Struggling to ‘bring food to our families,’ Olathe schools hourly workers want a union
Reality Check is a Star series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@kcstar.com.
Nidia Arellano has a question for the Olathe school board: “Do you believe a family of five can survive on $1,800 a month?”
The single mother of four, who spoke in Spanish through a translator, told the school board during its meeting last Thursday that she has worked as a custodian in the district for 15 years. But her pay has not kept up with the soaring cost of living, and she is struggling to provide for her children, who attend school in Olathe.
“I think my work is as valuable as everyone else,” Arellano said. “I deserve respect because my work is very important, and I do the work for our students and our buildings every day.”
Arellano was among more than 70 custodians, paraprofessionals and other hourly workers who packed Thursday’s school board meeting, wearing red, “Union Power” T-shirts. The group of employees, who are not certified so cannot join the teachers union, said they are organizing to form their own union, to advocate for better pay, respect and working conditions.
If successful, it would be the first union of its kind in a Johnson County school district. Hourly workers have formed unions in other large Kansas districts, in Lawrence and Wichita. The union, Olathe School Workers United, would be a part of Communications Workers of America, Local 6400, which organized workers in the Lawrence district.
“We are not getting enough to bring food to our families,” Mario Ibarra, who said he has worked in school grounds maintenance for 16 years, told the school board through a Spanish translator. He said many employees are working two or three jobs, or have left the district to seek out higher pay elsewhere.
Superintendent Brent Yeager said in a statement to The Star that, “In Olathe Public Schools, we want all our staff members to feel heard and respected, and we respect their right to unionize. It is so important to me and all our district leaders that our staff members feel a sense of belonging in Olathe Public Schools every single day.”
Yeager said he has met with several staff members in recent weeks, and the district will hold “roundtable discussions with specific departments and their leaders to listen and learn from our classified staff and to come away with actionable steps.”
Hannah Allison-Natale, president of CWA Local 6400, said that during the meetings with the superintendent so far, Yeager has “been really positive and supportive.”
Olathe has about 2,000 classified workers, which include uncertified employees and service staff. Allison-Natale said organizing efforts started with custodians and have grown from there. She hopes to create a union for all hourly workers across departments, including special education staff, food service workers, secretaries and teacher aides.
“This is the same in Lawrence as it is in Olathe. If you talk to any classified worker, they’ll tell you they love their job, but you cannot live on the wages that are paid,” Allison-Natale said. “It’s so much better to have a seat at the table, alongside coworkers, when decisions are made about you. It improves and strengthens relationships.”
Several Olathe employees told the school board last week that they cannot afford the cost of living or health care with their current salaries and benefits. And they say that’s contributing to the ongoing labor shortage, which Olathe has been navigating along with districts across the Kansas City metro and country.
“I have trained numerous paras, but unfortunately many of those have had to leave after realizing their wages do not make up for the amount of work that is required to do our job daily,” Amber Grant, a paraprofessional at Olathe South High School, told the board. “Many staff are heartbroken to leave the students and other staff members, yet they have no choice.
“Many of these invaluable workers are struggling to make ends meet, working multiple jobs just to get by. It’s a sad reality that affects not only their own well-being, but also the quality of education our students receive.”
Paraprofessionals are hourly and often part-time employees who provide instructional, behavioral and other support to special education students, often taking on some of the most difficult, hands-on roles in a classroom. Online job listings for paras in Olathe offer salaries ranging from $15 to $16.25 an hour.
Instructional aide positions are advertised at $14 to $15 an hour. Food service jobs are listed at $15 an hour.
“Some of our state legislators don’t realize there’s someone who has worked in a school building for 15 years and they’re still making $15 an hour,” Allison-Natale said.
The union is advocating for a $20 minimum wage, as well as fully paid health and retirement benefits.
Yeager said the district is focused on “recruitment and retention of our staff members through competitive compensation and benefits. We recognize the strain that inflation has had on all of our staff, which is why one of our legislative priorities is to support increasing special education funding at both the state and federal level and further support modifications to the formula to provide for a more equitable distribution of funds to support all students.”
Staff shortages have plagued Kansas districts during a decade-long underfunding of special education in the state. Educators have pleaded with lawmakers to increase the funding, as districts pull more money from their general education coffers to fund special ed. That money would otherwise be used for salaries, training, and services and instructional resources for all students.
Olathe, Yeager said, has moved nearly $100 million from its general fund to cover special education in the past three years.
“Receiving adequate special education funding would free up general funds that could be put toward retention of staff. We look forward to open dialogue as we work to support our staff,” he said.
Hourly workers in Olathe said a main goal of organizing is to help advocate for the state to fully fund special education.
They also are pushing for greater respect for their work, as well as safer working conditions.
Martha Alvarez de Ibarra, a custodian and Olathe resident, said in her 10 years working for the district, her salary has only increased by $4 an hour. She said many schools are short on custodians, leading her coworkers to double their shifts and work late hours by themselves.
“What would happen if they were to have an accident? Who would be there to help during those late hours? There can’t be a custodian working by themselves in a building,” she said in Spanish, while speaking through a translator.
Allison-Natale said hourly workers are some of “the people who might make the biggest difference in a student’s life. Our classified staff have deep relationships with our students, and that’s really important.
“And at the same time, we often are forgotten. It’s really important to make the people who hold the purse strings aware that we’re talking about the parents of students in our districts. Often classified workers are parents of students who go to Olathe Public Schools. When we improve the quality of life, working conditions and pay, you’re also preparing students to be successful in school. It’s hard to be successful if your parent is working three or four jobs.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2024 at 11:36 AM.
