On Wednesday January 31, 12 schools in Durham were forced to close due to lack of staffing. Educators decided to come together and hold rallies throughout the day to protest the plan to reduce raises among some staff. These schools were forced to close because teachers also called out in support of classified staff like assistants, therapists, and other school employees.

  On January 12, some employees were notified that they had been overpaid for months. Durham Public Schools expected these employees to pay them back the money they had been overpaid. Ten days later the school board said that they would find a way for the employees to keep the extra money but moving forward paychecks would be back to what they were before their raise. Wednesday’s ‘sick-out’ was not the first one. For several days parents had to find their own transportation for their kids to get to school. Several classes were held without classified assistants. This has been especially hard on families that rely on the school bus service and families that have children with special needs. 

  On February 5, seven schools were once again closed because there has still been no decision made about staff pay or the pay raises, resulting in 5,000 students missing another day of instruction. A board meeting will be held this Wednesday and Thursday in hopes that they will find a solution and that all students will be able to return back to school.