By Christopher Williams
DURHAM, N.C. — Durham Public Schools’ Board of Education will vote on how to proceed with paying classified staff members beyond February at their meeting Thursday, February 22nd.Board members will also appoint 13 community members to their meet-and-confer committee following last Thursday’s meeting with the Durham Association of Educators (DAE).
The DAE, which is affiliated with larger groups such as the North Carolina Association of Educators and the National Education Association, says it is a “member-led organization of educators and allies, committed to leading the fight to defend and transform public schools so that every young person can achieve their full potential and live happy and healthy lives,” on its website. The group has led several days of protest since the pay debacle began in January, leading to closures of several schools on two different days.
School board members raised concerns about representation after transportation staff unaffiliated with the DAE walked out at the beginning of the meeting. The board then decided to appoint a mixture of representatives from the DAE and outside representatives to the upcoming committee.
DAE Vice President Turquoise LeJeune Parker said these concerns were valid. She also said she hoped the Board’s decision to designate 4 non-DAE seats on the committee would help make sure all are represented.
“Imagine somebody who’s seeing an $800 difference. Somebody who has three kids to take care of and made massive transitions in their life based off of the money that they were getting in the fall,” said Parker. “I can’t tell you how to feel about that. And that’s a very, very real thing to remember.”
The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People also took a stand in the DPS pay debacle. The Committee, which works as a civil rights organization for Durham’s Black residents, held a press conference at Shepard Middle School Monday morning. In it, Committee Chair Walter A. Jackson outlined next steps the group would like to see as the school board moves forward.
The committee asked all DPS employees to refrain from demonstrations that would disrupt classes for the next 30 days. It also asked the Durham County Board of Commissioners to provide DPS with the necessary funding to maintain classified staff members’ pay raises until the end of this school year.
Jackson said the committee would not send a representative to join the meet-and-confer process because (SHE OR HE?) didn’t believe it was their place to intervene.
“Certainly, if we were invited to, we would accept such an invitation,” Jackson said. “But we have not been invited to it, and we don’t want to force our way into such a conversation.”