TN Salutes Public Schools’ ESP “Power”
Friday, November 16, 2007
Memphis, TN – School bus drivers, office workers, and classroom assistants are being honored this weekend for an "Educational Support Professional" celebration. Sarah Redden is an interpreter for the deaf in the Memphis School District. She says she hears from ESPs every day around the state about the challenges they face -- and salary is number one.
"They don't pay them for overtime, they don't give them duty-free lunches, they don't give them breaks of 15 minutes a day."
Redden says she and other ESPs in Memphis are working on raising the job to a partnership to continue the success of public schools.
"They look at us as 'the help,' not as coworkers. They always think they are up a level and we're kind of down under them."
A study from the National Education Association confirms Redden's observations. Nationwide, it shows that many ESPs are paid below poverty-level wages.
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