The Observation Deck

The paraprofessionals are an integral part of the team with teachers in our schools. I just heard from one that paraprofessionals in Lakewood are having their hours cut JUST enough to take away their benefits. Is this true, does anyone know? Is it part of the mayor's cuts or something entirely different?

If what Bill Call has been saying is true, that teachers pay nothing toward medical or retirement, than how can we afford to do this to mothers and fathers who depend on insurance for themselves and/or their family? Many I guess will quit to go somewhere to get the insurance they need, which will put newer inexperienced people in their place. That sounds like a loss at a great price.

Justine

Many of the paraprofessionals never qualified for benefits. My wife was a vocational aid at LHS, and was limited to 17.5 hrs per week....essentially afternoons. I'm not sure about other staff, but if there are any cutbacks, I would think it is through the school system, not the city. ALso some of the paraprofessionals are paid through various grant monies that limit the number of hours.

It's my understanding that certified staff all sign a "contract" setting forth their compensation/benfits for each school year. I wonder whether there could be a change of that during the school year.

Jeff

Jeff,
Are there some that have been full time and recently were told their hours were cut and benefits cut? The aids in Special Ed. classes, from pre-school up, are full time. Will these aids lose their insurance?

I am sure that there are some who took a part time job, not needing benefits, but what about the ones who have been working full time for a while and are now told their hours are cut and they are losing their benefits? How can that be?

Justine

Good questions.....and I don't know the answers. If there are full time special ed aids whose hours are being cut, it could be either the Board cutting back, or some source of funding being cut. A lot of the special ed aids, while working for the schoold board, are paid with various grant funding.

For what it's worth, I totally agree with you. The impact of relying on a benefit package for yourself and family, and having it cut or eliminated is huge! Hopefully someone who has more intimate knowledge of the specific situation will be able to give us the explanation....who pulled the plug? Did a source of funding dry up or is it simply a budgetary cost savings measure?

Jeff

I would think that the funds for the schools are separate from the city monies.

I have said it before but I will say it again. Teachers pay 10% of their salary towards their retirement. The Board matches that amount. The Board does not have to pay Social Security for teachers because we are legally prohibited from participating in that program. All public school employees' retirement throughout the state of Ohio is the same. The employee and the employer pay into it. Probably just like you and your employer pay into your 401K.


Also, we will pay for !0% of the cost of our medical benefits. As was said before, this is all public record.

I am sorry if I sound frustrated but I am. It is very disheartening to have to keep on correcting misinformation that was intentionally posted on this forum.

Today's reposting of this misinformation was actually good timing. I have a friend who currently rents in Cleveland. She is a professional woman and is looking to buy her first home. She is looking in Lakewood and talked with a friend of hers (a Lakewood resident) who happens to be a frequent poster to the Deck. He told her that Lakewood's teachers are unique in that we don't pay into our retirement, and he knows this because he read it on the Deck. I wanted to scream.

After getting her facts straight regarding how her property taxes will be spent, she is once again looking for a house in Lakewood.

Amy

I thought that Justine was speaking of aids and paraprofessional, not the teaching staff, per se. And I thought that the benefits to which she was referring were medical. It is my understanding that those medical benefits are not available, regardless of contribution, to part time employees. I thought her concerns were about moving (former) full time aids into part time positions to avoid payment of the medical benefit. So, for one, I wasn't reading the post as a rehash of the all-too-tired litany of accusing teachers of getting a free ride. That argument has been shown to be a red herring all too many times.

Jeff

"If what Bill Call has been saying is true, that teachers pay nothing toward medical or retirement, than how can we afford to do this to mothers and fathers who depend on insurance for themselves and/or their family? "

Jeff,

Thanks for your support but I'm pretty sure I read this correctly. I understand that the citizens of Lakewood historically have been extremely supportive of the schools and that they continue to be. My point is that two times in the past 24 hours of my life I have been confronted with misinformation regarding teacher retirement and benefits that was posted on this forum. And more specifically, that this misinformation could have caused a potential home buyer to go elsewhere.

I see that as a problem.

Amy,
I have had nothing but full support of teachers and have no idea what Bill or anyone reports here as fact or fiction or embellishment which is why I asked. My concern is not that teachers here are getting too much, as I haven never once thought that, but that it is extreme and tragic that full time paraprofessional who need the benefits as much as their salary may be having benefits and hours cut. This came from an aid who told me her hours were cut and she was going to lose her benefits. This is an "aid", who, if you walked into her classroom you would not be able to tell if she was an aid or teacher. She is tremendous with the kids and dedicated. If grants were cut it would be nice to know, or why this is happening. I apologize for even bringing in the teachers to the argument, but it sounded like a system where paraprofessionals are considered by some to be indispensable enough to take away a necessity in life, health insurance. I just wondered if this was true, and how that is.

On the flip side, I am trying to get the LO to sponsor a contest for people writing in about the positive impact a Lakewood teacher has made in their life, because I am tired of hearing blanket negative statements about the teachers here,e especially when I observe a completely different picture.

Bill Call wrote:

Justine Cooper wrote:If what Bill Call has been saying is true, that teachers pay nothing toward medical or retirement,

I never said teachers pay nothing for medical care. I have said that the school board pays the teacher portion the pension (10% of pay) as well as the employer portion (14% of pay). I was wrong about that.
.

And this was the quote I remembered which is why I ASKED it in a question because the disparity of one group losing all benefits doesn't make sense. You know sometimes people ask questions on this forum because they don't have the answers, but like Dee M. said in another post, the people that have the answers refuse to answer while the thread becomes filled with opinions only. To me, if human beings in our school district are having all health benefits cut, in a presidential election that health care for all is important, I just wanted to know if it were true, and if it were unavoidable or what the reasons are. If people want to make me out to be a b---ch for asking and caring then I will wear that title proudly.