ESPs deserve a living wage

Story and photos by LINDA WOO
WEA Communications

"I love my work," Strom says as she works with student Natasha Gegen.

Carrie Strom works six hours every day, tutors three times a week afterschool, and cuts hair and makes glass jewelry on the side.

Yet, Strom, a paraeducator at Fidalgo Elementary School in Anacortes, barely makes ends meet.

"For the job I do each day I cannot make a livable wage and it tears me up," Strom says. "I put 110 percent into my work. I love my work. I love being with the children but I also would like to be compensated for the work I do."

Strom's financial situation isn't uncommon in the education support professional (ESP) circle. Support professionals keep school buildings and equipment functioning and students safe and healthy. They impact the lives of students every day, but many are barely able to afford to live in the communities they serve, says Spokane high school secretary Debby Chandler. And that's why Chandler, Strom and others are putting their energies behind the "ESP -- Taking the Lead for a Living Wage" campaign. Launched with a grant from the National Education Association, the initiative is pushing for an appropriate living wage for all ESPs.

The campaign, says Chandler, who chairs the WEA ESP-Action Coordinating Team, the group leading the state effort, would ensure a decent living wage so every ESP member can be a viable part of the community in which they live. Part of the groundwork now is building awareness among members and evaluating locals' readiness in such an effort.

"I really thought I made a good living," says Chandler, who also works two jobs. "God forbid what if something happened to my husband?"

Last year, as lead negotiator for the Anacortes paraprofessionals, Strom helped bargain a 2 percent increase plus the cost-of-living adjustment. This year, she makes $13.92 an hour -- a $1 more than last year. The living wage campaign, she says, is long overdue.

"My take-home pay is right around $1,000 a month," she says. "Nobody can live off $1,000 a month."

"Of course money isn't the reason I do my work but you have to be able to function in your community," Strom says. "You have to stay healthy; you have to have food to eat; you have to live beyond one paycheck to one paycheck."

Tragedy hits home

An explosion at an oil refinery in Anacortes nearly 10 years ago killed six men and ended a 25-year marriage for Strom.

"The demise of my marriage happened because of a tragedy that happened here in Anacortes," Strom says. "There was a major fire at a local refinery and some people died. My husband at the time was president of the union and he was also a first responder and he was on body retrieval so he literally had to scrape his friends off the scaffolding.

“At the time the community came together to make sure everyone received counseling, everyone but my husband,” she says. “It took about a year and one day he got up and said I don’t want to be married anymore and he left.”

Strom went from a $100,000 annual income to one that now ekes out a fraction of that two-person income. Her two grown children both live at home to help share the living expenses. Even so, it isn’t uncommon for the refrigerator to sit empty by the second half of the month.

"My income dropped drastically," Strom says after her divorce. "It was a struggle because we still tried to maintain a lifestyle we were accustomed to. We soon found out we had to make some life changes, and we made cutbacks anywhere that we could."

The five-bedroom, three-bath home she and her husband built will be on the housing market soon. She'll pack a lifetime of memories and say goodbye to the views of the water from her deck.

Strom stands with students (counterclockwise from lower left) Aaron Post, Ryan Fitzgerald, Cody Romer and Jared Doolittle -- a group of students she works with every noon on projects ranging from art to community service.

Thankful for angels

Over the years, co-workers have pitched in when Strom couldn't pay her electrical bills or her prescription co-pays. They also have offered food for her family when there's extra.

"I didn't quite know how to take the generosity of others when my situation changed," says Strom, a proud and assertive woman grateful for her "angels."

"It's very overwhelming to have people give things to me …

"It does make me angry that I can't support myself," she says. "It makes me angry that the system is the way it is."

Strom says she doesn't have the time or inclination to be angry anymore.

"We need to get out there. We need to be able to make a living wage," she says. "It's time.

"I need to be able to live the rest of my life out and support myself and right now I just can't do it."

Share your thoughts & ideas!

Reach WEA Editor Linda Woo at lwoo@WashingtonEA.org, via postal mail at WEA, PO Box 9100, Federal Way, WA 98063-9100; phone 253-765-7027 (or toll-free outside Seattle-Tacoma: 800-622-3393 ext. 7027); or fax 253-946-7612. We welcome story ideas, letters to the editor and suggestions for improving WE-Washington Education, or WEA Online.