To the editor:
The lowest starting wage for a paraprofessional working in Marblehead is $11.93 per hour under their expired contract. That’s more than $3 below minimum wage and significantly less than in surrounding districts. When I researched, I couldn’t find another district in Massachusetts with such a low starting wage.
The School Committee, while negotiating new staff contracts, has proposed eliminating these lowest wages—called steps—and using a new starting wage of $15.16 per hour. That’s pennies above minimum wage. I still can’t find another district that starts their paraprofessionals as low as this new proposal. Crossing guards and high school students working at Parks & Rec make more than this.
Marblehead kindergarten parents pay $4,000 per child in tuition to help pay full-day kindergarten staff, and preschool tuition is $7,000. The money goes into a revolving fund—fiscal year 2025 started with over $200,000 in this fund. Over the summer, the School Committee approved about $50,000 from this tuition fund to pay half of a single special education administrator’s salary, while our staff wages languish.
Paraprofessionals substitute teach in elementary classes when teachers or specialists are out sick or have meetings. Many can’t make more than $17.32 per hour. They work so hard for poverty wages.
We keep hearing, “We don’t have any money here in Marblehead.” School employees are not charity workers. Marblehead’s ClearGov transparency center shows that the median home value in Marblehead is $858,900. Forbes states that Massachusetts is the second most expensive state to live in, and yet we are paying some staff only $18,000.
For more than two years, multiple staff members across schools have been asked to cover lunch and recess because we don’t have enough staff. Just because positions were cut or remain unfilled doesn’t mean they aren’t needed. Tutors, paraprofessionals, permanent substitutes, teachers, secretaries, and even principals are still doing these jobs.
Our Marblehead Public School staff are here to teach your children and help them grow and learn. We want them to be safe inside and outside of the school setting, which is why all staff are mandated reporters, understand 504s, and practice emergency safety protocols.
We’ve invested in the buildings where our children go to school. Now, let’s invest in the staff who work inside them. Parents and students are overjoyed when it’s time to return to school in the fall, and our staff is ecstatic because we love your children, your grandchildren, and our jobs.
I am proud of our town, and I would be grateful to be proud of the wages that all of my coworkers are paid. Please advocate to pay staff what they are worth by emailing the School Committee, Superintendent, and Select Board. They need to hear from our citizens. Ask them to agree to pay our paraprofessionals a living wage—at least $32.41 per hour. They are worth it. If we can fund a field, we can fund our children’s future—together.
Samantha Rosato
Parent, Resident
Marblehead Public Schools Math Tutor