Some Durham parents back classified staff, teacher sick-out, even as schools close
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Durham Public Schools Salary Dispute
Budget problems in Durham Public Schools have caused disruptions, including halted bus routes and schools closings as staff members call in sick to protest. The protests come as the school district reported it had budgeted incorrectly and could not pay raises for 1,300 classified staff members, including bus mechanics, cafeteria workers and physical therapists. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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Some Durham parents say they support the teacher sick-out that closed a dozen schools Wednesday, backing them even while the ongoing salary disputes force them to juggle work with child care and volunteer shifts.
At Forest View Elementary, PTA President Kristina Baldridge said 80% called in with illness in protest of pay raises being revoked for Durham’s “classified workers,” which includes bus mechanics, cafeteria workers and physical therapists.
Speaking with her second- and fourth-grader in the car, along with a friend’s child, she called her family lucky enough to have flexibility. But more than half the students at Forest View qualify for free and reduced lunch, she said, and a third come from families that don’t speak English.
“The scramble is hard,” she said. “We’ve had families sending Ubers to get their kids. But I don’t think any parents blame the people in these buildings. It’s clearly mismanagement.”
Durham’s school disruption traces to 1,300 classified staff members given raises in October. But Durham Public Schools announced this month that the raises came as a result of a budgeting error. While employees were allowed to keep the raises from October through Jan. 31, they’re expected to be withdrawn by changing the way Durham measures experience, counting out any private sector years.
The Durham school board is scheduled to meet Friday at 3 p.m. to begin working on a solution to the salary situation.
Parents objected not only to the face-slap for valuable staffers, but also the defensive tone in district emails and last-minute notice about school closings.
Victoria Facelli’s child requires one-on-one staff care at Morehead Montessori, which did not close Wednesday. Still, her family received a vague email notice from the district near 9 p.m. Tuesday, which she said did not name specific schools and contained “authoritarian stonewalling” instead.
“For them to play this dangerous game of chicken, when they knew they were dangerously understaffed … it doesn’t speak to confidence. It doesn’t feel like genuine apologies. ... It’s bizarre to me they’re not saying continually, ‘We understand we made a mistake. It’s a challenging one to repair, and we appreciate your help.’ ”
Meanwhile, she said, she and other parents have been taking time to volunteer, helping out with arrivals, dismissals or in the cafeteria. Even at schools that haven’t closed, she said, classified workers need the time to attend meetings and be involved in solving the crisis.
“That’s something that has really struck me as beautiful about our city,” she said, “and I am really proud to be part of DPS … That’s thanks to the staff that show up every day and work really hard, and a community that pulls together.”
Baldridge said that willingness may be dwindling.
“I think it’s inspiring,” she said, “and I think it’s going to start to come to an end. It’s not helpful to fill a gap when the whole district is supposed to be filling gaps and avoiding gaps in the first place.”
She hoped the message would resonate all the way to the state funding level.
“If we don’t solve this short-term problem, these are people who are going to leave the district,” she said. “Chapel Hill is going to love to scoop up our bus drivers. Private schools are going to benefit, they’re going to have the best physical therapists in the world.”
Some parents join the protest
Brigid Flaherty, whose daughter is enrolled at Whitted for pre-school, said it was a scramble to to juggle childcare with work Wednesday.
”When we found out really what the day was for and why they didn’t have school, we were actually totally OK with it,” she said. “We knew that it was for a bigger purpose.”
Flaherty showed up to the picket line downtown because ”we want the teachers to know we’re here for them, that we support them,” she said.
“It’s a short-lived inconvenience. The longer DPS goes underfunded, that’s really the problem. We could figure out our schedules for a day or a couple of days, but if this continues to happen, I mean, that’s a long-term catastrophe.”
Shawna Pochan stayed home with her first-grader Arthur on Tuesday, before the pair showed up with signs for the afternoon protest Wednesday.
Pochan said they showed up to demonstrate to school staff that families were behind them.
“What’s most important is that people are paid well and treated with respect so they can show up for our kids and take care of them,” she said.
This story was originally published January 31, 2024 at 12:50 PM.
