Support staff issues persist for Wayland Board of Education

Support staff issues persistently are being brought before the Wayland Board of Education this year, and Monday night’s special session was no different.

Classroom and playground aide Kay Hep and clerical aide Karen Weller, who both work at Steeby Elementary, brought two different issues to board members and said they’d like something done to resolve the issues soon. Herp again appeared to talk about the school district’s attempts to save money by limiting aides’ hours to avoid offering them health care. Weller warned them she will not administer diabetes shots to students until she is properly trained.

Herp earlier this month joined Support Staff Union President Jan Goodwin in lobbying the board and administration to provide health care benefits for aides rather than cut their hours, therefore cutting their pay and the services they provide.

Goodwin at the March 9 meeting suggested the district is being penny-wise and pound-foolish in making cutbacks on the backs of the lowest paid, but essential employees in the school system.

She then told the board that aides in reading and math intervention “are on the front lines in reading and math instruction with our children every day… But it’s difficult when the children’s circumstances change and classroom sizes have increased.”

Goodwin said a majority of the aides work fewer than 30 hours per week, so they don’t qualify for health care benefits. She urged board members and school officials to visit the classrooms themselves to get a first-hand look.

“For about $13,000 a year, I think you’re getting a pretty good bang for the buck,” she said.

Leslie Gonzales, an aide at Dorr Elementary, questioned why some school personnel are being cut while others are getting raises.

Herp at the March 30 special meeting said, “When is this group (support personnel) going to be considered important? This group continually gets kicked around… Eventually (with reductions) teachers will have to work recess and hand out lunches.”

Herp continued, “When you cut their hours, you take $200 a month from these people. You need to look at what’s important at the ground level.”

Keller earlier this month at a work session told the board she is uncomfortable in giving diabetes shots to children because she is not qualified and has not been provided proper training. She said the school nurse’s new hours are about to take effect, so it is important this service be provided soon.

“I don’t know why I have to be here to beg for training for something I’ve been asked to do,” she said. “This could be a life and death situation. I will refuse to take care of diabetic children without proper training.”

Board members only listened and thanked the aides for their input.