{"id":13609,"date":"2024-09-24T20:54:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T20:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=13609"},"modified":"2024-09-24T21:04:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T21:04:02","slug":"new-pay-rates-and-new-pay-errors-for-workers-in-durham-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/09\/24\/new-pay-rates-and-new-pay-errors-for-workers-in-durham-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"New pay rates \u2014 and new pay errors \u2014 for workers in Durham schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Durham school board unanimously approved employee pay rates for the current school year Thursday, but not before hearing staff complaints on a familiar theme \u2014\u00a0 pay errors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pay schedules posted on DPS\u2019 website last week include<\/span>d<\/span> several <\/span>m<\/span>istakes, such as incomplete pay rates for speech and language pathologists, school psychologists, and audiologists.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pay mistakes felt like deja vu to some employees. Payroll errors were at the heart of a DPS crisis last year, in which the district approved raises for classified staff that it could not afford. The mistakes <\/span>affected<\/span><\/a> roughly 1,300 workers and led to mass sick-outs by employees in protest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was sickeningly reminiscent of that Tuesday in January when we learned just how little our county thought of our classified coworkers….,\u201d DPS speech therapist Bethany Pergerson said at Thursday’s meeting. \u201cNow we have these \u2018corrected\u2019 salary schedules, but there are significant concerns.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

District hires a third payroll consultant<\/strong><\/p>\n

The compensation schedules were designed by Eyrie Success, the <\/span>third<\/span><\/a> outside contractor hired by the district to assist with salary schedules. <\/span>Eyrie Success was hired by the school system on September 4 for 30 days, nearly a month after the board originally <\/span>planned<\/span><\/a> to approve compensation schedules.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Thursday night\u2019s meeting, Eyrie Success\u2019 founder and CEO, Raushawna Price, responded to comments about the pay scale errors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to\u2026acknowledge that in our 15 days of working through this work, that there were some errors that we did need to correct, and that is a part of the transparency, and seeing many eyes on the work allows for that to happen, it wasn\u2019t behind a curtain, it was\u2026forward. And, there is vulnerability in that and I think that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to its <\/span>website<\/span><\/a>, Eyrie Success is a leadership development organization whose areas of expertise include human resources, adult bullying in the workplace, conflict resolution and communication, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The website also states that Price is \u201cthe trademark owner of the phrase \u2018Giver of Awesomeness\u2122.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The board approved the salary schedules but noted the need for further analysis regarding how the new pay rates will be implemented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The district\u2019s new superintendent Anthony Lewis emphasized the need to \u201cget it right,\u201d alluding to last year\u2019s pay crisis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Board members push for budget info<\/strong><\/p>\n

Board member Natalie Beyer asked for reassurance that the district can afford the proposed pay rates, prompting a series of exchanges between board members and DPS administration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the deja vu that is, that I\u2019m wrestling with, is last year\u2019s model, that we were assured that we had funds when we took a rushed vote,\u201d Beyer said. “We didn’t. And that\u2019s what led to the horrible MLK weekend of letters that staff received.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Millicent Rogers, board chair, followed up, \u201cHave we ran a model of what payroll looks like if we implement these salary schedules?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the staff that were identified in the salary projection tool, yes,\u201d replied Cierra Ojijo, DPS\u2019 senior executive director of financial services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogers pressed administration further.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we overspend in September, are y\u2019all coming back to us in October and asking us to change people\u2019s pay?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, well\u2014\u201d said Ojijo.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we overspend in September\u2026,\u201d Rogers repeated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Price chimed in, saying that the district can afford the new pay rates. But she added that the district may need to revisit its overall budget.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve modeled, we can afford, and we won\u2019t have to come back to the board to say we\u2019re gonna reduce salary.\u201d Price said. \u201cAnd that doesn\u2019t mean the total budget we might not have to make adjustments to, but we can do that in other ways.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The school system gave classified staff an 11% raise in <\/span>February<\/span><\/a> in an attempt to end the payroll crisis. On Thursday, the board voted to allow current classified employees to keep that 11% raise, coupled with a 3% raise from the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, the board approved increases for some groups of classified and certified staff, including raises for classroom teachers with master\u2019s degrees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other staff with master\u2019s degrees did not receive similar raises, a sore point for many DPS workers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rogers acknowledged the omission.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI guess this is an opportunity to apologize to all of our employees that have been working with a master\u2019s, not getting that master\u2019s pay,\u201d she said. \u201cOur intent was not realized here, and in this budget, and it has had an impact on the morale within the district and we are apologetic for that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The board directed administration to study pay rates for all employees with relevant master\u2019s degrees to prevent their exclusion in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the board passed a sweeping motion to place any employees not covered by the new pay schedule on the \u201cmost employee favorable\u201d schedule for the current school year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Durham Association of Educators President Mika Twietmeyer said she was glad to see board members asking more questions about pay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think the motions by the board asking the administration for all that information is really important,\u201d Twietmeyer said in an interview about the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think what we saw last night with all the questions, and the pause, asking for more information, is the board taking on more direct leadership in asking for as much information as possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Durham school board unanimously approved employee pay rates for the current school year Thursday, but not before hearing staff complaints on a familiar theme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[269],"class_list":["post-13609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-schools","tag-the-9th-street-journal","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nNew pay rates \u2014 and new pay errors \u2014 for workers in Durham schools - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2024\/09\/24\/new-pay-rates-and-new-pay-errors-for-workers-in-durham-schools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New pay rates \u2014 and new pay errors \u2014 for workers in Durham schools - 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