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Solangee Zuluaga, resident of Marble Hill worked as school aide at P.S. 48 for 11 years. Zuluaga was one of the 700 school aides, parent coordinators, and workers that were laid off this past week in the biggest single-agency layoff since the Bloomberg administration took office.
For eleven years, Solangee Zuluaga has stayed with students after school. She has helped students with their homework, called their parents when they’ve been sick or in trouble, and has consoled them when they were upset.
She has also made a few thousand copies in the school office, has filed reams of paperwork, answered phones, volunteered during weekend activities, and worked in the cafeteria.
For over a decade, Zuluaga served as a school aide at P.S. 48 in Washington Heights.
Until last week, when the mother of three, along with 700 other school aides, parent coordinators, and assistants in northern Manhattan, the Bronx, and across the City, were laid off from their positions.
“This time, I knew it was for sure. This time, I knew that it would be it, and that we weren’t getting our jobs back,” said Zuluaga this week, sitting in the Community Education Council for District 6 (CEC6) office where she worked for eleven years.
School aides, the lowest paid workers on average in the City’s school system, offer assistance to students and administrators alike, performing the tasks Zuluaga outlined and more. They do this work throughout Northern Manhattan, in the Bronx and all across the City, often in communities that face unique challenges: large populations of ELL’s (English Language Learners); relatively high unemployment figures; immigrant families who are adjusting to a new home; students with special needs; and much more.
Zuluaga said she had been warned in late August about her job being in jeopardy, but she trusted that a deal would be worked out.
“I understood things were bad when Principal Walsh told me that her hands were tied,” said an emotional Zuluaga. “I know our principal tried to save our jobs.”
In DC 37’s protests staged throughout the City last week, Santos Crespo, president of District Council 37’s Local 372 union, which has the highest number of laid-off workers among its ranks, was a vocal opponent of the proposed lay-offs. Crespo argued that DC37 had made three proposals to the City in an effort to negotiate, but that the City rejected all of them, ducking meetings during the summer and cancelling scheduled meetings with the group.
According to Crespo, among the proposals on the table were giving up paid holidays and reducing the maximum numbers of hours that school aides are allowed to work as a means to save money.
“City officials had time to discuss this and resolve it. There has been a clear lack of integrity; these layoffs were mean-spirited. We tried to come to an agreement and our meetings were cancelled,” said Crespo.
School aides, parent coordinators and assistant staff, are among the City’s lowest-paid workers, with a work-day that ranges from four to eight hours and with a salary averaging $20,000 to $30,000 a year.
As Zuluaga notes, “If anyone is doing this job for the money, they are in the wrong career. You do it because you love it.”
The City Council, which approved the fiscal year’s budget, said that it had never been informed that the layoffs would include other staff other than teachers. The layoffs are the largest single-agency layoffs since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2002.
During a council hearing last Tuesday, officials from both the union and the City Council clashed over who was to blame for the layoffs. “The Mayor knew that these cuts would disproportionately affect not just the lowest paid workers, but also our poorest school districts,” said Crespo.
“We believe that the Department of Education (DOE) has this money. They have tried but they cannot justify the layoffs,” said Crespo.
DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts directed her anger directly at Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.
“Under Walcott, the Education Department laid off…its lowest-paid employees in its neediest school districts and poorest communities. He failed to communicate with the unions,” said Roberts after the layoffs.
For Zuluaga, the first step in facing her unemployed status was to apply for Medicaid and unemployment benefits.
“My biggest concern right now are my children. [With this] job, I had health insurance benefits that covered them. I applied for Medicaid today,” said Zuluaga, whose two younger sons are currently enrolled at P.S. 48.
Although it’s been estimated that the cuts will save the City about $28 million this year, some in the City Council have pointed out that the city will now have to foot the bill for the worker’s unemployment benefits.
“The bottom line, is that our children and our school workers are being used as footballs in a political game,” said New York City Councilman Robert Jackson, who is also the Chair of the Education Committee.
“It would take 21 to 25 million to save these workers, and there is no way that they money isn’t there. In the long run they won’t be saving any money because these workers will have to apply for benefits,” he said.
Councilmember Robert Jackson said that no one has so far been able to justify why the cuts are affecting some of the neediest school districts across the City.
“I asked them the same question,” he said.
“The City and the DOE argue that we have a higher number of aides and workers in our schools because we have higher needs, and therefore, that’s where the cuts were made. It’s still not justified.”
“We might have lost this round of the battle, but we plan to keep fighting,” said Jackson.
Santos Crespo also echoed the same sentiment saying that DC37 is looking into ‘different legal avenues’ to respond to the mass layoffs.
Zuluaga, who spent the beginning of her week trying to navigate Medicaid and unemployment applications, she says she’s doing her best to accept her new reality.
She is considering going back to school to increase her chances of being hired in other fields.
“For a long time I’ve been fearing for my job, but I was hopeful. I would like my job back, but I also need to be realistic. I have to move on, and keep working for my kids,” she said.
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