ALT From the very beginning of this crisis, the Durham Association of Educators has been very clear in our position: there should be no cuts to classified staff salaries to pay for management’s mistakes. Last night, the Board voted 5-2 to take back the raises they gave 1875 classified staff members last year. These long overdue raises were designed to bring DPS worker’s pay up to market rates. They were promised over the summer and took effect in October.
ALT Every one of these workers made life decisions and financial commitments based on those new salaries. Finding a new apartment. Quitting a second job. Buying a new car. Unlike DPS, they cannot simply take back these commitments. To replace last year’s raises with an 11% flat increase over last year’s pay means a life-altering pay cut for almost 1400 classified workers starting in March. The vast majority of these workers make less than $43,000 a year in a city with a soaring cost of living. The vast majority of affected workers are losing more than $250/month. Over 600 of them are losing more than $500/month. Hundreds will lose over $1,000/month.
ALT Despite what they would have you think, the Board’s decision last night was not their only option. What they have chosen to do is pay for the mistakes made of our highest paid administrators by cutting pay for our lowest paid workers. Rather than spend any more emergency funds, the Board decided to push the district’s budget crisis onto the backs of classified staff who are now being thrown into far more serious financial crises of their own. This is unconscionable, especially in Durham, a city that takes pride in its progressive values. There was nothing progressive about this choice. The district’s multiple crises are not over. Thursday’s decision is only going to exacerbate the staffing crisis and the challenges we have recruiting and retaining good people in our schools. We have already lost irreplaceable classified co-workers because of this and many more will leave, not just because of the lower pay, but because of the disrespect. Staff are leaving because they cannot trust dis
ALT Ultimately, it is the students who will lose most of all. They will lose loving educators in their schools because of this. Their education will suffer. What better use of emergency funds could there be than to stop this from happening? Over the past six weeks, the entire Durham community has stood alongside public school workers, fighting for beloved Instructional Assistants, Child Nutrition Services workers, Occupational Therapist, and so many more. This display of solidarity is truly Durham. We invite you all to continue to support all Durham educators because there is a lot of work ahead of us. We must find a way to keep good people in our schools, while we look ahead to righting these wrongs in next year’s budget. While there was an increase in the amount of information brought to last night’s presentation than previous weeks, there are still real questions about notification of new salaries, Dr. Moore’s proposal of new salary schedules, and next year’s budget.
ALT From the very beginning of this crisis, the Durham Association of Educators has been very clear in our position: there should be no cuts to classified staff salaries to pay for management’s mistakes. Last night, the Board voted 5-2 to take back the raises they gave 1875 classified staff members last year. These long overdue raises were designed to bring DPS worker’s pay up to market rates. They were promised over the summer and took effect in October.
ALT Every one of these workers made life decisions and financial commitments based on those new salaries. Finding a new apartment. Quitting a second job. Buying a new car. Unlike DPS, they cannot simply take back these commitments. To replace last year’s raises with an 11% flat increase over last year’s pay means a life-altering pay cut for almost 1400 classified workers starting in March. The vast majority of these workers make less than $43,000 a year in a city with a soaring cost of living. The vast majority of affected workers are losing more than $250/month. Over 600 of them are losing more than $500/month. Hundreds will lose over $1,000/month.
ALT Despite what they would have you think, the Board’s decision last night was not their only option. What they have chosen to do is pay for the mistakes made of our highest paid administrators by cutting pay for our lowest paid workers. Rather than spend any more emergency funds, the Board decided to push the district’s budget crisis onto the backs of classified staff who are now being thrown into far more serious financial crises of their own. This is unconscionable, especially in Durham, a city that takes pride in its progressive values. There was nothing progressive about this choice. The district’s multiple crises are not over. Thursday’s decision is only going to exacerbate the staffing crisis and the challenges we have recruiting and retaining good people in our schools. We have already lost irreplaceable classified co-workers because of this and many more will leave, not just because of the lower pay, but because of the disrespect. Staff are leaving because they cannot trust dis
ALT Ultimately, it is the students who will lose most of all. They will lose loving educators in their schools because of this. Their education will suffer. What better use of emergency funds could there be than to stop this from happening? Over the past six weeks, the entire Durham community has stood alongside public school workers, fighting for beloved Instructional Assistants, Child Nutrition Services workers, Occupational Therapist, and so many more. This display of solidarity is truly Durham. We invite you all to continue to support all Durham educators because there is a lot of work ahead of us. We must find a way to keep good people in our schools, while we look ahead to righting these wrongs in next year’s budget. While there was an increase in the amount of information brought to last night’s presentation than previous weeks, there are still real questions about notification of new salaries, Dr. Moore’s proposal of new salary schedules, and next year’s budget.
ALT Finally, this decision and the many unanswered questions demonstrate one thing we already knew: that educators must have a genuine voice and a formal seat at the table for decisions that impact our lives this deeply. We need collective membership power if we want to ensure that a handful of decision makers at the top no longer have the power to make these decisions without truly engaging with the thousands of us whose lives and livelihood are directly affected. If we are ever going to move forward together as Durham Public Schools, we need a Meet and Confer policy that recognizes our union’s right to collaborate on decisions for our wages, our working conditions, and our students’ learning conditions.
ALT One month ago, on MLK weekend, 1300 classified workers received emails that unilaterally erased years of their work experience, cut their pay, and left them fearing having to pay back thousands of dollars they had earned in the fall. Tonight we are thrilled that thousands of Durham Public Schools staff have won all of the emergency demands that were democratically voted on by our Organizing Committee.
ALT Voted to keep paychecks whole & steps intact through Feb. for classified staff. They voted 4-3 to withhold a decision on Mar-June paychecks until there’s more financial info avail. & has been an opportunity for workers to discuss options. Scheduled work session with DAE to discuss Meet & Confer policy. This meeting scheduled Feb. 15. Called on district to publicly clear up confusion about January supplemental checks. This in addition to meeting previous demands last month to keep Jan. paychecks whole & not paying back wages earned in the fall. All of this was the result of our members taking historic action to organize our collective power. Over the last few weeks, hundreds of union leaders across every building worked late nights, early mornings, & weekends in order to have thousands of conversations with their coworkers about the way forward. It has been an unprecedented effort in building solidarity across all certified & classified workers, & we are stronger than ever as a result.
ALT We want to express our gratitude to the overwhelming support from families and our community, who have stood in solidarity with public school staff. Their presence and participation has been crucial to achieve these important victories. Thank you to the BOE: for listening to workers’ voices, committing to transparency and collaboration going forward, and keeping promises around pay. Together we are advancing the meet-and-confer process—this is a long-term solution for rebuilding trust and preventing crises like this in the future. This is the first real step towards Durham overcoming one of the last vestiges of Jim Crow law in our state—the ban on collective bargaining for public sector workers. We all have our work cut out for us. DPS is in a very challenging financial situation—our whole community is well aware of that. And all of us, especially classified staff, deserve to know all the options that are available.
ALT The staff at the specific schools participating in tomorrow’s Day of Protest already know who they are. That list of schools will be out by 3PM.
ALT Dear Durham Public School Families and Community Members, My name is Symone Kiddoo and in April, I was elected the President of the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) - the public school staff union - after serving as a School Social Worker in Durham Public Schools for seven years. Over the summer, I gave birth to my baby. You can imagine how busy my life is right now. But I love both my new jobs, because I love children.
ALT This crisis began years ago with the state's chronic underfunding of our public schools. Yes, school employees want higher salaries and better working conditions as we all do in this economy, but recent actions by employees to protest pay cuts is in part a result of a chronically underfunded school district. Combine decades of underfunding, a global pandemic that drove many long-time school employees out of the profession, increasingly complex student needs, and years of understaffing - and we get where we are today: A recruitment and retention crisis that will only get worse if DPS does not find a way to keep the promised salaries to staff that they made earlier this fall. Failure to do so will have serious implications for our schools’ ability to address student needs.
ALT Since the most immediate events of this crisis took place this month, DAE members have asked the district to 1) not introduce pay cuts; 2) reverse the policy to erase years of experience from over 1,300 worker’s salary steps and 3) commit to regular meetings with union members to discuss how to create excellent working conditions and most of all, the learning conditions that our students deserve. Though some progress has been made, there still is a lack of transparency. We are also still waiting for the district’s commitment not to roll back compensation that was promised in October. In response, educators from 11 schools have called out from work on Wednesday to attend a DAE protest.
ALT As a new mom, I understand the anxiety that comes from last minute changes to schedules and the burdens this may cause. But I assure you, we are doing this for our current and future students. Durham was right, initially, to increase salaries for long-underpaid staff. There are a lot of employment options in Durham, and our schools need to offer competitive salaries. We only want the best working with our students and you have to pay to attract quality people. Now that the administration is backtracking on its promise to staff, trust has been broken, not just with staff, but families across Durham County. We all want our kids to go to schools with the best educators, the best staff, and all the resources our kids need to be successful. I invite you to join DAE in our advocacy on behalf of our public schools. For my kid, your kids, and for all the children of Durham, we only want the best.
ALT 2 white women that are drenched with rain stand together holding a protest sign that reads 'Librarians support classified staff'
