Leominster

LEOMINSTER – Street and Practical Law students at Leominster High School were treated to a visit from Associate Justice David Lowy of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts earlier this month.

Lowy, an attorney, academic and jurist, was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court by Gov. Charlie Baker on Aug. 24, 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1983 and later graduated magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1987.

“To host Justice Lowy and having him speak to my students was a graduate school level experience that kept students’ attention and engagement,” said Leominster High School social studies and law teacher René Lafayette. “It was an incredible opportunity for the LHS community to hear a jurist and teacher present without notes but manage to interweave Hume, John Adams, De Tocqueville, Mark Twain and Tennyson in his comments, all the while making connections on the topics of his remarks.”

His appearance coincided with the school’s Constitution Day on Sept. 19. Lowy first spoke to the assembled law students and, later, answered questions ranging from what inspired him to become a lawyer to what he enjoys the most about his position as one of seven members of the commonwealth’s highest court.

Lafayette said the well-respected justice “addressed the need for an independent judiciary and the need for a return to civility in American society.”

“The only way that our Constitutional Republic can survive is with an engaged, educated electorate. We need an inspired electorate,” Lowy said to those gathered. “We don’t live in a ‘perfect union’ and the work of liberty is not done.”

While speaking about the need for civility in society, Lowy said “we need to listen to people we disagree with. We don’t need to stay in our echo chambers but rather disagree with people to their faces, not behind their backs.”

LHS Principal Joshua Romano and Assistant Principal David Bachant also attended Lowy’s presentation along with Center for Technical Education Innovation Director Daniel Bachant and CTEI Assistant Principal Christopher Kyne.

LEOMINSTER — As the wind and rain whipped around them, members of the Paraeducator Association of Leominster Schools and others flanked either entrance of Leominster High School Monday night in a bid to raise awareness over ongoing contract negotiations with the school district.

Over 30 paraeducators and their supporters picketed the Sept. 19 School Committee meeting with signs that read, “FIGHTING FOR A LIVING WAGE.” PALS President Denise Welsh said she hoped any awareness raised would further the association’s fight for a “much-needed and deserved” pay increase for its paraeducators.

“The work (paraeducators) do, supporting our teachers and students in the classroom, is an integral part of the Leominster Public Schools experience,” Welsh said. “We believe that we deserve to be paid accordingly.”

“We are not making a living wage, that’s the whole thing. In fact, right now, many of us are paid far, far below that,” she said.

Paraeducators, often referred to as instructional aides or assistant teachers, can be found in classrooms throughout the city and beyond. While they are not teachers, an associate degree or a ParaPro certification is required for the job and, in some schools, paraeducators are heavily relied on.

As of now, according to Welsh, the maximum annual salary of a paraeducator in Leominster is $21,520, while many earn less than that. The federal poverty line for a family of four is marked at $27,750 per year.

Given that salary amid skyrocketing inflation, many paraeducators have struggled financially. Welsh also said that it “doesn’t make sense” that those charged with aiding in education should make less than many of their own students.

“A lot of these kids, they’re working their first job and, in some cases, earning more than we are,” Welsh said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

The paraeducators’ previous contract with the school district, established in 2019, expired on June 30. Since then and throughout multiple bargaining sessions, Welsh and many other paraeducators said they felt as if they were “not being heard” by the district.

“We just feel like we’re not being heard, they either aren’t understanding or listening to the point we’re trying to make,” Welsh said. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“I think (the school district) may think they tried to work with us, but that’s not how we’ve seen it,” said PALS Treasurer Linda Williams. “They were kind of in a rush to get everything done before last year ended and before this year started but, like (Welsh) said, they just aren’t hearing us.”

The Leominster Public Schools office did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Rather than hold out without a contract, Welsh said she and the other paraeducators would continue to work until a new deal can be reached. That said, and with plenty of support from teachers and other administrative figures in the district, Welsh said PALS and the other paraeducators would continue to push for a salary they believe is commensurate with the work they put in every day.

“We’re going to be here for the students, the kids, because that’s what’s most important,” Welsh said. “But we’re serious about not settling for far less than what our view of value is.”

“We’re here, we want to be heard, and we’re not going to stop until we are. And, until then, we’ll continue to do everything we can to raise awareness on this issue,” she said.