Op-Ed by Gary E. Hoffman, President of the Nashua Teachers’ Union, AFT Local 1044
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It’s an unsettling truth: the shortage of qualified paraeducators in our district’s intensive special education programs has reached a critical point. The toll is felt everywhere—on educators, on students with profound needs, and on an institution striving to fulfill its most important mandate: to provide a safe, supportive, and effective learning environment for every child.
Right now, Nashua schools face 72 vacant paraeducator positions. We are not talking about abstract numbers. We are talking about classrooms of children, some nonverbal, some with complex medical, emotional, and behavioral needs, who rely on trained, caring adults for their daily care and educational support. When these positions remain unfilled, the consequences extend well beyond inconvenience. They can become a matter of safety and learning quality. Without enough paraeducators, the delicate balance needed to help students achieve progress—even something as basic as a calm, predictable routine—evaporates.
This isn’t a hypothetical worst-case scenario. We have seen cautionary tales from across the nation. In December, NPR highlighted a horrifying account of a special education assistant who lost his life after being pushed by a student. While such tragedies are rare, the underlying conditions that led to it—understaffing, insufficient training, and inadequate support—are sadly familiar. It’s a stark reminder that when we fail to properly staff and support our intensive needs classrooms, everyone suffers: teachers, students, families, and the broader school community.
Over the past months, the Nashua Teachers’ Union has worked diligently with the Nashua Board of Education to find a solution. We introduced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) intended to address our staffing crisis. The proposal is modest and targeted. It offers a small daily wage increase—$25 per day—for paraeducators who step up to help in understaffed intensive special education programs. It also provides a $500 signing bonus for new paraeducators who stay beyond three months and a 3% increase in entry wages. These measures may not be monumental to some, but they could be the difference between functioning classrooms and untenable conditions.
Crucially, we have come to an agreement on many aspects of the MOU. We have reduced costs to the district by removing special educators from the compensation proposal—an extraordinarily difficult concession for us, given their equally important role. We have precisely defined what “fully staffed” means, focusing strictly on whether the ratio of paraeducators to students is safe and appropriate. The ratio matter is not a trivial point. A safe and effective environment for our most vulnerable learners depends on having enough paraeducators in the room. When these ratios are not met, students do not get the one-on-one attention they deserve, and staff risk burnout, injury, or worse.
Yet despite these careful compromises, we find ourselves at an impasse. The Board and the District’s representatives have resisted the union’s proposal to set a 3:1 student-to-paraeducator ratio, preferring a definition that counts teachers in that equation—even though teachers and paraeducators serve different, complementary roles. Our special educators, those who know the day-to-day challenges intimately, confirm that counting teachers in this ratio masks the true staffing need. Teachers cannot simultaneously lead instruction and substitute as one-on-one paraeducators without compromising the quality of education and, ultimately, safety.
We have made every effort to recognize the district’s fiscal realities and the complexity of staffing. We adjusted our initial proposal, removing special educators from extra compensation and retaining only essential supports for paraeducators, all while preserving accountability measures. The MOU is a fair, balanced, and urgent solution to an urgent crisis. It will not solve every issue overnight, but it sets a critical precedent: we value and respect the people who care for our most vulnerable students, and we are willing to invest in the stability of our classrooms.
We know the Board of Education cares about our students and staff. Our common ground is the desire to ensure that every young person—no matter their challenges or abilities—receives an education delivered by qualified, compassionate professionals who have the support they need. The Board must now move beyond empathetic words and make a tangible commitment.
I urge the Nashua Board of Education to pass the MOU. By doing so, they can help break this cycle of understaffing and high turnover, strengthen our workforce, and create safer, more nurturing classrooms for our students. If we fail to act now, the cost is not just financial—it’s paid in strained staff, disrupted learning, and the potential for heartbreaking incidents that none of us wants to see repeated.
The safety and well-being of our students and staff cannot wait. It’s time for the Board to meet us where we’ve already shown we’re willing to compromise. Let’s do right by Nashua’s families, educators, and most importantly, the students who depend on us every single day.
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