While many Durham Public Schools students were finishing up their holiday wishlists last week, some of their teachers were busy working on a long list of grievances instead.
“The classified pay debacle, admin erasing workers’ years of experience via email, pay cuts, incorrect paychecks, HR dysfunction, an unreasonable new menu for our under-resourced cafeteria staff, social workers without master’s pay,” read Mika Twietmeyer, Riverside High School science teacher and Durham Association of Educators president, at a press conference on Thursday. “And, now of course, the transportation crisis that is leaving hundreds of our students stranded every day.”
The throughline connecting all of these issues, Twietmeyer said, is “a lack of accountability for management and a lack of respect for workers and our expertise.” And the solution, she said, is for the administration to adopt the meet and confer policy that would grant the DAE a union-like seat at the decisionmaking table.
When Dr. Anthony Lewis took over as the district’s superintendent in August, organizers hoped that he could bridge the previous gap between the union and the school board. As the year comes to an end, though, DAE and Lewis have gotten stuck over just a few simple words that would decide who exactly gets to participate in the meeting and conferring.
The DAE says that the superintendent’s version “would not require any other administrators to be present to hear from the union and would allow the superintendent to select individual, non-administrative, non-union workers to attend the meetings instead.” And in a solidarity letter, various labor union leaders from across the country (including the education association in Lawrence, Kansas, where Lewis previously served as superintendent) accuse Lewis of union busting.
“Durham Public Schools administrators are proposing an advisory committee where management would handpick individual workers (including non-union members) to meet with the superintendent,” the letter states. “These individual workers could be appointed by the current or future Superintendent(s) for any reason. They would have been chosen by management, not elected via a worker-run democratic organizing structure that would ensure that they substantively represent, and are accountable to, their fellow workers.”
Neither the union nor the district have publicly released the text of the draft agreements.
Lewis has publicly defended the attempt to include non-union workers in the meet and confer sessions. In a recent holiday email to school staff, he briefly mentioned the ongoing negotiations and emphasized the need for “true collaboration.” And at the DPS board meeting on Thursday, he took issue with the DAE’s accusations.
“The administration’s approach allows for collaboration among a broader group of stakeholders, fostering unity and representation rather than division, including employees who are and who are not members of [DAE] ensures that all voices are heard and that the conversation is not dictated by the organization’s members,” said Lewis. “It is not anti-union or it is not this notion of ‘union busting,’ but rather [it is] pro-worker in the broader sense, ensuring that all worker voices are heard and respected.”
While the meet and confer debate has played out locally, Lewis also noted state and federal developments that do not bode well for public schools, pointing to North Carolina’s SB 10—which sends more taxpayer dollars to private schools—and the Trump-world threat of abolishing the federal Department of Education.
“We are asking, as we’re continuing to craft our legislative priorities, that everyone in this community gets involved in the process of advocating on behalf of public education,” said Lewis.
In the nearly seven hour meeting, the board also authorized family responsibility zones and approved further consideration of express stops in an attempt to shift some of the transportation burden from bus drivers.
Many bus drivers, including 38-year DPS veteran Retha Daniel-Ruth, see the bus crisis as tied to the union’s ongoing efforts.
“What we are facing in transportation is just a symptom of a districtwide problem—lack of real worker voice and management accountability,” Daniel-Ruth said at the press conference before the board meeting.
“I’m devastated and angry because I care about my kids. I know all kids from all walks of life deserve the best. They need stability and routine. I break my back every morning to make sure I get them to school on time and safely, and it’s heartbreaking knowing how many kids aren’t getting to school every day.”
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at chase@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.
