By Temiloluwa Yemi-Mabo and Nico Jordan
Quentin Headen thought he’d work at Riverside for a long time, but after his paycheck changed unexpectedly in January, he isn’t sure he can stay.
Headen has been working for Durham Public Schools for the past ten years, seven of which were at Riverside High School. As an instructional assistant, he helps make sure students get one-on-one assistance and helps students reach the learning goals and objectives in their Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs) and helps teachers with their day-to-day curriculum. He’s also involved in several clubs on campus.
He likes his job, mainly because he loves working with kids.
“I want to know how my students are doing,” Headen said. “I made programs for DPS so kids could feel accepted.”
Headen is considered classified staff, which is a group of DPS employees that includes positions such as secretaries, student services, treasures, custodians, cafeteria workers, instructional assistants, bus drivers, bus monitors, and maintenance workers.
Many classified staff members got a raise in October when the district made changes to its salary schedules. However, classified workers got a call on January 12, informing them that they had been overpaid.
Headen said he and his family already could not afford to live in Durham with their current paychecks due to high housing prices. Many classified employees live outside of Durham and commute long distances daily, therefore, deducting a huge sum from their paychecks causes financial strain on their family.
“The [cost of] living in Durham is very high,” Headen said. “A lot of classified staff don’t meet the minimum requirements to live in Durham. I have a friend who is an instructional assistant at a Durham elementary school. She travels one and a half hours a day from Virginia to North Carolina.”
After the phone call, he received an email informing him that the district is deducting a “step” from his salary. Pay steps determine how much an employee gets paid based on their years of experience.
Before the school year started, he was expected to be on step ten, as it was his 10th year of teaching so he was already getting paid in that accord. However, the call contradicted what he was promised.
“They were going to take $300 out,” said Headen. “They took $300 plus an additional $500 out of my account, so I’m $800 short this year.”
For the past ten years, Headen has exclusively worked at Durham Public Schools so he found it unfair that he was getting affected similarly to those who had worked outside of Durham Public Schools and had their years of experience dismissed.
“There was no justification or reasoning behind it,” he said.
While he believes the change to his own paycheck is unfair, he doesn’t want to dismiss other workers’ struggles. He had friends with steps in the 40s being dropped down to steps less than five, and people getting thousands of dollars deducted out of their paychecks due to experience outside of DPS.
“I’ve heard from a gentleman who works at the mechanic shop for the bus drivers,” he said. “He has 44 years of experience. He’s a master mechanic at his job site, [and he’s] now on step two. Basically, he lost about $2,856.”
