Statement in Support of RAP & BENTE

 

Saturday, August 15, 2020

The Rochester Organization of Rank-and-file Educators stands in solidarity with our RAP and BENTE union sisters and brothers in the face of the anticipated layoffs following Thursday’s announcement that the RCSD will begin the first ten weeks of school remotely. The district is projecting to cut 113 paraprofessional positions and “a number” of BENTE members. While we fully support the decision to shift to a 100 percent remote learning model for the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, it is unconscionable that the RCSD would seek to eliminate these essential positions in the midst of a global pandemic which has already put unprecedented pressure on the members of our community, both personally and professionally. 

As fellow educators, paraprofessionals and non-teaching employees provide invaluable support to students, teachers, and administrators despite the fact that these positions are among the lowest-paying jobs in the RCSD. RAP members have worked alongside teachers to educate students through this pandemic, often with fewer resources and less support themselves. BENTE members were on the front lines from the beginning ensuring our children were fed and that our buildings were disinfected and secure. In the coming weeks, our students, their families, and teachers are going to need more support, not less, as we acclimate to this new model. Instead of outsourcing the work to keep students safe and engaged, the RCSD should rely on its staff that already have relationships with our students and ties to our community, as many RAP and BENTE members are city residents themselves. 

This decision to eliminate these workers is inhumane and ill-conceived. Considering the advancements made in the fight for racial and economic justice by Black Lives Matter, a movement the RCSD claims to support, it is reprehensible that the district seeks to terminate these positions which are made up of predominantly Black and Latinx union members. RORE calls on superintendent Lesli Myers-Small to honor former superintendent Terry Dade’s promise that BENTE union members be paid through the pandemic, recognize the dire need for paraprofessionals, and reverse her decision to lay off these truly essential workers. 

Your fellow workers, 

RORE