The West Hartford Board of Education approved a pay increase and other changes in the contract for paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, and student aides.

By Manon L. Mirabelli

The Board of Education voted on Feb. 19 to increase the daily pay rate for paraprofessionals, teaching assistants and student aides and give the latter two hiring priority for available paraprofessional positions effective July 1.

Julio Duarte, executive director of Human Resources for West Hartford Public Schools, said the newly negotiated, two-year paraprofessional contract includes, for the first time, teaching assistants and teacher aides, giving them union voting rights.

“This will give teaching assistants and students aides full voting rights,” he said.

In his presentation to the Board of Education, Duarte said the increase for those working at least 25 hours per week was negotiated with the paraprofessional union and ratified on Jan. 21.

“It establishes a general wage increase of $5 per day beginning in the 2024 school year and an additional $4 on top of that for the 2026 school year.”

Teaching assistants and student aides will receive a $4 per day increase. In total, paraprofessionals will earn $9 more per day by 2026, and teaching assistants and student aides will also receive a $500 attendance bonus for working at least 82 out of 91 school days.

“Essentially, that means they’ve had 90% attendance or more,” he noted.

In addition, teaching assistants and student aides will get first hiring priority for full-time, paraprofessional positions given they meet the qualification for the role.

The pay increase was approved unanimously with one abstention from Ethan Goldman who said he did not feel comfortable voting on the issue without knowing the full dollar amount and its impact on the budget, which was not presented.

“As a board, we should be dealing with actual amounts, otherwise we have no context,” Goldman said.

Duarte estimated the total amount for the “duration of the two-year contract” to be between $100,000 and $300,000.

Board of Education secretary Latoya Yagaloff lauded the newly negotiated agreement as an opportunity for teaching assistants and student aides to work their way up through the teaching profession and cited her own rise in education from her days as a crossing guard.

“We’re recognizing hard work,” she said. “I’d love to see this as a model for other districts.”

Clare Nesarella, in her support of the measure, described teacher assistants and student aids as “essential individuals” and called their being included in the contract as “a great move.”

“There’s a shortage right now, and we need to recruit as much as possible and keep the high quality,” she said.

Neseralla also asked Duarte if teaching assistants and student aides would be eligible for healthcare benefits, and while they are not, having the first opportunity to apply for paraprofessional jobs gives him the opportunity to “hear their career aspirations” giving them “the pathway to become paraprofessionals and move forward to getting into classrooms.”

Duarte said paraprofessional applicants would still need to meet qualifications, which now include a college degree, but a background and experience in child care or working with children could be considered. In addition, those who do not have a college degree could obtain an emergency certification to “cover classes independently.”

“We want to open doors for people, but we want to be mindful that we have qualified people sitting in classrooms.”

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