Durham Association of Educators led school walk-ins to demand official union recognition

DURHAM COUNTY (WTVD) -- Durham Association of Educators (DAE) led more than 20 school walk-ins and pickets Friday morning across Durham County.

This effort is to demonstrate their ongoing demand that the Durham Board of Education officially recognize the union through a Meet and Confer policy.

Earlier this year, educators rallied over a pay dispute issue. This led to seven schools closing temporarily because they couldn't operate correctly due to staffing absences.

In October 2023, around 500 employees got a 25 percent pay raise in error. DPS then altered that pay structure in January, causing some employees to get what they said was just $10 paychecks.

WATCH | How we got here: A timeline of DPS' ongoing challenges

It's only been two and half weeks since problems started with Durham Public Schools but it feels like much longer.

"People realize that we did not have the transparency into what was actually happening with even our own salaries," Fransico Dolz, a PE teacher at Pearsontown Elementary, said.

Dolz said the Friday's walk-ins were a tool to show they want answers sooner rather than later.

"We know that right now our coworkers are making plans for future employment," she said. "If this does not get resolved, I would even venture (out) in the next couple of weeks. We are probably going to see a mass exodus of workers."

During the pay dispute demonstrations, DAE worked to register more educators to their union. They told ABC11 just last week, they now represent over half of Durham school employees.

"People are joining because they believe, and we believe that we really can change that by coming together," Allison Swaim, a Riverside High School teacher, said. "It's exciting to see us really do something big and historic, and work towards real change."

She said over 68 percent of schools have a majority of staff who are union members, and 100 percent of worksites have union members.

Earlier this week, Durham County Manager Dr. Kimberly J. Sowell presented the $955 million proposed budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. It set aside $13 million for DPS. This is the fourth year the amount has gone up by more than $10 million.

However, it is still less than the $26 million budget requested by the district.