Members of the Valley Central community urged the Board of Education on Dec. 8 to settle stalled contract negotiations with the district’s school-related professionals (SRP) unit, saying the dispute is harming students and causing staff to leave.

At the meeting, several public commenters and teachers described the work SRPs do every day and asked the board to negotiate in good faith. Laura Fannizzi, a parent who said paraprofessionals “came to their aid” during a string of family tragedies, called for a fair contract: “Pay them a little more, give them a contract, stop with the runaround,” she said.

Tom Sauer, a middle-school teacher and coach, told the board the district’s SRP unit comprises roughly 250 members and reported the unit has worked under an expired contract for about 160 days. “Last school year, 25 percent of our paras in the middle school decided not to return. This school year, we already reached 28 percent,” he said, framing the departures as a retention crisis tied to pay and bargaining delays.

Paraprofessional Samantha Borman, who said she has worked in the district since 2017, described SRPs, secretaries and LPNs as essential to classroom function and student safety and urged pay that covers everyday living costs. “One job should be enough,” she said, asking only for “a fair, respectful, livable contract.”

Board members did not take a new vote on the contract during the public session. In earlier remarks to the meeting the board chair summarized the district’s bargaining posture, said the negotiation had reached an impasse and noted mediation was triggered when parties were unavailable during the summer. The district representative asked union leaders to share the current offer with members so they can see what is causing the impasse.

Administration and speakers gave differing counts for the SRP unit in public remarks, and the board did not announce a new timeline for concluding bargaining at the meeting. The board entered executive session at the end of the public meeting to discuss contract negotiations.

Next steps: The board said it would continue bargaining in executive session; no public vote or settlement was announced when the meeting adjourned.