Durham school workers to get higher pay one more month. But what happens after that?
Durham Public Schools classified staff will keep the higher salaries that they were promised last year for the month of February, but there’s still no decision on what will happen the rest of the academic year.
The school board voted unanimously Thursday night to continue paying those salaries at least one more month.
Interim Finance Director Cierra Ojijo has said each month of pay at those higher salaries adds $700,000 to the budget.
The decision came shortly after the district announced that all classes are canceled Friday for students due to all transportation support staff calling in sick. It will be a teacher workday.
And Thursday’s meeting came a day after DPS Superintendent Pascal Mubenga resigned from his role, effective immediately, and the district released a report detailing the faulty calculations and “failure of communication” that led to the turmoil that has embroiled the district since last month.
On Thursday, the board voted to hire former Wake County Superintendent Catty Moore as the interim superintendent of the district. Moore has spent 35 years in public education, the last five as Wake County superintendent before her retirement in June.
“We are excited to have her leadership in this transition,” Board Chair Bettina Umstead said.
Nicholas King, previously a deputy to Mubenga, served as the interim leader for one day.
Mubenga was the second administrator to step down after a botched budget led DPS to withdraw raises from 1,300 classified staff, including cafeteria workers, instructional assistants, physical therapists. custodians and more. Paul LeSieur, the school district’s finance director, resigned last month.
DPS employees have been protesting for weeks. Strikes have scrambled bus routes and closed a total of 19 schools over two days after staff called in sick to picket outside the system’s administration building.
“I’m tired of this nonsense. Where is the money?” asked elementary school student Luna Gomez. “Teachers need to pay rent, buy food and purchase clothes. Some teachers also have children, who also need food and clothes.”
The board will consider longer-term options at a meeting later this month after they have met with the Durham Association of Educators.
The financial picture
Umstead has said giving out the raises promised last year would cost $9 million more than what was budgeted.
To keep the district afloat after uncovering the purported mistakes, the administration emailed 1,300 school staff in mid-January, slashing the promised raises by no longer counting years of experience earned in the private sector.
DPS has traditionally awarded a step for every year of experience as a state employee, in the private sector and out-of-state. That policy is called 1:1 — one step for every year of verifiable experience.
The board’s attorneys determined former finance director LeSieur built the budget using numbers calculated with only state experience, while Human Resources and the superintendent were under the impression the 1:1 policy would remain.
The board already voted last month to spend $4.5 million of the district’s reserves to pay the higher salaries through Jan. 31, which board member Natalie Beyer said was a concerning decision “without good supporting documentation.”
The district’s reserve fund now sits at $6.4 million, which is below the $12.7 million that Human Resources Director Alvera Lesane has said is recommended.
The board was unable to reach a consensus in a five-hour meeting last week, but discussed four options Thursday night that don’t require asking the county for additional money.
Use the salaries emailed to staff in January. This would result in 1,300 employees being paid significantly less than they were told last year, but at least 4% more than last school year.
Give an across-the-board 11% raise. This would restore steps, but throw out the salary study conducted by HIL Consultants. That would result in lower raises than those promised last year and, for some employees, also lower than what they were promised in January. The pay bump would be split, with 4% coming from the state and 7% from the county.
Give an across-the-board 15% raise. This would be the same as above, but offers more local money.
Option 3, but keep pay the same through February. This would preserve the wages promised in October for one month, costing $700,000 extra, then switch to 15% raises moving forward.
DPS employee Hannah Ball-Damberg said the school board should schedule an emergency meeting with county commissioners to request additional money.
“The district has entirely lost credibility and is hemorrhaging talented classified employees and will struggle to recruit equally talented staff,” she said.
Morale has been decimated in the central office as well as schools, said Donna Hamm, who works in student records.
“The light has gone (out) for many, me included. Several are already looking for other jobs. Why should they stay when they’re not valued and tremendously overworked?” she asked. “Find a solution before the exodus.”
Added Andre Obie, an assistant football coach at Riverside High School: “The only way to solve this is to give us our money back and be transparent.”
For many, the raises promised in October would have changed their lives. Elementary school cafeteria manager Angelique Parkstone helps pay for her father’s cancer treatment.
“I was really looking for another job until I got this raise,” Parkstone said.
“We’re not asking for special treatment, just what is fair,” elementary school nurse Zach Levy added.
What school board members are considering
Board member Millicent Rogers, a single parent, said she learned during Thursday’s meeting that school was canceled Friday.
“I came in here prepared to vote one way, and now I would like administration to bring us a recommendation of where we can find the money,” Rogers said, to applause.
Several other board members, meanwhile, said they’d rather take more time to consider the options and find a funding source for the salaries.
“I don’t know that any of us have all the information that we need to make a decision beyond February in this moment,” Beyer said.
“We are knee-deep in these spreadsheets right now,” Jessica Carda-Auten said.
“My desire is to wait,” Emily Chávez said. “We do need to know where our money’s going to come from before we spend it.”
But board member Jovonia Lewis advocated for Option 4. She said a 15% raise would have been lauded had the salary study never been discussed.
“You need leadership in this district that gives you stability and moves us forward,” Lewis said.
That motion failed, by 3-4 vote. Lewis, Umstead and Beyer voted for it. Carda-Auten, Rogers, Chávez and Alexandra Valladares voted against it.
The board voted instead to delay the discussion to its Feb. 22 board meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.
They’ll meet with the Durham Association of Educators in the meantime. A work session with the union is set for Feb. 15.
“People have very real bills that they needed to pay. And they were promised a certain amount in October and they should make that amount,” DAE president Symone Kiddoo said.
“The best way forward is for all of us to sit down the table together to figure that out.”
Interim Superintendent agreement
Moore has spent 35 years in public education, the last five as Wake County superintendent before her retirement in June. She was the first woman and first person of Latin descent in that role.
Since Moore left Wake County, Gov. Roy Cooper appointed her in October to the State Board of Education. She will remain on that board.
She will be paid $25,000 a month, plus expenses, according to her contract. That equates to an annual salary of $300,000.
Moore, who lives across the state in Union County, may also receive weekly allotments of $610 for temporary lodging and $140 for traveling to Durham. That bumps the total compensation up to $336,000 a year.
A formal search for a new superintendent will be launched this month, a district spokesperson said.
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com
