Durham Public Schools sign-language interpreters take day off to protest pay

Durham Public Schools faced another sickout Thursday, with the district’s entire staff serving the deaf and hard of hearing taking the day off in protest.

The group included 10 American Sign Language interpreters and seven language facilitators.

“We have decided to take the day off to emphasize the critical nature of our roles and to collectively advocate for future pay of classified staff members impacted by the pay cuts that occurred this year,” members wrote in a letter shared with The News & Observer and signed by 16 employees.

They spoke at the Thursday night school board meeting downtown.

Jennifer Falls, a sign language interpreter who said she is leaving next year, read a letter from a teacher lamenting the lack of equitable access for deaf and hard of hearing students on Thursday.

“To say today was difficult is an understatement,” she said. “Imagine how these students felt today in class without communication access for them to fully understand directions, ask questions or interact with their peers. Imagine how this has the potential to become the norm.”

Local funding for next school year, including money for employee raises, has not been finalized.

The school board asked for a $27.7 million increase from the county, whose manager countered with a more modest $13 million increase that would not cover raises DPS hoped to give classified staff.

Classified staff include many of the district’s lowest-paid workers. Budgeting mistakes in rolling out a pay restructuring that gave substantial raises to many of the workers caused salaries to yo-yo this school year.

The errors led the finance director and superintendent to resign and sparked several protests since January.

What protesting workers want

The group that called out sick Thursday called for a return to the pay originally promised last year.

“Interpreters in our district now earn an average of $932 less per month than we were promised in October of 2023. Due to this change, many of us are contemplating leaving the district in order to support ourselves and our families with community positions that pay significantly more,” the letter stated.

Interim Superintendent Catty Moore said that is accurate. The district is still working on a new salary schedule for next year, with Moore saying they hope to begin informing employees of their new proposed salaries at the end of next week.

The protesting employees joined the Durham Association of Educators and school board members in calling on the Durham County Board of Commissioners to fund the entire budget that Moore proposed.

They say neighboring school districts spend far more on services for those who are deaf and hard of hearing because of extensive vacancies.

“If we are forced to leave, the district will find itself in a precarious position both financially and legally,” the letter stated. “In order to fill the roles with contracted interpreters, which may not even be possible due to the interpreter shortage in our country, the district will incur a minimum of $1 million in costs for interpreters alone per school year.”

They also call for contract interpreters to be provided for the private meetings of deaf staff members, to avoid sharing sensitive personal information among staff.