Education Support Professionals Negotiations

Statement of Values and Intentions from the Gloucester School Committee Negotiating Team

The School Committee is committed to working toward a mutually satisfactory successor agreement. While contract negotiations can often be challenging for both parties, our School Committee Negotiating team will listen closely and work respectfully with our Gloucester Association of Education Paraprofessionals partners. It is our hope that together we will work productively and amicably toward solutions.

Values

• We recognize the importance and value of Gloucester Public Schools’ Education Support Professionals.

• We agree that Gloucester's Education Support Professionals play critically important roles in educating and supporting Gloucester’s public school students.

• The work of Gloucester’s Education Support Professionals is essential to the effective operation of our schools.

• We are aware of the changing nature of your work over the past few years and would like to hear from your team how these changes are affecting you.

• We acknowledge that paraprofessionals can be provided with additional professional development that would help continue to build their skills and be even more effective with students.

• We recognize that ESPs who work in specific district wide programs at times experience student behavior that is disruptive.

Intentions

During these successor negotiations we intend to offer and come to agreement on proposals that will:

• Significantly increase salaries including introducing an entirely new salary schedule;

• Allow ESPs to regularly participate in well-planned professional development for ESPs throughout the school year so they feel better prepared and more successful when working with students;

• Allow all new ESPs hired for the new school year to complete training before they start their job. ESPs hired during the school year would participate in this training within four months of being hired; and,

• Provide training to program ESPs that will improve safety conditions while working with disruptive students

Proposals Presented by Each Negotiating Team

Update from May 22 Negotiations Session

• The School Committee and GAEP met on May 22 and completed sharing initial proposals. Both sides presented their opening wage proposals which are linked below. 

• The two negotiating teams tentatively agreed to a few proposals including increasing the annual stipend for those paraprofessionals who work in specific special education programs. 

Proposals Exchanged on May 22

• School Committee Wage Proposal

• GAEP Wage Proposal

• School Committee Proposals #2 

• GAEP Proposals  #2 

Update from May 5th Negotiation Session

• The School Committee and GAEP negotiating teams discussed the proposals they presented on April 27 and presented counter proposals for some of them. 

• The two negotiating teams tentatively agreed to the separate housekeeping proposals proposed by both sides on April 27th. 

• The teams also tentatively agreed to the School Committee's Proposal #1 that clarified how ESP workdays beyond the student year can be used and increased the rate for external substitutes for ESPs. 

Proposals Exchanged on April 27

• School Committee Proposals 

• GAEP Proposals