Retired Minnesota leader receives pioneer award

For the first time, a retired PSRP activist was honored during the AFT conference with the Albert Shanker Pioneer Award. Mary Jo Connolly, who retired last year as a paraprofessional and long-time chapter leader of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Educational Assistants, received the award, which is given each year to honor an outstanding AFT PSRP leader. Unfortunately, Connolly was unable to be there in person to receive the award and the accompanying $10,000 check from Gardner-Rich Co., a Chicago-based securities firm headed by Chris Gardner. Half of the award money goes to the recipient, and the other half is to be used at the winner’s worksite or some other local project.

Like many paraprofessionals, Connolly began her career as a parent volunteer in her children’s school before being hired to work in the classroom. She worked as a paraprofessional for 20 years and led her union’s educational assistants chapter for 10. One of Connolly’s ongoing priorities was pushing for more recognition and respect for paraprofessionals, and especially for greater access to professional development. In addition to helping negotiate many landmark contract provisions for the Minneapolis paras, she served on the Minnesota Federation of Teachers executive board and later became the first PSRP on the new merged Education Minnesota board. She was also a long-time member of the AFT’s PSRP program and policy council before her retirement.