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UFT fights for reinstatement
of paraprofessionals 9-11 heroes are among 864 who received New York City layoff notices 
June 4 , 2003 Margaret Espinosa and Julia Martinez at 2002 NYSUT convention. Among 864 New York City paraprofessionals who received layoff notices from the New York City school system last month were two heroes who rescued students in wheelchairs from schools in the horror zone of lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001. Julia Martinez and Margaret Espinosa, who worked as special ed, one-on-one paras at the High School for Leadership and Public Service on Trinity Place, risked their lives by carrying two teen-age students to safety after the chairs broke down from being pushed through the rubble. "By firing paras at every high school, the department of education would have to know that some of these schools are at Ground Zero," United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said. "People who were heroes on 9-11 are disposable heroes today. That is what is unconscionable." At press time, it was unclear whether some of the paras, including Martinez and Espinosa, would be reinstated. The state restored some money after the layoff notices went out, as the UFT continued to fight for the paras' jobs. Weingarten lambasted schools Chancellor Joel Klein for the layoffs. "Every para in this city has worked hard in the face of all odds and pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps," Weingarten added. "We have to keep the jobs of people who are one step away from collecting welfare from the city. "They are laying off a category of workers who are low-paid and invaluable, working one-on-one with children in the classroom. Why not fire the high-paid bureaucrats?" The UFT has filed a discrimination suit against the DOE charging that African-American and Hispanic workers earning about $23,000 a year were targeted for layoffs in favor of six-figure-income bureaucrats. "I know Margaret and Julia," said Weingarten. "When I saw their names on the list I was outraged." The suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Bronx County, charged that simultaneous with the layoffs of minority workers who make about $23,000 a year, the school system is hiring "10 regional super-intendents, 108 instructional supervisors, and six regional operations managers, all compensated at sums greater than $135,000." According to department of education and UFT figures, two out of three instructional paraprofessionals are non-white. There are approximately 17,000 full-time instructional paraprofessionals represented by the UFT in the city's public schools. Their duties include providing individual attention to children with physical and learning disabilities, tutoring children falling behind in schoolwork, facilitating bilingual instruction and helping children in overcrowded classrooms. Since the position was created in the 1970s, approximately 7,000 paras have become teachers, with the help of the UFT. |
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