To the editor:

I am a paraprofessional for Suffolk Public Schools.

We are not stay-at-home mothers. We are educated people. You need either 48 hours or to pass the Praxis Exam to become employed by Suffolk Public Schools.

I have 55 credits and have passed the Praxis Exam. I am a single mother who makes less than the poverty level, and I am on Medicaid.

I have been spit on, changed high school-age pull-ups and worked with children with AIDS. I love my job and my assistant principal has fought tooth and nail to make me full-time.

I constantly see pay raises for those higher up the ladder, and yet the people in the trenches go without. I know this is more than a city issue. This is a statewide problem.

Our special-ed children need familiar faces they can bond and connect with. I see hard-working TA’s leave every year, because the pay is so low.

What can we do to have the pay raised enough to keep the people behind the scenes who are in the trenches with our teachers?

Christine Hodges

Suffolk