A little late for a comment, but this continues to disappoint me. It’s a blemish to the school District and even town (so my credit to town admin for trying to help). The “assistants” were let go because they have to be certified (it’s a stronger title) and therefore have higher bargaining power compared to an Aide. So that goes to show where the District’s priorities are. Both Aides and Assistants are very important to any District.
Croton UFSD Admin and BOE have gotten away with underpaying this group for so long, that to give them what is actually acceptable is simply not accounted for in the budget. It’s easy to look at a 56 million dollar budget and say what’s a few million more? But even the 2-3 million it would take is almost impossible to come up with if not planned for well ahead of time and concessions made in other areas. So while Admin is wrong, their hands are tied.
All of the contracts are public, so anyone can get a good feel as to what is fair for an Aide in Westchester. Generally a salary schedule with steps that go up yearly where you start right above minimum wage and get up to $30 an hour at 15-20 years should be a goal. Longevity and stipends on top of that. I’ve seen Districts handle health insurance all over the place but I think Croton forces the Aide to pay 100% of the premium, which is insane and probably means 8k to 30k depending on plan. Impossible for most given the salary.
I give the president a lot of credit to actually start a Union and to fight for their cause. My only question is why the Union would not look and become affiliated with a national Union like the CSEA (under their umbrella), which is common. With 60+ Aides, that really needs to happen and it would be a game changer. The District can threaten laying the whole group off to hire subs, but there isn’t enough of a sub pool in the area to do that. And other Districts pay them better, so there is not much incentive for them to come to Croton.
I understand the budgetary predicament on the Admin side, but they should be embarrassed by this.
A little late for a comment, but this continues to disappoint me. It’s a blemish to the school District and even town (so my credit to town admin for trying to help). The “assistants” were let go because they have to be certified (it’s a stronger title) and therefore have higher bargaining power compared to an Aide. So that goes to show where the District’s priorities are. Both Aides and Assistants are very important to any District.
Croton UFSD Admin and BOE have gotten away with underpaying this group for so long, that to give them what is actually acceptable is simply not accounted for in the budget. It’s easy to look at a 56 million dollar budget and say what’s a few million more? But even the 2-3 million it would take is almost impossible to come up with if not planned for well ahead of time and concessions made in other areas. So while Admin is wrong, their hands are tied.
All of the contracts are public, so anyone can get a good feel as to what is fair for an Aide in Westchester. Generally a salary schedule with steps that go up yearly where you start right above minimum wage and get up to $30 an hour at 15-20 years should be a goal. Longevity and stipends on top of that. I’ve seen Districts handle health insurance all over the place but I think Croton forces the Aide to pay 100% of the premium, which is insane and probably means 8k to 30k depending on plan. Impossible for most given the salary.
I give the president a lot of credit to actually start a Union and to fight for their cause. My only question is why the Union would not look and become affiliated with a national Union like the CSEA (under their umbrella), which is common. With 60+ Aides, that really needs to happen and it would be a game changer. The District can threaten laying the whole group off to hire subs, but there isn’t enough of a sub pool in the area to do that. And other Districts pay them better, so there is not much incentive for them to come to Croton.
I understand the budgetary predicament on the Admin side, but they should be embarrassed by this.