Tacoma schools to lay off, reduce hours for hundreds of paraeducators next school year
Tacoma Public Schools issued notices to hundreds of paraeducators on June 1 they would be laid off, have reduced hours or be reassigned in the 2020-21 school year.
The announcement, made earlier this week, led some union leaders to launch a petition asking district leaders not to make the cuts.
Paraeducators said in a press release June 1 that the cuts result in more than a 50 percent reduction in one-on-one support time with students and that the district was putting the right to basic education at risk.
“In every Tacoma school we provide critical support to students, and these students haven’t gone anywhere,” said Glory Tichy, president of the Tacoma Federation of Paraeducators, in a statement. “It makes zero sense to me that Tacoma Public Schools has chosen to decrease so many position(s) and laid off numerous paraeducators when our students need us now more than ever. The district shouldn’t be trying to balance their budget on the back of basic education.”
Out of more than 600 paraeducators employed by the district, 104 were notified they “might not have a job next year,” Tacoma Public Schools said in a statement June 2. Another 348 were issued notices for reduced hours or schedule changes.
“We had to make our best estimate based on what we know now,” the district said in its statement. “And what we know as of today, based on guidance from OSPI, is full-time, face-to-face learning as we traditionally know it will not occur in the fall.”
The decision was not based on budget issues but on what the best estimate of the number of students who will be at school at a given time and need paraeducator services, according to the district.
“Our best estimate, as of today, is that we anticipate 50 percent of students on campus at a given time. Fewer students on campus will require fewer staff members,” TPS said.
That could change as the district monitors guidance from Gov. Jay Inslee and the health department for how schools will operate in the fall.
“We hope that a number of paraeducators will be able to be brought back in the fall based on the guidance for future school models and need,” the district said. “We will not bring back staff members if we don’t have work for them to do.”
Jazmyn Daniels, 25, was one of the paraeducators laid off after two years with the district. As a peer-inclusion paraeducator, she worked with about 30 preschool students, some of whom have autism or behavioral challenges. She told The News Tribune there were suspicions of layoffs coming.
“Everyone was kind of on edge,” Daniels said. “We knew there were going to be cuts, but we didn’t know how drastic it was going to be.”
When she got her notice on June 1, Daniels said she burst into tears and instantly thought of her students.
“My kids are my family,” Daniels said. “This is my family, and you’re kind of ripping me apart from them without really giving us an opportunity to do anything.”
Some paraeducators still employed will face reduced hours, with some losing employee-based health insurance because their hours now fall under the threshold to receive health insurance, she said.
Jessica Brennan, a paraeducator with the Tacoma School District, had her hours reduced by more than 50 percent.
“I have been with my student since she was in 5th grade and she will be a senior next year,” Brennan said in the press release. “My student is non-verbal. I am her voice and one of the only people she can communicate with in her life. By reducing my hours to only 14 hours a week from 35 hours, they have taken away my student’s ability to communicate. This is a tragedy for her and will be devastating.”
Katie Young, a parent of a 9-year-old and 11-year-old with individualized education plans (IEPs), was upset when she heard that one of her son’s paraeducator would be reassigned to a new school with fewer hours.
“When you have a kiddo with special needs, you build a different level of relationships in the school than a normal parent,” Young told The News Tribune. “My son sees his paras as full teachers … They are the people that he can go to when he’s having a problem to get help immediately.”
As a whole, paras are there to help students off the bus, to help at lunch and at recess, Young said.
“You’re basically saying my kid’s not important — and that’s just not okay,” Young said.
Rebecca Badger has two children in the district, one who works with a para in kindergarten. As a parent, she worries students won’t be getting the level of education that they are entitled to by law.
“It’s hard to know, as a parent, how to prepare when the district is communicating ambiguously to paraeducators, and parents are trying to fill in the blanks right now,” Badger said. “As a parent of a child who is being obviously impacted… I feel left out.”
Tacoma Public Schools acknowledged the value of paraeducators who provide one-on-one support for students with special needs and said those IEPs will be honored.
“Our Student Services team analyzed every one-on-one para educator assignment required by an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Every assignment will be fulfilled, and the paraeducator will stay with their student when the student is on campus, as required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement,” the district said in a statement. “Since those students would not be on campus full time in the fall, we have reduced the hours for those paraeducator positions. Again, if this changes, based on guidance, we will make the appropriate and necessary adjustments.”
Arzu Forough, president and CEO of the Washington Autism Alliance & Advocacy, spoke out about the cuts, saying for most students with significant disabilities, digital learning in absence of in-person paraeducator is not accessible. She added she has not heard of cuts of this scope from other districts across the state.
“There’s a lot of ways Tacoma could address their budget shortfall but it should not happen on the backs of students who need these essential services,” Forough said.
In response to why the district couldn’t find more funding from the administrative level, spokesperson Dan Voelpel said the district is already stretched to the max trying to adapt the district and its services to the new normal in the pandemic. In response to last year’s $30 million budget deficit, the district cut 43 administrative positions, or 15 percent of the admin workforce, and have not hired any new administrative positions, he said.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 11:32 AM.
