Jerry, a special education classroom assistant, or SECA, in Chicago Public Schools, works with just three students. The individualized attention, he says, is an important part of his job in providing behavioral, personal and classroom aid to students with disabilities. It allows him to build strong relationships with his students.
“As a SECA my job is to mainly focus on you,” Jerry said about the students with disabilities he aids. “No matter what’s going on around me, no matter what else I’m thinking about, my job is mainly to focus on you and that comes with building a relationship with you.”
Jerry did not want to include his last name out of fear of retaliation.
For years, parents, experts and local school communities have advocated for SECAs to be included in Individualized Education Plan Meetings—a legally required discussion to determine a plan of action for students with disabilities.
Previously, SECAs had to be invited by a member of a student’s IEP team such as a principal or classroom teacher, in order to attend these meetings. SECAs, parents argue, have unique knowledge about the students they aid and that knowledge should be shared during IEP meetings.
Now, thanks to a contract signed in October between CPS and Service Employees International Union Local 73, the union representing CPS support staff, SECAs can request to attend those meetings.
“It gives us a lot of autonomy,” said Stephanie Tarr, a SECA at Southside Occupational Academy. “It gives validity to exactly what we’re doing and helps people take us a little bit more seriously and have an impact. I like the difference,” she said.
At Skinner North Classical School, Jerry aids his three students during specific time blocks of the day. Other SECAs may work one on one with a student that has severe disabilities.
Given the individualized attention he’s able to give, the relationship building between a SECA and student can look different than that of a classroom teacher who has to focus on multiple students, he said.
“Little things that I can pick up on… I can tell you if my students are having a bad day. I can tell you what he will do. I can tell you what he won’t do,” he said. “If he’s having a situation, I can go talk to him. I can work out something that [a teacher] possibly can’t do because we have a different relationship,” he said.
In 2022, the Illinois Answers Project reported that some special education parents were not aware of their right to request their child’s SECA during IEP meetings. Additionally, parents and teachers of special education students often faced challenges when requesting SECAs be present at IEP meetings due to scheduling and staffing challenges, since the meetings occur during the school day.
“SECAs are integral to daily classroom operations, providing necessary support to students with individualized needs. Pulling them away from their primary role, even temporarily, can disrupt the continuous support those students rely on. Schools must carefully balance these requests with the ongoing need to provide uninterrupted services as outlined in IEP and 504 plans,” said CPS officials.
Close to 7,500 SECAs work in the district and over 350 additional positions remain vacant, said district officials in a written statement.
While the new contract allows SECAs to request to attend an IEP meeting, they must receive approval from their school’s principal or designee, “another CPS employee, such as the assistant principal or case manager,” said district officials.
The district has stated that schools will make “reasonable efforts” in providing coverage for SECAs to attend IEP meetings but noted that “there are a lot of circumstances that may impact a principal’s or their designee’s decision in response to a SECA’s request. Examples of these include whether the SECA is scheduled to be with another student, the SECA is scheduled to be supporting a group of students, the parent has requested the SECA not attend, etc.”
If a school can’t honor a SECAs request to attend an IEP meeting then their feedback has to be provided in an agreed upon format and the paraprofessional has to receive a copy of the finalized plan, reads the contract.
Tarr said the changes towards SECA representation gives her more confidence in speaking with parents about their child’s needs.
“Before we (SECAs) kind of felt like, ‘Hey, I’m not going to be in that meeting, I don’t get to say anything. So who am I? Where do I have a place to say anything?’” Tarr said. “But now I think it would leave us all with a little bit more ownership and just makes the whole process more inclusive,” she said.
Kalaveeta Mitchell, a former CPS parent and special education advocate, said the changes are excellent but wishes that SECAs were required to attend the meetings.
“It’ll serve a dual purpose; it will initially alert staff and the parents whether this SECA is doing their due diligence with the student, as well as give the parents and the IEP team the knowledge around what’s happening with the student,” Mitchell said. “You need the SECA report to know exactly how that child is functioning.”
The new contract also states that SECAs can request to stay with the student or classroom they were previously assigned to, a change that Mitchell fought for while her children were in CPS, she said. Her son and daughter graduated last June.
“It was always a disruption to my daughter, changing the SECAs each year when the child went to another grade,” Mitchell said. She recounted her daughter having four different SECAs in elementary school and becoming dysregulated by the changes.
“It’s reflective in their behavior, as well as their academic performance,” she said.
The new four year contract for over 11,000 CPS support staff like bus aides, crossing guards and custodians also includes a $40,000 minimum salary for all full time employees and centralized training for new hires, said Stacia Scott, executive vice president of SEIU Local 73.
Included in the contract are designated professional development days for SECAS.
“That language is big because it signifies a transition in viewpoint of seeing special education classroom assistance as the professional educators that they are,” Scott said.
Previously, SECAs have been tasked with busy work like, “cleaning out storage rooms (and) assigned to help clerks with clerk duties. There’s been little to no intention around making sure that our SECAs are actually provided training (and) professional development support for the difficult and necessary work that they do,” Scott said.
The union often surveys its members about their on the ground school experiences and will continue to do so as a way to track if CPS adheres to what they agreed upon in this contract, Scott said.
In a written statement, district officials recognized that the new contract “limits the use of SECAs for non-student duties or to cover for other staff.”
They also state that an updated training curriculum for new SECAs will include “de-escalation practices, an overview of IEP procedures, techniques for working with students with a variety of disabilities, proper methods for lifting and positioning non-ambulatory students, personal care responsibilities, and strategies for reinforcing instruction.”
For current and new SECAs, annual de-escalation training will be required.
Scott noted that these training changes are in response to a state complaint about time outs, restraints, and a lack of de-escalation for students with disabilities.
“By the end of the current agreement, which concludes on June 30, 2027, CPS will also introduce training on physical restraint and time-out policies,” CPS officials said. “Moreover, the restraint and time-out policy will be made available electronically to SECAs at the beginning of each school year, providing easy access to these guidelines whenever needed.”
The contract, which provides clearer guidelines of the responsibilities that SECAs have, is also beneficial to those that help to advocate for special education families, said Amanda Klemas, senior attorney at Equip for Equality, an advocacy and nonprofit organization that provides free legal aid to special education families.
“The fact that these updates have been made, and getting that information out to parents is going to be important, because I just don’t know that the average parent is going to know that this is something that they can even ask for,” said Klemas.
“It’s really important for them to hear from the people that are working with their kids on a very direct and consistent basis, from day in and day out,” Klemas said.
Scott said she wishes for all support staff to receive the respect they deserve but is excited that specifically SECAs will be able “to be present and advocate for the kids they serve.”
“They’re some of the fiercest advocates for the children that they work with and serve,” said Scott. “You want them in your corner.”
SEIU has recently raised concerns about the transfer and removal of SECA jobs to teaching assistants, due to ongoing contract negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and the District.
Jewél Jackson is an investigative, multimedia storyteller who reports on society, culture and youth.