This essay isn’t about the large group of hardworking NYC Department of Education paraprofessionals who assist classroom teachers, enrich the lives of NYC pupils of differing physical and mental abilities, and help them to thrive.
This is about a stop-gap measure taken to shore up the paychecks of some essential workers. It illustrates the very different way that NYC has dealt with another, much smaller group of workers, the men and women of the FDNY Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Every year, FDNY EMTs and paramedics treat hundreds of thousands ill and injured New Yorkers, transport them to area hospitals and re-start hundreds of hearts that had stopped beating.
A tale of two cities
Earlier this month, in a veto proof vote of 49-0, the NYC Council passed a $244,000,000, “workforce stabilization measure” to supplement by $10,000 the income of each of the 25,000 NYC Department of Education paraprofessionals.
With their approval of the “Respect Check,” the NYC Council took action to address the low pay, and the resulting shortage of Department of Education’s paraprofessionals before their current labor contract even expires in 2027. For the lowest paid paraprofessionals, the Council’s “stabilization” measure will amount to about a 30 percent bonus…