Centralia School District Paraeducators Rally for Higher Pay

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Dozens of people, many wearing blue and almost all carrying signs, stood in front of the Centralia School District office Wednesday morning, advocating for higher pay for the district’s part-time paraeducators as contract negotiations continue with school district officials.

Robin Ponther, a paraeducator for Washington Elementary and union representative for paraeducators in the same school, said the rally didn’t represent a strike — noting that the concept of a strike hadn’t been thrown around. Last year Centralia teachers went on strike over contract negotiations.

However, Ponther said last year’s strike served as motivation for the rally.

“We would like to have a livable wage, that’s the main thing,” said Debbie Kimball, library tech at Washington Elementary. Records show the starting wage for a paraeducator in Centralia is $13.45 per hour. Those gathered Wednesday represented the part-time paraeducators, who work for the school district 181 days per year, typically around seven hours per day. Approximately 120 to 130 paraeducators work for the Centralia School District, said Ponther.

“A lot of these paraeducators are basically teachers without a degree,” said Carine Chatwin, a retired teacher from Washington Elementary who attended the rally and sported blue to show her support of the paraeducators’ negotiation efforts. “… I’ve worked special ed, I’ve worked regular ed, and all of the children, no matter where they come from or their capability should get individual help every day. And without the paraeducators, they won’t. It’s not possible for a teacher to do that with 25 to 30 kids in the room.”



Kimball noted that one of the cruxes of the rally and the request for a higher pay stems from changing insurance costs for state employees that are set to go into effect in January. Essentially, paraeducators will pay the same rate for insurance coverage as teachers, but still at a lower pay.

“The district values all of our employees, including our support staff — including our paraeducators, they’re a huge part of what we do in helping kids get up to speed academically … and we’re hopeful that we come to an agreement soon,” said Ed Peterson, coordinator for communication and public relations for the school district.

Ponther said that the rally was a means to show that part-time paraeducators mean business, and she said she doubted negotiations would conclude by the end of the day.

Full-time paraeducators are also in negotiations with the district, and did not come to a conclusion following meetings on Tuesday, said Ponther.