7 Durham schools closed Monday as employees continue to protest

Nearly 5,000 students couldn't go to school as staffing shortages caused the following schools to close for the day:

The district said in January that some Durham Public Schools "classified" employees – transportation, cafeteria, maintenance and others who are not teachers – were unknowingly overpaid when the district implemented raises during the second half of 2023.

Q&A: What is going on with Durham Public Schools?

The Durham Association of Educators (DAE) is demanding that rate of pay stay in place until the district reaches a long-term solution.

The Durham Public Schools Board of Education will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Fuller Administration Building at 511 Cleveland St. in Durham. The district said the purpose of the meeting is an open and closed session to discuss attorney-client privileged and personnel matters.

The board is also scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

The board is weighing the following two options to solve the pay problems:

Those who got big raises from the salary study, especially people who had been with the district for a long time, are in favor of option 1. WRAL News spoke with one woman who got a 25-30% raise from the salary study, but if they go with option 2, she'd only get 11%.

Staff who have years of outside experience – specifically outside the state or in the private sector, since state experience still counts – favor option 2. They get their years of service back, and the salary study is thrown out the window.

Concerns about option 2 are that (a) the salary study that cost a lot of money is just gone and (b) the raises that were included in the salary study are gone, too. There is still an 11% raise on the table with this option.

The gist of what employees want is what they were promised and paid in October. They want raises from the salary study but also to keep their steps.

On Monday, hundreds of people, including certified and classified staff, along with Durham Public Schools parents picketed outside the downtown district building for hours.

One of the issues in dispute is how classified employees are compensated for experience before they joined Durham Public Schools.

Kelly Mumford is one of at least 1,300 DPS employees affected by the pay dispute. She is an instructional assistant for exceptional children.

"I was coming from out of state with 20 years of experience, which DPS said they would match in August when I signed my contract," Mumford said. "So, in October, when I saw what my pay scale would be, I went ahead and got an apartment, according to that pay grade I would be on.

"Then, in January, I got an email saying I was going from step 20 to zero."

Mumford said paying and keeping classified staff is better for education long term.

"I know some parents, it's stressful to have their kids home today," Mumford said. "We're not here to cause anybody more stress, but at the same time we need to be compensated for what we do, because it's not an easy job."

Teacher and parent Rosemarie Baker shared some of Mumford's same sentiments.

"I am here as a parent today to show my children that it's important," Baker said.

Baker said she's concerned about the future at DPS.

"How are children going to be able to learn with even less classified staff, and certified staff who don't want to stick around?" Baker said.

In a letter sent late Saturday to the Durham Board of Education, the DAE, representing approximately half of all classified Durham Public Schools (DPS) employees, announced that employees and classified staff would be taking part in a "Day of Protest" on Monday.

The decision to protest came after a lengthy seven-hour meeting on Friday when school board members voted 4 to 3 to postpone the discussion on how to address the payment issues for classified staff until this Thursday, Feb 8.

The letter addressed to the Durham Board of Education stated, in part:

"Throughout this week, the Durham Association of Educators, along with all Durham Schools staff, students, parents, and the Durham community, has been anxiously awaiting the Board of Education's response to our union’s demands for resolving the classified pay predicament. Classified staff members, among the lowest-paid in our district, were granted new market-rate salaries last October. Now, the district has unexpectedly altered the compensation structure for 1,300 dedicated educators and support staff, negating years of their work experience and resulting in a reduction in their pay.

"The protests witnessed in previous weeks, the ongoing week, and any future weeks serve as a plea for your leadership to align with the needs of educators. Over the past three weeks, it has become evident that the majority of the Durham community supports its public school staff and students. We hope that staging another day of protest underscores the urgency to take action — to retain the best and most committed staff our children deserve — and to stand in solidarity with us."

Elizabeth Van Vorhees, a parent at Durham School of the Arts, says that while the protests have been difficult on her and her child, she supports the employees.

"As a parent, I'm really glad to see that people are taking action," she said. "It's got to hurt them [and] takes a lot of courage, and I appreciate that."

Monday's protest lasted from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Durham Public Schools Fuller Building on 511 Cleveland St. The organization and community partners offered free lunches to families affected by school closings during the event at the Fuller Building.

Q&A: What is going on with Durham Public Schools?