Paraprofessionals & School-Related Personnel (PSRP)

Note - updates on the impact of the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak on non-certified education staff and members of PSRP local unions will be linked here.
 
Click here for results of our board of education (BOE) union coalition return to school survey (Jan 11, 2022).
 
Click here for Department of Public Health (DPH) guidance on mandatory school employee vaccinations (Jan. 4, 2022).
 
Click here for the state Department of Education (SDE)'s COVID-19 self-test kits distribution plan (Jan. 3, 2022).
 
Click here for the federal education department website's COVID-19 resources for schools (Dec. 30, 2021).
 
Click here for our national union's COVID-19 resources for education support staff (Aug. 14, 2021).
 
Click here to access SDE's “Special Education” portal (Apr. 21, 2021). 
 
Click here for the executive order requiring paid leave for school employees quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure (Feb. 4, 2021).
 
Click here for our legal counsel's memo on COVID-19 and employment rights (Jul. 27, 2020).
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AFT Connecticut represents thousands of school-related personnel (PSRP) in local and regional districts across the state. PSRPs work as paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, tutors, secretaries, school nurses, custodians and others who provide critical services that support student learning. From contract negotiations to professional development, AFT Connecticut works to secure the pay, benefits, conditions and respect they deserve as both professionals and “the engine that keeps their schools running.”
 
Click here to follow our national union’s PSRP Twitter feed.
 
Click here for the state education department website's School Paraprofessional Advisory Council page.
 

Offering Simple Lessons in Public School Finance

Fri, 07/08/2022 - 12:30pm
AFT Connecticut Field Representative Ed Leavy brings his experience in public education and labor activism to a wider audience in a recent nationally-published commentary. He delves into the deep disparities in our state public schools' funding, exposing a wide chasm between wealthy communities and cities struggling with poverty. Leavy's analysis serves as a warning of an approaching tipping point that "will become impossible to ignore:"
 

Lifting Up Labor Leaders and Helping Students Soar

Thu, 06/30/2022 - 5:30pm
More than 100 delegates representing members of AFT Connecticut's affiliated local unions came together in-person for the first time since 2019 for our state federation’s convention. Capping the June 4 event was a luncheon where labor activists who over the previous 12 months lived up to the event's theme of "better days ahead" were recognized. Annual scholarships aimed at helping members and their families beat the rising cost of higher education were also announced.
 

Sending Hope and Taking Action on Gun Violence

Wed, 05/25/2022 - 1:30pm
Members of our AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions representing educators and support staff in Newtown Public Schools relive the Sandy Hook massacre with each school shooting headline. Yesterday's incident in Texas closely mirrors their own horror, in which six of their colleagues and 20 of their students were in December, 2012 slain. Trent Harrison, a science educator at the town's high school and president of our Newtown Federation of Teachers, captured his colleagues' emotions in an open letter to the nation:
 

Realizing Historic Wins to Secure a "Better Future"

Fri, 04/29/2022 - 3:30pm
Lawmakers in late April approved significant investments in the state workforce, capping union members' efforts aimed at successor contracts. Our latest quarterly collective bargaining report showcases seven affiliated public employee locals and their wider coalition's landmark achievement - their first such agreements without concessions in more than a decade. Together they demonstrated how a seat at the table yields much more than pay raises and better conditions.
 
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