School board officials say the strike's impact on schools has varied across the city. (CBC)

About 3,500 public school support workers began a two-day strike Tuesday morning as they pursued better wages and benefits in their next contract with the Calgary Board of Education.

The people off the job represent a wide range of workers including psychologists, teacher's aides and lunchroom monitors.

The union voted in favour of strike action on May 7. Wages, workplace respect, health benefits and staff treatment have previously been identified as key points in contact talks. The last collective agreement expired more than eight months ago.

The greatest impact is on the Christine Miekle and Emily Follensbee schools for special needs children, which rely heavily on teacher's aides. The CBE decided to close the facilities during the strike, because they couldn't be operated safely without the support staff.

'They do wonderful work with our children and they deserve to be paid and supported with their requests.'—Tina Prevost, parent

The board said the strike's impact on other public schools is varied, but that final exams are going ahead as scheduled. Pat Cochrane, CBE chair, acknowledged that teachers cannot be asked to do the work of the striking employees.

"They can certainly answer the phone in the school if a parent's calling to inquire about a child or those sorts of things. Safety and security issues are really important, and so those are overriding concerns in that kind of situation," she said.

Support staff picket in front of the Calgary Board of Education's downtown building Tuesday. (CBC)

Cory Prevost, 19, stayed home Tuesday as support staff who help the developmentally challenged teen get around in his wheelchair at Christine Miekle were off the job. But his mother, Tina Prevost, said she supports the walkout.

"They do wonderful work with our children and they deserve to be paid and supported with their requests," she told CBC News.

The CBE offered the support staff a four-year contract beginning with a 4.5 per cent wage increase this fall and future hikes based on the Alberta Weekly Earnings Index, as well as an $800 signing bonus. But the union said the offer is not enough to keep up with the rising cost of living.

"Anybody that lives in this city and sees the cost of everything going up understands that," said Flookes. "Even the money that we have on the table in our proposal doesn't meet what people have lost in their buying power in the last couple of years. "

Although money is one of the main issues, some support staff say they also want more recognition for what they do emotionally and physically for students in their care.

"Time and again the cumulative injuries are not taken into account so in that respect, we are quite undervalued and we had expected the board to do a little bit better than what they have done," said educational assistant Aziz Nangai.

Staff will return to work on Thursday but the association that represents them says more strike action is possible.

Cochrane noted that the strike mandate for support staff is in place for 120 days which means the union can walk out anytime during that period.

Mediation has failed and no negotiations have been scheduled, but Cochrane said she's open to new talks.

"The mediator was unable to find a position he felt he could bring forward to suggest to both sides and so we have to keep at it."