Paraprofessionals, classroom aides, custodians, food service workers and secretaries who serve the eastern Connecticut community's pre-K through sixth-grade students turned-out for a special school board meeting last Tuesday. Gail Gondyke, the President of our Union's combined Paraprofessional and Council 760 Chapter that represents the district's non-certified employees, delivered our message in a statement during public comment before officials took up the superintendent's proposed plan for averting service cuts and staff layoffs.

Photos of Gail, her co-workers, and local residents speaking at the Board of Education meeting are posted at our online photo gallery.

The local press was there, too, amplifying our efforts through their local news coverage. The Journal Inquirer featured a story the next day with Gail's comments on the school board's vote to restore all but one of the non-certified support positions previously cut.

Gail is also quoted in a lengthy article on the board's adoption of the superintendent's restoration plan in this week's edition of Rivereast. A further story on our members' efforts is also planned next week in the Norwich Bulletin's Hebron edition.

The effort to preserve vital education services for the community's students began last month. After the Board of Education responded to the defeat of two previous budget packages at the polls with proposals that threatened deep service cuts and numerous staff layoffs, Hebron's non-certified education support staff mobilized.

They made the case that in this tough economy, everyone's top priority should be the direct services Hebron's schoolchildren depend on -- and that the district's non-certified employees provide. The superintendent responded and proposed a plan to retain most support staff positions that was unanimously approved at last week's board meeting.

But there is still important work to be done to restore custodial and maintenance services that are lost under the board's alternative budget plan. We have already met with the superintendent to discuss concrete recommendations for the additional cost savings needed to restore the last remaining non-certified staff position that was eliminated and recall the veteran employee who was laid-off on Thursday.

For decades, Hebron's Board of Education has been forced to pay more to provide life-saving medications for its workforce by insurance brokers who feed off exorbitant fees they can charge to small and medium-size public agencies. That's why we are actively pursuing our proposal to move the district's employees to the State Health Plan's prescription benefit "pool" under a new law signed by the governor last month.

By joining the largest "pool" of consumers in the state, the board and its employees will be able to use economies of scale to negotiate far lower prescription drug plan costs. Our members advocated for this initiative to empower cash-strapped communities like Hebron to stand-up to the brokers, and move all of Connecticut's struggling municipalities, schools, and small businesses closer to full-scale health insurance "pooling."

In the meantime, our members in Hebron have provided an important lesson in a state and national climate dominated by threats of massive education cuts and school employee job losses. By enlisting parents, taxpayers, and residents in a united effort to preserve vital public services, management and elected officials responded with a better way forward for this economically challenged public school district.