Public Employee Press

Harlem children losing School Aide as she loses job

For seven years School Aide Marcelett Douglas broke up fights in the cafeteria, telephoned parents, copied lesson plans for teachers and consoled students who were being bullied. As of Oct. 7, if Mayor Bloomberg's planned layoffs go ahead, the parents, teachers and schoolchildren of PS 161 in Harlem won't be able to count on Douglas anymore. On Aug. 26, the Local 372 member got a letter from the Dept. of Education warning that she will most likely be terminated.

"I'm very disappointed," said Douglas, who lives in Harlem with her son Robert, 11. Her work had already been cut from six hours a day to four. "I'm pretty much living at the poverty level," said Douglas, who supplements her meager income with food stamps.

"I took this job because I love working with kids," said Douglas, who prior to PS 161 worked at Kappa 2, a public school that shriveled and closed as a charter school expanded within its building.

Douglas has her fingers crossed and would love to keep helping schoolchildren learn, but she is now planning to take the civil service exam for Police Administrative Aide.

The looming layoffs mean that there will be less supervision of the kids, said Douglas. "That's why they have so much bullying now," she explained. "There's simply not enough supervision. Children need to know there's someone they can go to for help when they're in trouble."

— A.A.