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Note: This story has been amended to correct an error when it was first published April 2. It was the Haverhill School Committee that declared an impasse in 2023. Names of the three members of the School Committee’s education support professional’s unit negotiating team have also been updated.
Can an independent outsider help the Haverhill School Committee and the union representing its classroom aides finally find common ground in their nearly three-year contract dispute?
Both sides are pinning their hopes on a state-appointed “fact finder,” who is scheduled to meet with both sides Wednesday, April 9, for a second and final session. The city’s 243 education support professionals, or ESPs for short, have been working without a contract for two years and negotiating for nearly twice as long. The central issue is what the city pays the aides per hour.
Like their colleagues across the state, the ESPs have been pressing for a so-called “living wage” for several years as part of a national trend to recognize the important work they do in helping teachers and students, said Lynn M. Sullivan, who is representing the ESP unit in contract negotiations.
“We have been advocating to not hit it in one contract cycle or even two but to have a path towards a living wage,” she told WHAV.
The Haverhill School Committee is offering an across-the-board 4% pay increase for all the aides with a 3% increase in the second year and 3% increase in the third year. Currently, ESPs in Haverhill make a starting wage of $21.32 an hour. A 4% increase would be an additional 85 cents per hour for those on a starting salary. The union is requesting at least $26.94 an hour for starting aides with similar increases for those already on the staff. They are also requesting a bigger stipend for filling in as substitutes for classroom teachers and more flexibility on how their sick days can be used.
Negotiating on behalf of the Haverhill School Department have been School Committee Vice Chair Richard J. Rosa and members Gail M. Sullivan and Thomas Grannemann. They are remaining during fact finding. Going forward, though, Grannemann stays on the negotiating committee with incoming Chair Mikaela D. Lalumiere and member Erica Diaz.
Haverhill School Committee member Paul A. Magliocchetti said Haverhill’s school district is already facing a $2.5 million budget deficit for this year.
“It is going to be a big challenge for us to meet all the we need to fund next year,” Magliocchetti said, noting it is City Council which approves the total school budget.
In asking for a bigger piece of the school budget pie, the union’s Sullivan said she is hoping she and her colleagues will at least get an increase next year that would cover inflation.
“I have a bachelor’s degree and make $29,931.21 in a job that is five days a week for six hours,” said Sullivan, who was born and raised in Haverhill and calls herself a proud Hillie. She has worked for the system for 18 years. “The 4% increase the School Committee is offering would bring me over $30,000 but it would be like taking a pay cut given inflation.”
Sullivan argues increasing the wages of the school district’s paraprofessional staff is in the city’s interest because turnover is high as aides leave to work in other nearby communities which pay better. Currently there are several vacancies for aides, Sullivan noted.
Education support professionals work six and a half hours in the middle schools and seven and a half hours at the high school level for 182 days, according to the unit’s contract. Currently they can be tapped to substitute for classroom teachers and then earn an additional $25 a day stipend. The City of Peabody pays its paraprofessionals an additional $60 a day for serving as substitutes, Sullivan said, and Everett $150 a day. The union would also like more freedom in how individuals can use sick days, for instance, to cover the illnesses of family members.
“Most paraprofessionals in Haverhill are working two and three jobs to make ends meet and many rely on government and charitable support programs including food stamps, food pantries, fuel assistance, and Medicaid,” Sullivan said. “We think the city can do better.”
In 2023, the Haverhill School Committee said it reached an “impasse,” triggering the current fact finding.
Following the meeting, the fact-finder, who is working under the aegis of the state’s Department of Labor Relations, then has 30 days to produce a report, which will be presented to both sides with the expectation the two sides can finally come to terms, according to Barry Davis, president of the president of the Haverhill Education Association, the umbrella union for teachers and paraprofessionals alike.
Davis said, “We are hopeful the fact finders report will lead to an immediate agreement. We will continue to negotiate if we need to.”