Paraprofessionals working in the South Orange-Maplewood School District, employed through a third-party vendor, say they are facing pay cuts and will be protesting those cuts at the August 28 Board of Education meeting.
Meanwhile, the District says that contract negotiations are strictly between the vendor and its staff.
An August 26 press release from the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), Local 68, based in West Caldwell, reported that “As South Orange and Maplewood families prepare to send their children back to school, paraprofessionals, who are among the lowest-paid employees in the district, have had their wages unfairly cut.”
The release quoted Tamy Lamy, who has worked in Clinton Elementary School for the past 9 years, saying, “I should be making $26.05 per hour, based on our existing contract. Instead, we were informed we would be making much less. We can’t afford to have our salaries cut.”
Marie-Paule Florestal, of the IUOE, Local 68, reported that the vendor, ESS, is cutting the hourly rate from $26.05/hour to $24.79/hour. It does not appear that the South Orange-Maplewood School District is cutting the hourly rate it is paying ESS.
“This is a clear violation of our members’ rights and a shameful attempt to misuse public funds from a contractor who charges much more per hour to hire these dedicated, skilled workers,” said Florestal via the press release. “The company is paid about $33 per hour for each of these workers. Cutting their contracted pay to profit from their work is disgusting, especially when the costs of living are skyrocketing.”
Florestal told Village Green that, “last school year the district reduced paraprofessionals’ hours in the middle of the school year.” Previously, paraprofessionals arrived before the start of school which “allowed them to support teachers with classroom setup and daily instruction.” Under the new hours, she said, “paraprofessionals are often left doing errands and making copies instead of providing meaningful instructional support to students and teachers.”
“This change has created significant problems,” added Florestal. “Parents and paraprofessionals now arrive at the same time, creating congestion during drop-off. Many students rely on buses, which are frequently late. Now, because paraprofessionals must leave at 2:28 p.m., children are left without adequate supervision, a clear risk to student safety.”
Florestal said that the financial impact has also been “severe.”
“Before the mid-year cuts, paraprofessionals earned a gross income of $937.80” per week, she told Village Green. “Afterward, it dropped to $807.55. With the further reduction in hourly pay from $26.05 to $24.79 gross income is now $768.49. That’s a loss of $677.24 per month. On top of this, paraprofessionals do not receive pay during holidays, spring break, or recess, nor do they receive health benefits or 401K contributions.”
In response to a request for comment, a District spokesperson replied, “We have learned of those concerns regarding Educational Staffing Solutions and its employees. Contract negotiations are strictly between ESS and its staff, and the district does not have involvement in those discussions. We are in contact with ESS to continue planning services for our students.”
Per a job description posted by ESS, paraprofessionals “supplement student education and assist classroom teachers with instructional, behavior management, and/or administrative duties. They support the physical, behavioral, and academic needs of a specific student or group of students with special needs throughout the school day.”
Paraprofessionals, who can work with individual students and/or small groups of students, are seen as a critical component of special education services delivery and the smooth functioning of special education and inclusion classrooms.
In 2010, the South Orange-Maplewood School District outsourced its paraprofessionals, as part of an effort to bridge a multimillion dollar budget shortfall caused by a drastic cut in state aid. Per this reporter’s accounting, then at Maplewood Patch, “The major casualty of cuts was the district’s para-professional community. Contracts for the 76 aides who work with special education students and support their teachers will not be renewed. Instead, they will be outsourced to the Essex Regional Special Services Commission. The district is working with the Commission to have all the ‘paras’ rehired through the Commission—albeit at 50% of salary and with no benefits. The move will save the district about $1 million.”
SEPAC, the Special Education Parents Advisory Committee, has long been advocating for bringing paras back “in house.”
In 2020, SEPAC then-Secretary Malia Herman told the BOE, “This ongoing frustration is not surprising given a history where paraprofessionals had formerly been district employees with benefits and a possible career path…Now these critically important support staff members are employees of the lowest-bidding agency, without significant benefits and with a much more difficult path to full-time employment status.” [Herman is now Maplewood Township’s Deputy Mayor.]
Regarding the current pay cut, Nicole Josey, SEPAC SOMA President 2025-2026, sent the following statement on behalf of the SEPAC SOMA Executive Board: “SEPAC was made aware of the para situation with their vendor, ESS, and reached out to the district about it. The difficult part of this situation is that since it is a 3rd party vendor, we do not have any say so on how they operate their business. But! We (SEPAC) have asked that the district intervene as much as they can. If you are at all available on Thursday and can attend the board meeting, even virtually, please come out and support our paras.”
“These cuts have harmed paraprofessionals’ livelihoods, diminished the quality of education, and placed student safety at risk,” Florestal told Village Green. “It is time for the district to restore our hours and acknowledge the essential role paraprofessionals play in supporting teachers, students, and families.”
Village Green will be attending and reporting on the August 28 BOE meeting.
Read the full press release from International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), Local 68 below.
Workers Challenge Cut To Contracted Pay
As South Orange and Maplewood families prepare to send their children back to school, paraprofessionals, who are among the lowest-paid employees in the district, have had their wages unfairly cut, according to their union. The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), Local 68, based in West Caldwell, has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the vendor who is contracting the paraprofessional services to the school district. The union, on behalf of the group of 200 paraprofessionals who attend to children’s needs, assist teachers in classrooms, and make sure students have a safe, protected environment for learning, filed a grievance that Educational Staffing Solutions (ESS) violated the collective bargaining agreement by paying the paraprofessionals below the contractual rate.
“I should be making $26.05 per hour, based on our existing contract,” said Tamy Lamy, who has worked in Clinton Elementary School for the past 9 years. “Instead, we were informed we would be making much less. We can’t afford to have our salaries cut.”
The workers formed a local with the IUOE in 2016 and negotiated agreements with a contractor who hires the workers for the SOMSD. “This is a clear violation of our members’ rights and a shameful attempt to misuse public funds from a contractor who charges much more per hour to hire these dedicated, skilled workers,” said Marie-Paule Florestal, of the IUOE, Local 68. “The company is paid about $33 per hour for each of these workers. Cutting their contracted pay to profit from their work is disgusting, especially when the costs of living are skyrocketing.”
Florestal heard that ESS has been hiring paraprofessionals with fewer college credits to pay them less despite the fact that students with IEPs are required to have paraprofessionals with higher educational requirements and training. The workers are planning to attend the South Orange/ Maplewood School Board Meeting to call on the board to direct ESS to honor its agreement on Thursday, August 28, 2025.
“We want parents to know we are committed to working with the students in this school district, but our families need to have our basic needs met too,” said Tamy Lamy.
