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Support staff urge board to revisit pending contract, warn of staffing losses
Summary
Multiple support staff and classroom aides urged the Chambersburg Area School District board to reconsider a support-staff contract scheduled for a vote in two weeks, saying many feel poorly represented and that the proposed terms could prompt resignations and harm students.
Several district support staff used the public-comment period to press the board to revisit a proposed support-staff contract before a scheduled vote in two weeks. Mike Pittinger, who works in the district's IT department, said members of the support-staff group felt they were not well represented in negotiations and that some received an email urging them to accept terms under an implied sense of urgency.
"We feel we weren't very well represented when this was presented to us and felt a sense of, like, urgency to vote this through and some veiled threats on not passing it in our union," Pittinger said.
Several classroom aides and teaching assistants reinforced that message. Judy Gaynor, a TA who said she has worked in Chambersburg all her life, told the board that support staff wages lag peer districts and urged board members to visit classrooms to see the work aides perform. "We are very below the wages of other districts for our jobs," Gaynor said.
Wendy Shearer, a TA at CMS, warned that approval of the contract as currently drafted could lead to departures among support employees and "hurt the students more than anybody." Shearer and other commenters said the district's aides and paraprofessionals are integral to special-education support and daily classroom functioning.
Board members did not vote on the contract at this meeting; the administrators and board indicated the item will appear again on the consent agenda at the upcoming voting meeting in two weeks.
