ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Teachers in Anne Arundel County held a rally in downtown Annapolis Monday.
It’s because some of their teachers said they’re demanding a change in their contracts to compete with the new hires.
Organizers of the rally — leaders from the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County or TAAC — said they found out to help with the shortage of Special Education teachers, the school system not only hired outside contractors but promised to pay them around double the price of their current educators without making changes to current employees’ salaries.
Nicole Disney-Bates, President for TAAC, said said this shows how some of their special education teachers have been treated unfairly.
Now, they are asking the school system to hear them out.
“The teachers are hurt they feel like this is another thing that is disrespectful to them, it’s hard for them to picture that a colleague could be making $100,000 and they’re making $48,000,” Disney-Bates said.
Tanya Cooper-Johnson, a special needs educator for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, attended Monday's rally with the same demands as her colleagues, fairness when it comes to taking care of special education teachers.
“It’s not fair to the students and it’s not fair to our children who have special needs," Cooper-Johnson said. "I was upset because it takes a special person to do special education. You have to come with compassion and to be humble to the students. You know, they come with more needs than just educational needs. They come with behavioral needs."
As of a month ago, Anne Arundel County Public Schools were about 385 teachers short.
School system leaders put out a response to the rally Monday part of which read: "Due to many economic and social factors, we are experiencing higher vacancy levels across all position types. One of the areas where staffing issues is particularly acute is special education."
Statement from Board President Joanna Tobin and Superintendent Mark T. Bedell regarding latest claims from Teachers Associationhttps://t.co/eQQH7yoKV5 pic.twitter.com/JgcTPuDbZr
— AACPS (@AACountySchools) August 15, 2022
They went on to address the pay discrepancies stating that contracted employees receive no union or state benefits which can add as much as 37 percent higher compensation to their salaries. But union leaders said they’re not buying it.
“There’s a large pay discrepancy even when we accounted for health insurance. I would say to AACPS please stop the contractors let’s go back to the table and negotiate,” Disney-Bates said.
And special educators agree.
“We want it to be fair and we don’t want anyone who’s not educated or has the skill set to be an educator or they think that they can be an educator to come in and take our jobs just for the money. You have to have it in your heart,” Cooper-Johnson said.
Disney-Bates said part of a solution could be for AACPS to make those contracted workers part of the union as well, that way they negotiate for them and everyone receives fair treatment.
“The request is that they join our bargaining unit,” Disney-Bates said.
