Union: Crystal Lake district’s use of temp agency violates state law

Crystal Lake School District 47 and the union representing its support staff are at odds over the district’s use of a temp agency to fill vacant paraprofessional positions.

The union claims that pay rates are to blame and not a true emergency, as required by state labor laws.

The district’s need is an emergency, Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn LLP, the law firm representing the district, said in a statement Thursday.

The school board met with the Crystal Lake Association of Support Staff twice to bargain regarding the “district’s emergency temporary need to use a staffing firm to fill nine paraprofessional positions that serve some of our most vulnerable students,” District 47′s attorneys said.

According to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, staffing agencies are only allowed in emergency situations that threaten the safety or health of the students or staff. The school board also must provide an opportunity to bargain with the union before hiring a staffing agency.

The union – with the help of the Illinois Education Association, a statewide umbrella organization for local unions – plans on filing a complaint with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board by next week, Illinois Education Association Media Relations Director Bridget Shanahan said. Once the complaint is filed, the board will review the complaint, and District 47 administrators will have 15 days to file an answer.

Low pay compared with neighboring districts is why the district is having staffing problems, CLASS President Stephanie Lieurance said.

The district offers $16.14 an hour for permanent new-hire paraprofessionals, Lieurance said.

Compensation of $15.75 an hour is posted on District 47′s website. CLASS renegotiated its contract in January, and that rate is in effect until 2026.

Community High School District 155 – the high school district into which District 47 students feed – offered a starting wage of $17.82 this year.

Cary School District 26, which also feeds into District 155, pays $14 an hour this year and will pay $15 an hour starting next school year, according to its union contract. Paraprofessionals with a teaching license are paid 4% more than the starting salary.

Fox River Grove School District 3, another District 155 feeder district, pays $14.50 an hour, Algonquin-based Community School District 300 offers a range of $15 to $18.18 per hour, and McHenry School District 15 pays $16 an hour for open paraprofessional positions.

District 47 is made up of 13 schools, serving more than 7,000 students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. CLASS is a union that represents more than a 100 paraprofessionals in the district as well as other support staff.

District 47 administration is currently using Sunbelt Staffing to fill nine open paraprofessional positions. The agency receives $56 to $65 for every hour a temporary employee works, district Director of Communications Kari Firaks said.

Lieurance said she earns $20,000 a year after being a paraprofessional for nine years and working 32.5 hours a week. Covering basic expenses such as groceries can be a challenge, she said.

“I honestly don’t know why they can’t pay us accordingly,” Lieurance said.

Understaffing problems have gotten worse over the past two to three years, Lieurance said. She said she seriously considered quitting last year because her job got so difficult. She was “running back and forth” among her caseload of six students and assisting with the ASPIRE autism program, she said.

“When I left school at the end of last year in the spring, I was literally numb,” Lieurance said. “COVID was easier. I would rather work through COVID five times over than repeat last year.”

District 47 had three paraprofessional vacancies as of Oct. 1, 2021, according to the Illinois State Board of Education, which tracks how many vacancies school districts have as of Oct. 1 each year. In 2020, the district had 30 unfilled paraprofessional positions, and 2019 saw 17.

After nine years working as a paraprofessional in District 47, Gail Ventocilla-Kalinsky quit last year. Being understaffed while student needs increased made every day challenging, she said.

Pay and the costs of health insurance provided by the district are both “hot topics” for District 47 paraprofessionals, she said.

“There’s a lot of staff members that I knew [who] had second jobs just to keep up with the cost of living,” Ventocilla-Kalinsky said.

Ventocilla-Kalinsky is enrolled as a substitute paraprofessional but has not heard from the district to help with staffing.

“Did they try their pool of subs first before trying to pull in contractors?” Ventocilla-Kalinsky said. “It kind of was a slap in the face that they’re willing to put out this money for temps and not investing in their current staffing.”

Special education paraprofessionals help students with academic, behavioral language and other needs. Typically, a paraprofessional will work one-on-one with students, so it’s important to build a relationship and trust with the students, Lieurance said.

It’s common for paraprofessionals to leave a lasting impact on students, so many stay in contact with the families after students move on, she said.

“The relationships that we form with these kids, it’s something you can’t duplicate,” Lieurance said. “A lot of the time we are that child’s safe place.”

Courtney Persky, who is advocating on behalf of the union, has a son entering seventh grade this year who has had a paraprofessional since kindergarten. She said paraprofessionals have been life-changing for her son socially and academically.

Her son experiences attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia and behavioral defiance, Persky said.

Like many students who have paraprofessionals, it takes time for her son to develop trust and build confidence with other people, she said.

“I think when there was a high para turnover, it took away from some of the benefits in a way,” Persky said.