feature stories
Tribute to paras stresses partnership with teachers
Mar 27, 2008 3:28 PM
The ballroom at the New York Hilton is packed for the annual Parafest.
The UFT hailed the contributions of New York City classroom paraprofessionals with a joyous thank you and a powerful remembrance of their support of the union at the union’s annual Para Festival on March 15 at the New York Hilton.
Each year several paras, nominated by their colleagues and teachers from schools citywide, are honored for distinguished service in their schools and communities.
Before making remarks at the luncheon, UFT President Randi Weingarten left the dais, greeting paras at many of the tables around the ballroom. Many of them spoke to her about concerns in their schools, as she listened and gave advice.
Her diving into the crowd paved the way for an upbeat close of one of the most turbulent weeks in New York State politics, during which Lt. Gov. David Paterson had ascended to the state’s highest office on the heels of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s abrupt resignation.
“I’m sure kids are coming to school and asking about this,” Weingarten began. “Yet paras and teachers are meeting the challenge every single day. We are constantly trying to translate the world in a way that is humane, fair and understandable for children.”
Paras and teachers have been working together and fighting side by side for better schools and working conditions since the UFT organized the first teaching assistants some 40 years ago, Weingarten noted.
Para Chapter Leader Shelvy Young-Abrams, one of the original organizers in 1969, highlighted the dedication of many paras to the UFT fellowship. Young-Abrams spoke about the union’s get-out-the-vote efforts for Sen. Hillary Clinton this year and recognized Tiffany Debellot, a new hire at Brooklyn’s PS 77 at PS 902, who hadn’t received her first paycheck yet but was helping to make phone calls to members at the UFT phone bank on the evening before Super Tuesday.
The union continues the fight for the rights of paras, Weingarten said. “We have gotten for them decent health benefits, a pension and now the 55/25 retirement option,” she declared, triggering wild applause with her mention of the new pension benefit. To counter ups and downs in the economy, she continued, paras over the past six years have received a 43-percent pay increase, which includes a 5-percent increase that will take effect in May.
“Every single one of these fights has been hard, particularly when it has been a fight about budget,” she said.
Weingarten and 1,300 UFT members had traveled to Albany earlier that week to lobby state lawmakers, including the new governor, to keep their promises of additional funds for class-size reduction and other reforms in New York City schools. She relayed a sense of hope that Gov. Paterson would provide some support.
Paraprofessionals Chapter Leader Shelvy Young-Abrams welcomes everyone to the conference.
Paterson, who is legally blind, spoke at Parafest last year about his own indebtedness to paraprofessionals who aided him during his formative years in school.
Weingarten told the audience that Paterson had sent word to this year’s Parafest: “He wanted me to say God bless you today and thank you for all your support.”
She then appealed to everyone in the room to flood the streets around City Hall on the following Wednesday for the “Keep the Promises” rally to protest budget cuts to city schools.
She looked to City Council members Robert Jackson and Letitia James, both of whom were at the luncheon, for backing, which they affirmed.
Gwendolyn less (standing, left) and Alyce Taylor of PS 233, Queens, provide emotional support as Veronica Jarrett has her blood pressure checked in the exhibit hall.
James later delivered an impassioned keynote address, thanking paraprofessionals for their individualized care and attention to city schoolchildren, especially those with special needs.
Revealing that she, herself, had been born with a disability, which she did not disclose, James said she was encouraged in overcoming it by a para whose eyes she will never forget from her days as a Brooklyn elementary school student.
Paras all have the potential to lift an ordinary child up to greatness, said James. “Somewhere in your next classroom could be the next Hillary Clinton … or David Paterson,” she said.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she paused, and directed her next line to Weingarten, “I can appreciate the teachers, but I’m grateful for the paras.”
