ESEA Public Comments at 11.18.21 Board of Trustees Meeting

11/18/21 Public Comment Agenda Item 5.06 & 5.07

Good evening,

Jan Giles, president of the Education Support Employees Association. This evening, I am speaking in support of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that was ratified by education support professionals this past weekend.

For the past few months, ESEA, along with our partners, Teamsters Local 14, have been rallying under the banner of Demand Your Respect. Every day, we hear from support professionals how difficult the past 2 years have been. It has been our goal to make sure our students and EPS’s are receiving the support they need to succeed.

All we asked for was respect in the form of a contract that values our work and the student services we provide. We believe the contract before you is a step in the right direction. We hope the contents of this contract will begin the process of filling the 600 plus vacant ESP positions throughout the district. We often hear a lot about recruitment and retention when it comes to teachers, but we can’t forget the backbone of CCSD, the support professionals. Your approval of this contract is necessary now more than ever.

There is still a lot of work to be done and we will continue to Demand Our Respect. Funding remains an issue, and our leaders need to continue working to ensure that education support professional positions in CCSD remain competitive, respected, and filled. In order to remain competitive, new steps must be added to the top of the pay scale and continue funding step increases. We look forward to accomplishing this in the next contract in 14 months.

To close, on behalf of all those involved, I would like to say thank you. We often say you cannot spell respect without E-S-P, and that is what we deserve. ESEA and Teamsters remain committed to all the support professionals at CCSD who are keeping our schools safe and clean and ensuring our students have the best education and nutrition.

Vote Yes on the ESEA Collective Bargaining Agreement and the Improved Services MOA.

Thank you.