Durham Public Schools Board Chair says it will announce a pay increase decision at end of month

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- At the Durham Public Schools press conference on Wednesday, Board Chair Bettina Umstead said the board hopes to have a decision about educators' pay for this year at their meeting at the end of February.

"All employees we want to have a raise from their 2022 to 2023 pay," she said. "It's time for us to find a solution."

Umstead also had this to say about the pay dispute with employees.

"What we know is that the raises that our staff received from July through January was financially unsustainable for our district. What we do know is whatever solution that we end with, we want all employees to receive a raise," she said.

The new interim superintendent Catty Moore started on Monday, after former superintendent Dr. Pascal Mubenga resigned as the district deals with the ongoing pay dispute with employees.

Dr. Mubenga told ABC11 that the decision to leave was ultimately his and that "nobody forced him out."

FULL PRESS CONFERENCE

Moore was previously the superintendent of Wake County Public Schools.

At the press conference, Moore said her immediate goal was to move forward with DPS in the direction of the work that's already been done.

"It's important to remember the great things happening in DPS," she said as they work through these pay dispute challenges.

She said pay is not a unique issue to DPS. It's happening across the country and in North Carolina.

"I am focused," she said. "I'm making sure our teachers, our staff, our students have all the resources they need to be successful and move forward with kids in the classroom."

However, the solution won't happen in one year.

"This is a journey," Moore said. "It will take several years to get to where we need to get... what it takes to have a competitive salary and what a living wage look like is not static."

ABC11 pushed for answers on if the severance package given to Dr. Mubenga and Superintendent Moore was good optics for the district among the pay dispute.

"So I think when you look at the compensation package being on par with the previous superintendent those dollars are already there. I think that if you looked at the full compensation package including benefits it's actually a little bit less than what the previous superintendent was making," Catty Moore responded.

Another issue that also came up during the question and answer period was on if students will soon be required to make up time that they are missing in the classroom.

"We are not there yet, but we will be if have additional school closures. We will need to look at days that right now are scheduled to be student holidays or staff holidays and we will need to look to see if those need to be student days," Moore added.

Umstead said the board will meet on Thursday with the Durham Association of Educators on Thursday.