[Junction 54] Mission Not Quite Accomplished - Editor's Column/Audio Note

If you hadn’t been paying attention for the past six weeks, you’d be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief after reading this line in a statement issued Friday by Durham Public Schools:

“This vote ends a period of uncertainty and anxiety for our classified employees, but it does not end our commitment to providing employees with higher wages.”

Cue the bomber jackets, sunglasses, and “Mission Accomplished” banner? Not quite.

Because if you HAVE been paying attention, and in particular if you attended the meeting Thursday, you’d know better. That’s when the Board of Education voted 5-2 to replace what many classified workers felt was a living wage with a rollback from March until the end of the year to their 2022-23 salaries plus 11%.

“We are grateful to have a solution in place through the end of the year that allows us to increase employee wages without devastating the district’s finances,” the DPS statement reads.

Yes, the 11% solution falls within the budget. It doesn’t devastate the district’s finances. But anyone listening to public comment Thursday heard the voices of classified workers who will see their pay slashed by hundreds of dollars, potentially affecting whether they can pay rent, send their kid to daycare, or buy necessary medications.

The Durham Association of Educators, which DPS might’ve thought would be at least somewhat appeased by an ad hoc committee for a “meet-and-confer” process moving forward, didn’t have much use for the board’s choice Thursday night.

“Every one of these workers made life decisions and financial commitments based on those new salaries,” the DAE stated in a Facebook post. “Finding an 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 1,400 classified workers starting in March.”

The tone of the district’s statement is just wrong. It’s like the classified workers are singing “The Freshmen”  by The Verve Pipe 

“Now I’m guilt-stricken, 
sobbin’ with my head on the floor”

and the district busts in with Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping.” 

“I get knocked down
But I get up again
You are never gonna keep me down”

Board Member Natalie Beyer struck a more appropriate tone during the meeting when she acknowledged that trust in district leadership is “profoundly shattered.” They’ve got a lot of work to do before they can truly end this period of uncertainty and anxiety. 

As a parent of two kids in Durham Public Schools, I don’t expect to rest easy until May at the earliest, once the district has a classified worker pay plan in place that shows appropriate value and funding to support that plan.

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