Board of Aldermen 06-11-2019 Page 11
Alderman Jette
OK.
Alderman Tencza
Just a point of clarification with that, the $200,000.00 is in the Mayor's Budget which only requires a
majority of the Board to pass whereas the additional $65,000.00 is in the amendment which requires 10
votes from the Board.
President Wilshire
The amendment only requires 8; if that passes, then the budget will require 10.
Alderman Tencza
So if | may just follow up with that. | mean | supported the amendment in Committee and | am going to
support the amendment here tonight as well. | think that the paras are a group of employees in our City
that don’t get the credit that they deserve. We don’t compensate them for the difficult work that they do
and I’m not sure that we appreciate how much they mean to the schools for a lot of reasons. | have heard
from teachers that this has been a particularly tough year for them for a lot of reasons but | think that
having more support in the schools will certainly help not only them, but will help other kids in the
classroom be able to learn as well and thrive. So | am supportive of this and | hope it passes the Board.
President Wilshire
Thank you. | have a question if anyone can answer it. This $65,000.00 would fund 2 paras and a part-
time counselor, Alderman Kelly?
Alderwoman Kelly
The way | understood it was that the full time counselor, hold on one second | am trying to pull up the
document. Because | remember when we asked for the suggested changes it says 2 para-educators and
a social worker/counselor. So my understanding that it was a full-time.
President Wilshire
So there has been discussion about the paras, there are positions open now that they can’t fill, is that what
| am hearing?
Alderwoman Kelly
Yeah and actually that was brought up at budget, that was one of the reasons why we put it in
contingency, so if they are unable to fill those positions, the money goes back to the General Fund.
President Wilshire
Very good and | am going to support that too. So we are going to vote on the amendment.
Alderman Dowd
Just one other point, just so people are aware, paras don’t get paid very much money.
