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Educational assistant urges higher wages as contract talks remain in mediation
Summary
An educational assistant told the board the district's contract proposal leaves long‑service support staff below a living wage; she cited a top-step district proposal of $22.79 per hour and said the contract has been expired for 209 days and negotiations are in mediation.
An educational assistant urged the Saint Francis Area Schools board on Jan. 26 to address stalled contract negotiations and low pay for support staff, describing turnover and financial strain among longtime employees.
Angela Leonard, introduced by the board as a special education assistant at Tate Crescent Elementary, told the board the district's contract had been expired for 209 days and that "we have not had our step movement or our wage increases." She cited multiple living‑wage calculators and contrasted them with what she described as the district proposal for the top-step hourly rate: "$22.79," she said, adding that living-wage estimates ranged from $24.61 to $25.49 per hour depending on the calculator referenced.
Leonard said five coworkers left her site in the past two to three years for better pay in other districts and warned that if staff continue to leave the district will rely on higher-cost temporary agencies to fill roles, which she said would bring "unqualified entering strangers into our buildings and buses" to work with vulnerable students. She characterized bargaining as already in mediation and said educational assistants felt they had no leverage to secure better terms.
Board responses and next steps: The board thanked Leonard for speaking and a board member noted that negotiation progress is posted on the district website; the transcript records that the district's negotiation updates are available online for transparency. The board later referenced mediation dates and said administration would continue to post updates and work through the bargaining process.
Why it matters: Pay and turnover for educational assistants affect classroom continuity, student support and district costs; Leonard framed the issue as both a financial hardship for staff and a potential operational risk for students if positions go unfilled or are filled by temporary staff.
The board did not take action during public comment. Negotiations remain in mediation and the district posted that updates are available on its website.
