On January 25, the Durham Board of Education passed a budget amendment that provides $4.5 million to cover classified staff paychecks through January. This ensures that they will be paid what they were promised in full for January, one of the demands of the Durham Association of Educators (DAE), which is the labor union for Durham Public Schools (DPS) staff.
The logo for the Durham Association of Educators
Throughout the 2023-2024 school year, the DAE has been gaining membership to get a voice at the decision-making table. As a result of the pay cuts to classified workers, the DAE has sprung into action.
Community members gathered outside the Durham Board of Education meeting
The Board of Education’s decision on a budget amendment comes after a DAE-held rally prior to the Board of Education’s meeting. Members of the Durham community gathered outside the Staff Development Center of Durham Public Schools (DPS).
They wanted to make their demands known, which included: 1) classified staff would not have to return their raises, 2) January paychecks to classified staff would be the same as their December paychecks, and 3) staff would be involved and valued in the conversations regarding their pay.
The crowd gathered at the rally
The rally held by the DAE resulted in record-breaking public turnout at the board meeting. Community members streamed in to the Staff Development Center at 6:30 as the rally ended, holding their signs and making their voices heard.
Rally leaders encouraged people to sign up for public comment in the meeting, in an effort to overwhelm DPS’s Board of Education with experiences of people who were affected by the pay cuts. Jordan High School’s Student Body President, Rowan Hughes, was among the speakers.
Before the meeting began, the rally effectively applied public pressure to the Board of Education. The DAE and community members made their demands vocal, by chanting, holding signs, and beating drums from underneath their umbrellas.
As the sky darkened and the rain continued to stream down, a variety of speakers shared their experiences to a growing crowd. These speakers discussed the ways they struggled to support children and how they felt undervalued by DPS, despite the experience they had. Speakers included a parent, a DPS student, classified workers, and teachers, including a social studies teacher at Jordan High School, Carlos Perez.
Mr. Perez speaking at the rally
Mr. Perez informed Falcon Post that he chose to speak at the rally because “I think both the district and our coworkers need to understand the day-to-day experience that not just educators, but everyone that works in Durham Public Schools, the kind of strain that we’re under.”
While the public engagement and community organizing did pressure the Durham Board of Education to pay classified workers in full for January, many questions remain for these staff members about what their pay will look like in the future. There is still a lot of uncertainty around how much they will be paid going forward.
Mr. Perez added, “all of this [the pay cuts] kind of took place within a bigger budget campaign that we’re in the midst of. And so the two demands that were met last night were more immediate demands that came out of the classified pay debacle. But we have some other budget-specific demands and those include things like pay raises, more time to do our job, and then particularly, for the long term, a seat at the table so that the union has formal recognition and a place in negotiations.”
*Note: This is a developing story, and Falcon Post will provide updates as developments continue to occur.
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