The Durham Association of Educators has kicked off its second year of meet and confer, a mechanism that allows the workers’ union to give input on policy decisions in a state that bans public-sector union negotiations. Top priorities this year are protecting teacher planning time, improving extra duty pay, and addressing facility needs across the district.
“It’s always tough to narrow it down because there’s so many urgent things our students and coworkers need,” DAE President Mika Hunter Twietmeyer told the INDY. “But making sure we bring things to the table that everyone’s really feeling widely and deeply at this time, and that we think the district would be movable on.”
After some flare-ups between the district and the union in 2023 and 2024, DAE fought for a policy that would give workers a seat at the policy-making table.
Twelve DAE representatives from different work groups (in categories like custodial staff, transportation, elementary education) will meet with Durham Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Lewis and his administration for seven two-hour sessions this school year. Meet and confer doesn’t give the union any official power, but rather is a scheduled discussion between DAE and administration to promote collaboration. Any policy proposals that come out of meet and confer will then go to the school board for a vote.
Hunter Twietmeyer said the meet and confer process was successful last year in getting policies to amend the grievance policy and improve budget transparency in front of the board.
The proposed changes to the grievance policy would allow DPS employees to file grievances as a group when they share the same complaint. The school board had a first reading of the proposal in June and the policy is still being finalized before the board will vote on it. At the same June meeting, the board approved a policy that requires the district to publish more detailed financial information so employees and the public can better track how school funding is spent.
With those wins under its belt, DAE members have voted to back six broad priorities aimed at improving pay and working conditions.
At the first meet and confer session of the 2026-27 school year on October 13, about 90 workers and community members came to watch the discussion, Hunter Twietmeyer said, including several board members in the audience.
As part of a proposal called Respect Our Time, DAE is advocating for limiting the number of teacher workdays that can be taken up by meetings and training, in order to give teachers more planning and grading time. Hunter Twietmeyer expects the district will provide a response to the proposal and that there would likely be more discussion before it goes to the school board.
DAE has also proposed allowing all employees to telework when buildings are closed for inclement weather, provided their job duties can be conducted remotely. Currently, telework policies are up to school administration, and the proposed changes are meant to create uniformity across the district.
Other priorities for DAE this year may be less straightforward.
DAE is advocating for improvements to the extra duty pay policy to ensure workers are paid for additional tasks outside of their assigned role. Hunter Twietmeyer acknowledged this won’t be a simple policy change, as workers don’t have clear contracts that outline all of their expected duties in the first place.
Hunter Twietmeyer said the district can improve its current policy by compensating workers for tasks they pick up when there are vacancies in their school building. For example, if a school has three custodian vacancies, the custodians at that school who still have to clean the whole school would be compensated for the additional work.
Another DAE priority is ensuring learning conditions for students are safe and comfortable. The district is facing nearly $1 billion in maintenance needs, with some buildings riddled with frequent HVAC failures and other issues due to age. DPS is considering closing some buildings and “rightsizing” school enrollment by adjusting boundaries in order to reduce maintenance costs and address over- and under-enrollment.
Hunter Twietmeyer said she wants the district to work on continual maintenance of its older buildings so that they don’t get to the point where closing is the only option.
Hunter Twietmeyer said the district should make sure it’s putting “resources in places where our students are impacted,” such as assessing its spending on administrative staff who don’t work directly with students.
“The concerns right now in public schools across the state is increasing enrollment, and closing schools doesn’t necessarily send the message for folks to enroll in their public school,” Hunter Twietmeyer said.
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