraprofessional positions covered and a healthy excess to account for issues. That was the best information we had at that time,” wrote Bing in a message to parents that was shared with media late Tuesday night. “Unfortunately over the weekend we were informed by our vendor, over the course of moving all of our paraprofessionals to W-2 employment status, that the number of available paras had decreased.”
“Since then, my staff and I have worked tirelessly to address this gap, pushing the vendor to complete additional recruiting and pulling in additional agencies and substitutes to ensure adequate student support for the first day of school,” Bing continued. “We assigned paraprofessionals strategically based on student need and setting, and collaborated with principals and SOMEA to ensure all our students would have the support they needed on day one.”
Bing said that the district is “actively working with these vendors and more to round out our staffing, with more paras expected to start tomorrow [Sept. 2] and additional personnel throughout the week.”
“We appreciate our close relationship with SEPAC [the Special Education Parents Advisory Committee], and have solicited their feedback, suggestions, and guidance,” wrote Bing. “Parents should be in contact with their teachers and principal with any questions, and should feel free to escalate issues to our special services supervisors, [Assistant Superintendent for Special Services] Ms. Gesumaria, and myself. Case manager assignments will be sent out by end of week, along with additional information about students’ individual situations.”
Asst. Superintendent of Special Services Kathleen Gesumaria had alerted parents of special education students about the developing issues on August 31 — the day before the start of school — in a letter (see below).
On Tuesday evening, district staff were meeting with parents and vendors to address concerns and fill gaps.
Meanwhile, Ray Heineman, a lawyer for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68, which represented the district’s paraprofessionals when they were employees of the former vendor, ESS, said that the turmoil was of the district’s own making.
“They’re talking about this transition, but they’re the ones that started it. The school board and [the new vendor] Delta-T Group,” said Heineman in an Sept. 1 phone interview with Village Green. “They’re the ones that caused the transition. And when you move people from decent paying jobs — these workers were getting $24 to $26 and change, job protection, etc. — and they eliminated all that to initially go to $16-$18, and then to $20-$22, but effectively under the table as independent contractors. And so that eliminates their social security, unemployment, workers’ comp. … And they cut that out to make them these 1099s [independent contractors]. And as a result, very few of the experienced paraprofessionals returned.”
“They’re the ones that caused the problem originally and now they’re moving back to W-2 employment, acting like it’s something they’ve accomplished when it’s really something that they were warned not to do months ago,” said Heineman.
Heineman also questioned Gesumaria’s description of moving to Precision HR from Delta-T, saying he had discovered that the two organizations share the same address [Village Green has not independently verified this as yet].
“It’s the same company,” said Heineman.
Heineman noted that Local 68 had asked the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development to investigate Delta-T’s classification of the workers in a letter sent to the state in early August. State officials said they are looking into the allegations, as reported by NJ.com.
Asked about the district’s stated need to cut $1.8M in costs through the contract rebid, Heineman said he objected to the district balancing its budget at the expense of its most vulnerable workers and students.
“When you cut off a caregiver and you eliminate a routine, it has a horrid impact on the individual,” said Heineman. “And that’s what the parents keep communicating…. And you have this progressive town, upper middle class. It’s a great community …, and then I see this effort to save money on the one population I represent professionally, but then also this other vulnerable population, that’s just, to me, it’s unspeakable.”
New Bus Program Rolls Out
Bing also reported on the implementation of a new three-tiered transportation plan that rolled out with the start of school on Sept. 1. Village Green had been copied on emails by two parents reporting problems with their children’s routes.
“Our first day transportation rollout was not without speed bumps,” said Bing, “but the majority of our routes were on time and with far fewer incidents than in recent memory. One particular bus route serving Seth Boyden Elementary was a glaring exception, and we have focused our attention on ensuring that the AM failure and PM lateness will not be repeated.”
Village Green was copied on numerous emails from a parent documenting late pickups and arrivals of a South Mountain Elementary School/Annex bus, and another parent documenting a late bus at Clinton Elementary.
“My School Leadership Team and I rode numerous bus routes this morning, and will do so again tomorrow,” wrote Bing. “We spent hours sitting with our bus vendor to work out issues, and are hoping for an even smoother and more timely second day of school. Please be contact with our transportation department or myself with any questions.”
The district’s transportation coordinator is Sandra Klemser.
