NC school workers will be paid during coronavirus closure. But how long will that last?

North Carolina school districts are finding ways to pay employees while schools are closed this month, but employees are worried about how long that will last with the closures expected to continue.

The State Board of Education and state Department of Public Instruction told school districts to consider the weekdays that schools are closed through March 30 to be teacher workdays. This means salaried employees like teachers will continue to be paid and hourly employees will get paid if they work.

“We call on our valued teachers — who fortunately will continue to be compensated for their work during the crisis even as many of our friends and neighbors are losing their jobs or having their compensation adversely affected — to be flexible and to be innovative and to continue to serve our students,” state board chairman Eric Davis said Wednesday.

Teachers around the state are taking training courses and preparing for the switch to online instruction for their students or are using vacation days. School districts are being encouraged to allow employees to work from home.

The biggest challenge for school systems is how to find work to pay their hourly employees, which include bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians.

School employees must work to get paid

State Superintendent Mark Johnson told districts it’s up to local school boards to make decisions about work assignments and schedules for hourly employees. This includes recognizing “that if they do not work, they do not get paid,” Johnson said in a memo.

The state told districts they can assign hourly employees alternative duties to maintain their regular work schedule.

“We will be creative in finding opportunities for professional development and alternative tasks for hourly employees, including participation in the delivery of meals and instructional materials over the next two weeks, and following up with students and families while they are out of school,” Chip Sudderth, a spokesman for Durham Public Schools, said in an email.

The programs that have been set up to feed students while schools are closed are helping to employ cafeteria workers. Some districts are paying bus drivers to run their normal routes to deliver meals to students.

The state is also planning to create emergency childcare centers at some schools to serve families of people such as healthcare workers. School employees would be paid for those programs.

School employees complain about pay issues

The different ways that school districts are handling work requirements has drawn complaints that it’s not being done consistently.

The N.C. Association of Educators is hearing from a number of members all over the state about pay and worksite issues, according to Kevin Rogers, a spokesman for NCAE. He said NCAE is working to resolve the issues individually.

“NCAE is working with policymakers at every level to ensure the health and safety of all North Carolina educators and students,” Mark Jewell, NCAE president, said in a statement. “We are also working with the Governor’s office and the State Board of Education to make sure educators will continue to be paid throughout these extended school closures and that students can continue to learn.

“This is a truly unprecedented situation, and we will all have to rise together to meet the coming challenges.”

Triangle school districts say they’re committed to paying their employees.

The Wake County school system brought in custodians even though the buildings are closed. School bus drivers are reporting for training and to clean the buses.

Some cafeteria workers are helping to prepare the meals for the feeding program, with plans being drawn up to help the others get their time in, according to Lisa Luten, a district spokeswoman.

Other hourly Wake employees and teachers have been told to telework from home. Luten said rules about how teachers are to record their time are changing as they prepare to shift to providing online instruction.

“It’s great that Wake County is letting us work from home,” said Michelle Craig, a pre-K teacher at Briarcliff Elementary School in Cary. “I understand some other counties are not.”

Craig said she’s been taking online training. She’s also reached out to the families of her students to see how they’re doing, including sending a video of her singing the “Good Morning Song” to share with the children.

Some Wake employees have complained about getting contradictory information from the district. But school officials say they’re getting new information daily so things have been changing.

Employees worried if school closures are extended

But questions face school leaders about how employees will be paid if the closures are lengthy.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order closing all K-12 public schools runs until March 30. But Cooper said Thursday that the public must now prepare for schools to be out “for quite awhile.”

“The order was until March 30th, but I think people know that with community spread now coming and this crisis increasing that we will likely be out of school for a longer period of time,” Cooper said.

School districts will have to see how long they can realistically find enough work for all their employees, according to Leanne Winner, government relations director for the N.C. School Boards Association. She said it’s one of the hard conversations superintendents will need to have with their school boards.

“As there is no precedent for this situation, CHCCS, in collaboration with other districts across the state, is diligently working to determine the best path forward to minimize any adverse economic effects for ALL our employees as they are the school districts’ greatest resource,” Jeff Nash, a spokesman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said in an email.

If the closure runs past March, “it is DPS’s intent to take care of our employees going forward,” added Sudderth, the Durham school spokesman.

School support staff are feeling uneasy about getting paid in April and are wondering if they should look for a second job, according to Kristin Beller, president of Wake NCAE. She says state lawmakers could quell fears by taking action.

“If there was ever a time to use the $2 billion surplus fund, this would be the time to do it to give relief to state employees to let them know they’re ok as they take care of the community,” Beller said in an interview.

Looking for regular updates on the Coronavirus in NC and across the nation? Sign up for our daily newsletter at newsobserver.com/coronavirusnews to get a daily email summary.