Weymouth School Committee Adopts Eight Policies, Hears ESP Wage Demands

WEYMOUTH -- November 16, 2023, Weymouth ESPs demand living wage as contract dispute reaches School Committee. At the November 16 School Committee meeting, a string of parents, education support professionals, and a classroom teacher told the committee that ESPs, the district's lowest-paid employees, start at $13.58 an hour and took a zero-percent raise in 2020-2021, forcing many to hold second jobs. Carolyn Donohue, a Unit D member on the negotiations team, told the board the union is "not agreeable to pennies on the dollar" and wants a full overhaul of the wage scale, not a cost-of-living adjustment. ESP William Kelly described going straight from his school-day shift at Murphy School to an after-school Champions program before arriving at the meeting, while fifth-grade Hamilton teacher Suzanne Ferrari said her para received just $20 extra, before taxes, on days she was pulled to cover as a classroom teacher. The committee took no formal action on the contract, but the starting wage of $13.58 an hour, described by speakers as poverty level in Norfolk County, remained the defining number of the evening.