Winning respect for the people who make schools and colleges run

The paraprofessionals and school-related personnel divisional meeting covered a gamut of challenges facing this key 370,000-strong division, including: winning federal and state PSRP Bill of Rights legislation, protecting PSRP voice and job security in the artificial intelligence revolution, ensuring voice and respect (including being active and seen within our own union), and getting out the vote in November.

Oregon School Employees Association President and AFT Vice President Sarah Wofford, who serves on the AFT's Artificial Intelligence Committee, spoke about how AI affects the work of PSRPs, from threatening job security to the need for AI-related professional development customized for PSRPs' work. She noted that both the proposed federal PSRP Bill of Rights and a new AFT resolution on AI include specific protections and rights for PSRPs. AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram praised the crucial work PSRPs perform. "If it takes a village, then you're doing the work that keeps the educational village running," he said.

This meeting gave delegates a chance to say a very reluctant goodbye to AFT Vice President, United Federation of Teachers paraprofessional chapter Chair and PSRP Committee co-Chair Shelvy Y. Abrams, who is retiring. (Oklahoma City Federation of Classified Employees President and AFT Vice President David Gray is also retiring. Both will leave big shoes to fill!)

AFT Vice President and California Federation of Teachers Council of Classified Employees President Carl Williams will now chair the committee. Both Abrams and Williams emphasized the glaring need for more respect for the work PSRPs do and for their right to good, family-sustaining jobs and benefits. "This division represents all the frontliners" who power education in this country, said Williams. "Demand your respect. … We need to stand up and say, 'You can't do it without us.'"

In her final remarks as this committee's co-chair, Abrams urged PSRP members to vote for their economic interests and the freedoms they cherish, including their right to a union, which right-wing extremists have made clear will be on the chopping block in a second Trump administration. "Your voice is your ballot," she said. "Vote as if your life depends on it." Williams agreed, saying, "PSRPs know our communities. We'll need all hands on deck. We have to ensure that Vice President Harris becomes President Harris."

[Chris Bartolomeo, photo credit: Russ Curtis]