Agreement reached to keep NC virtual school teachers from being laid off

An agreement has been reached to keep North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) teachers from being laid off.

According to the Office of State Human Resources, a tentative agreement was reached Tuesday.

This comes after more than 200 teachers received an email last month, saying that they'd be required to take a 31-day break in service in order to satisfy state laws for temporary employees. Any teacher who worked through the summer semester would no longer be permitted to work in the fall semester.

"For me, it means almost $30,000 that I won't be able to get back. And that's just for the fall," Melissa Barnhart, one of the teachers, told ABC11 at the time. "I mean, I don't legitimately know what we're going to do about that amount of money just not coming in."

Now, the Department of Public Instruction will manage and pay the teachers directly through the state's Integrated HR-Payroll System.

The OSHR communications director said no teacher will miss a paycheck.