MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Milwaukee Public Schools employees say confusion from district leadership is spilling into classrooms, as hundreds of workers who were told their hours would be cut next school year are still uncertain about their futures — even after the district reversed course.
In March, hundreds of children's health assistants (CHA) and paraprofessionals (para) received letters from their principals stating their hours for the next school year would be reduced by 25%. The employees, a majority of whom are Black and Brown women with the lowest paid wages, often working multiple jobs, said the news hit hard.
Kathy Robinson and Sherry Jones have each spent the last 3 decades working as CHA's for MPS, a role they describe as critical.
"I am a handicap assistant. I take care of children that's disabled that can't take care of themselves," Robinson said.
"We take care of kids during graduation when they parents can't get. Clothes has been bought, we have given kids total baths, showers, buying clothes, supplying pampers every day," Jones added.
Watch: Milwaukee Public Schools staff says confusion remains after superintendent reduces hours, then reinstates them
For Robinson, a potential cut to her hours would have forced a major life change.
"I barely have time for my own family, and if they cut the hours, then that means I have to go full-time somewhere else and try to work the part-time hours here," Robinson explained.
Jones called the proposed reduction a personal affront.
"It's a slap in the face," Jones said.
MPS paraprofessional Joshua Taylor said the financial and emotional toll of the announcement was significant.
"Having to navigate what's essentially a 25 percent wage cut," Taylor said. "Very upsetting. And then on top of that, kind of the moral indignity of you know saying basically your job doesn't matter."
MPS staff and the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association (MTEA) responded by petitioning for change, showing up to board meetings and rallying outside the district's central office.
All of this while the district is facing a $46 million deficit heading into next year, with staffing positions already cut.
MTEA President Ingrid Walker-Henry said the entire budget process has been hard for her and her members to digest.
"This budgeting process has been chaotic," Walker-Henry said. "In this case, tremendous pressure from workers as well as from the community that caused the superintendent to reverse this position."
That public outcry led MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius to reinstate the hours for paras and CHA's about a month after the letters went out.
"I think we can improve upon that to lessen the anxiety with our employees, however I also think it's really important that we give the employees notice so that they can plan and have time to plan if in fact it did become a reality and we did not have the funding, but fortunately we do have the funding and we can end this anxiety for them," Cassellius said.
"This is a priority for us, and so their hours are here to stay," Cassellius added.
We did ask Cassellius several more questions about the reversal, staffing cuts, and the future of MPS's budget. You can watch that full interview here:
For some employees, the anxiety has not gone away. The MPS board has yet to finalize next year's budget.
"I still don't feel like my job is safe cause three months down the line, when school starts back, they may say the same thing again," Robinson said.
Jones echoed that frustration.
"You can't keep playing with people livelihoods; people got bills to pay," Jones said.
Robinson said despite the uncertainty, her commitment to the work has not wavered.
"I love what I do and I love helping people. I went into this field to help people, so that's why I stay," Robinson said.
This story was reported on- air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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