Far too often when we talk about those who work in the schools, our focus is limited to teachers and administrators. As a teacher I know the importance of quality people in both roles. But these ae not the only adults who make a school work, who help make the school a place of learning. Thinks of the teachers’ aides who assist in the classroom, the custodians who maintain and clean the school, the cafeteria workers who feed the students, the secretaries and clerks who handle the massive amounts of paperwork, the bus drivers who ensure that students get to and from school safely. These are Education Support Professionals. That’s right. I used the word "Professional" deliberately. And far too often we ignore them, perhaps because we do not give them the professional recognition to which they should be entitled.
In this diary I want to tell you about these people. It is a class issue, because often those who work in these positions do not have college degrees, and come from backgrounds that are lower middle class or below. And it is a labor issue, as unions attempt to help these people get the respect and earnings they deserve.
I am a member of the National Education Association, which is normally thought of as a teachers’ union. It does represent millions of teachers. But it also has a strong commitment t education support professionals, as can be seen by exploring this link on the NEA website.
This is not the first time the issue of support personnel has been addressed at dailykos. Shockwave has written several diaries on the efforts ot the Teamsters to organize school bus drivers, as you can read here, here, here, here, here, and, finally, here.
I am going to introduce you to some of the material from the NEA website, and then talk about some of my own experience with Education Support Professionals.
Let me start with a quote"
ESP's deserve a living wage! Debbie Ennels, a classroom aide, lives in a shelter. Bus driver Jerry Parham works five jobs.They are among the many NEA members trying to get by on low pay.
. That is the introduction to the NEA effort to push for a living wage for educational support personnel, and just in case you didn’t know it, the NEA provides these links to a variety of online calculators, including family budget, living wage, and self-sufficiency calculators (the wages necessary for economic stability). I took a look, and for Arlington, Virginia, where I live, consider the following Gross annual income necessary to have a living wage:
one adult, 24, 229
on adult and one child, 39,529
two adults 32,589
two adults and one child, 43,548
two adults and two children, 51,745
So I also checked the pay scales for a variety of positions in Arlington Public Schools, which tend to pay fairly well as local school systems go.
A food service worker can start as low as 12.20/hour, although it is possible for those who are very senior and in supervisory positions to make as much as 28.55, but remember, most make far less than that.
Bus drivers start at 12.55
Maintenance hourly workers also start at 12.20
Were someone to make that 12.20 and get paid for 2,000 hours/year, they would make just enough for a living wage for one adult, but of course many do not work full time, or else they have to work several jobs, several shifts, to get the equivalent of one fulltime job or more. I know that when the hours of the custodial staff at our school, which is in a different county, were changed recently, so that the day shift had to stay for basic cleanup of classrooms at the end of the day, for many it interfered either with the other jobs they had, or in some cases the ability to attend the education they were receiving in an attempt to advance themselves.
Another issue for many education support professionals is the lack of respect they receive. Some students think nothing of throwing trash on the floor even if a trash can is within easy reach. They may justify it on the basis that that’s why there are janitors. But of course that creates additional work for people who are there primarily to take care of normal wear and tear, normal cleaning, and the occasional accidents and incidents; they are not there to pick up after students who have not learned proper behavior. As bad as the attitude of some students is towards teachers, it is far worse towards those they do not view as professionals. And that may be because of a lack of respect shown by other adults towards these workers essential to the school environment.
Some school bus drivers experience the worst of children. I have seen and heard of incidents that would shock you. But let’s look at how a professional deals with potential probrlems. On the NEA website there is an interview with a school bus driver from Pennsylvania who works in a suburban environment driving elementary and middle school students. He establishes firm rules of what he will and won’t tolerate, for example, on swearing:
I don't get a lot of bad language, but letting students know how I expect them to behave helps. Two things I always do are set expectations and nip problems in the bud.
I start off the school year with my expectations. We have a list of ten rules of conduct for riding a school bus posted in the front of the bus. And number two says, "Do not use profanity." On the first trip, I get to school and I stand up and say, "See these rules. I expect you to abide by them."
Any inappropriate behavior I address immediately. Whenever possible, I talk to the student one-on-one, to avoid embarrassment and aggravating the problem.
. Remember, Mr. Thompson is the first and last school system employee with whom his passengers interact each day, and he has an important role to play. Considering the following:
How do you handle a student who is threatening you or others?
First, you have to make a quick evaluation if it's a serious threat or not.
If someone says, "I'm gonna kill you, right away you have to decide is he serious, does he have issues, or is he (or she) just being kind of a playful. If the student is really serious in the threat, I would handle it very gingerly.
Because bus drivers see students first thing in the morning, we may be the first to observe a change in a student’s behavior.
We must talk with kids about the potential problems of making threats. "Hey, that's very serious. Threatening to harm someone physically. You shouldn't use words like that because they may cause somebody to react to you by hurting you first."
My attitude about abusive language is "What you do at home and what you do elsewhere, I can't control. All I can control is what happens in my area. And hopefully my actions will help you do better in other areas of society."
Consider the judgments that Chuck Thompson is making each day, even as he operates a school bus safely, bringing students to and from school.
Far too much of our society has one group of people who find it acceptable to denigrate and look down on the persons and work of others. It can be something as simple as how a person is addressed. If the custodian or cafeteria worker is expected to address the teacher or administrator as Mr. or MS, it is imbalanced for that person to address in return using only the first name. And considering how many of our support personnel are minorities, remember that for African-Americans that imbalance of address was one method their lower social standing was maintained.
Perhaps it is because I am a Quaker, and we make no distinctions among persons by class, but it seems to me that minimal common courtesy and decency should lead us to act respectfully to others, regardless of the work they day, how much they are paid, to what economic class they might be assigned.
And in the educational environment, this is of especial importance. The behavior we exhibit - as parents and as other adults - sets the standards which will be emulated by the children, ours and those entrusted to our care. And students should not be allowed to start acting with disrespect towards others, their peers in age or those adults whose presence in the school environment is to provide a safe and healthy environment in which they can learn.
I may be a teacher, but I am only part of the staff of adults helping to educate your children. All of us deserve respect for the work we do. That includes your attitudes towards us and those of your children. That also includes decent working conditions, and livable wages.
As we rightly move towards paying teachers appropriately for the great responsibility they have, let us not fail to remember that educational support professionals are also important.
Peace.
And at the request of Elise, I note the following:
Issues of class and labor seem to pop up quite a bit on Daily Kos as sidebars or as impacting other topics in important ways, but they don't get their own diaries as often as they perhaps should. Yet work and class have enormous relevance in American life. Almost all of us must work for a living. Most of us who work owe a great debt to organized labor - even if we are not ourselves members of unions, we benefit from the advances unions have made over the years, in safety conditions, limited hours and overtime pay, benefits, child labor laws. And while a shrinking percentage of American workers are represented by unions, not only do union members earn more than their nonunion counterparts, but nonunion workers in highly unionized industries and areas benefit from employer competition for workers, leading to better pay and conditions. Class issues, too, apart from the question of organized labor, are central in many of the political struggles of the day. From bankruptcy legislation to the minimum wage to student loans, legislation affects people differently based on how much they make, what kind of access to power and support they have.
With this series we aim to develop an ongoing discussion around class and labor issues. Such ongoing discussions have emerged in the Feminisms and Kossacks Under 35 series, and, given the frequent requests for more (and more commented-in) diaries on these issues, we hope this series will accomplish the same. Entries will be posted every Tuesday night between 8 and 9pm eastern. If you are interested in a writing a diary for this series, please email Elise or MissLaura and we will arrange for you to be put on the schedule.