Thousands of UFT members wore blue to work in solidarity with their paraprofessional colleagues on April 2, which was national Paraprofessional Appreciation Day and the union’s citywide Day of Action.

That day, school chapters across the city also organized ways to recognize their paraprofessionals. After school, several thousand UFT members headed to the City Hall area for the Rally for RESPECT to turn up the heat on the City Council to pass legislation to give paraprofessionals an annual $10,000 “RESPECT check.”

The activities on April 2 were the culmination of three months of organizing work in the union’s RESPECT campaign.

In the weeks leading up to the citywide Day of Action, Chapter Action Teams organized teach-ins in schools to educate members about the proposed legislation and how pattern bargaining has depressed paraprofessional pay over time.

“I feel pumped up, excited and ready to fight,” said Meagan Dunn, the UFT paraprofessional representative at PS 183 in Queens.

Dunn has helped organize two days of action at her school. On each day, PS 183 members wore blue shirts that read “RESPECT for our paras” and teachers wrote thank-you notes to their classroom paraprofessionals.

“The mood was very uplifting,” said Dunn. “We’re trying to boost the morale here because there’s a big shortage of paraprofessionals so we’re spread thin.”

UFT members in District 75, which has the largest concentration of paraprofessionals, organized their own color day on Valentine’s Day. They wore red to show their love and support for their paraprofessional colleagues.

“Paras are the backbone of special education,” said Tiara Vega, the paraprofessional representative at P993, a District 75 program in Queens that participated in the union’s Feb. 14 action. “We are the ones that help the teachers when students are having behavioral issues or health needs.”

Paraprofessional Michelle Lowe-Calixte, the chapter leader at IS 392 in Brooklyn, has organized a “Wear Blue Wednesday” at her school each week since early February. Other schools in District 23 have since joined in. “It’s catching like wildfire,” she said.

Lowe-Calixte said an additional $10,000 would mean a great deal for paraprofessionals, many of whom are just scraping by. “A lot of my counterparts have young children. Some are living at home with their parents,” she said. “This would give us a better quality of life.”

Paraprofessionals Chapter Chairperson Priscilla Castro says the message is catching on.

“It’s time to say ‘enough is enough,’” she said. “We are standing together and demanding respect.”