Chants of “Para power!” and “Para strong all day long!” could be heard from blocks away as more than 1,600 paraprofessionals and fellow UFT members came together from across the city on April 2 to call on the New York City Council to pass legislation to give paraprofessionals an annual “RESPECT check” of $10,000.

“It is time to fix this injustice,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told the spirited crowd that snaked up Broadway from the tip of City Hall Park to City Hall. “Enough is enough. We are done. Our voice will be heard.”

Paraprofessionals Chapter Chairperson Priscilla Castro said money equals respect. “The check is the real deal,” she said. “The check says RESPECT.”

Over the decades, paraprofessional pay has fallen further and further behind with New York City’s use of pattern bargaining, which provides the same percentage increase for city workers in all job titles. A 3% raise for a new paraprofessional translates to $954, compared to $6,500 for the highest-paid school principal.

Low pay has made it difficult to hire and retain paraprofessionals, who provide essential services to students with disabilities. The city started the school year with more than 1,600 vacant paraprofessional positions, according to the union’s survey.

More than 82,000 people have signed the UFT’s online petition for the “RESPECT check” legislation, and the union launched an ad campaign on April 1 calling on the City Council to support paraprofessionals by passing the bill.

Erica Berger

UFT President Michael Mulgrew speaks to a spirited crowd of over 1,600 members.

The City Hall rally capped the union’s citywide Day of Action on April 2, which was national Paraprofessional Appreciation Day.

TreVaughn Taylor, a paraprofessional at P721Q John F. Kennedy Jr. School in District 75 in Queens, told the crowd that paraprofessionals are the “foundation, the support, the glue that holds our schools together,” serving as counselors, mentors, caregivers, crisis managers and much more. “And yet for too long,” he said, “we have been overlooked, underpaid and undervalued. Today, it is time to change that.”

Paraprofessional Joyce Malcolm, who works at River East Elementary School in Harlem, said she turned out for the rally to “support all my fellow paraprofessionals and the future paraprofessionals that are coming in the pipeline and make sure they pay them livable wages for New York City.”

Malcolm said she needed to use food stamps to make ends meet when she started working as a paraprofessional in 2020.

Sharon Charles, a paraprofessional at P94M in District 75 who was holding a sign that said, “Time to listen,” said paraprofessionals spend their entire day with special needs children and perform many essential basic-care tasks.

Charles said an additional $10,000 a year would mean a lot to her. “We have to take second and third jobs just to make do,” she said.

She attended the rally with her chapter leader, Victoria Orozco, who brought a group of 20 members. “For the constant care and dedication they give to children with special needs, paraprofessionals deserve this money,” Orozco said.

Amanda Warren, a substitute paraprofessional who is in the process of being hired full time, said she loves her job at PS 165 in Queens, but lives paycheck to paycheck.

The rally had boosted her spirits. “I feel fired up in a good way,” Warren said. “That money would really help.”