The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education unanimously approved a new pay plan for certain staff at their meeting on Tuesday.
The seats at the meeting were full of WS/FCS employees wearing red in support of raises for classified staff, which includes bus drivers, cafeteria workers, teacher assistants and more.
One of them was Deborah Rudolph, a teacher assistant for exceptional children, who asked the board to approve the new pay plan during public comment.
“I'm 70 years old. I'm still working. I'm standing ... for my coworkers who couldn't be here because they have to go to their second jobs," Rudolph said. "I can't work a second job anymore because my body's broken down. I’m walking with a cane because of where I work at.”
The new pay plan is meant to be a first step in making wages for classified staff more equitable and competitive.
It includes a 6% raise for all current classified employees, except for certain higher-paid positions. Those workers will receive a 4% raise, while maintenance and transportation staff will receive a slightly larger raise of 8%.
Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kranz said the plan also includes longevity pay, though that will take a couple of months to compute.
“And basically that's intended to reward people for staying with the district," Kranz said. "OK, you want to give your longtime employees the recognition by them being here, and that's what this does.”
The longevity piece will give additional raises every three years between one and 10% depending on the length of a person’s tenure. The raises go up as they accumulate more experience.
Classified employees will see their initial raises show up on either their end-of-month check for November or their mid-month check for December.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.