Vance County Association of Educators President Maxine Hardy addressed the Vance County Board of Education during its regular May meeting on issues she characterized as “of serious concern to educators and students”.
The first issue that Hardy outlined was that of pay for teacher assistants and bus drivers.
Many teacher assistants double as bus drivers in the Vance County system. In the past, these employees were paid a separate hourly wage for driving the bus.
According to Hardy, in January of this year a pay schedule was devised for TA/bus drivers with 26 steps.
Hardy said that employees were having a hard time ascertaining where they are on the pay scale. She also told board members that monthly pay amounts are fluctuating. She said that one employee reported going from a TA salary of $2,600 per month in August of 2008 to $600 in April of 2009.
Hardy noted that TA/bus drivers have been told that they cannot resign from either part of their duties without resigning from both of their duties.
The second issue that Hardy addressed was that of retire/rehire teachers. Commonly known as “double-dippers”, retire/rehire teachers are veteran teachers of over 30 years of experience who have been allowed by the legislative action of the North Carolina General Assembly to draw full pay and retirement benefits simultaneously.
In Vance County, retire/rehire teachers are required to make an 11.7% contribution of their salary back to the retirement system as a condition of their employment. According to Hardy, however, by law, the retiree is not responsible for the contribution, but rather it is the local educational administration (LEA) that employs him or her that is responsible for paying that money back.
Hardy went on to say that Vance County receives funds from the state for the express purpose of making that contribution.
The third issue that Hardy raised before the school board was that of the highly controversial decision to reduce the number of substitutes by requiring schools to cover teacher absences in certain instances with in-house staff.
The VCAE president told board members that she sent a letter to Vance County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Norman Shearin expressing concern over the issue. She said that the letter she received in return stated that the policy is working.
“That is from a central office perspective,” Hardy told members. “If you’re in the schools, it is not working.”
Hardy described the situation created by the policy as “havoc”.
She expressed a need to look beyond the surface of the issue. Hardy pointed out that there are three lateral entry teachers in her school alone who are being paid substitute pay. She wondered if that money comes from substitute funds, and, if so, why.
Lateral entry teachers are teachers with non-educational college degrees who have been provisionally licensed to teach in North Carolina schools while pursuing full certification. They can be reduced to substitute pay if they fail to meet benchmark requirements to maintain their status as lateral entry.
Hardy closed her presentation by asking the board to use stimulus money to save jobs and to reduce class size. She told members that when the number of students is increased, the quality of education decreases.
“We will take that under advisement,” Chair Gloria White told Hardy before moving on to other business.
Editor’s note: The editor is currently a member of the Vance County Association of Educators and has served as an officer in that organization.