ReportWire

Tag: durham public schools

  • Durham schools superintendent announces mandatory staff training after indictments

    [ad_1]

    DURHAM

    Two days after three Durham school administrators were indicted on criminal charges, the superintendent announced that all staff will undergo mandatory training in how to respond to possible child abuse.

    Superintendent Anthony Lewis gave reporters an overview Thursday of how the school system was handling the matter, which concerns how the administrators investigated and followed up after a photo surfaced in November 2024 of a 6-year-old girl with autism tied with rope to a classroom chair.

    “There are thousands of families across the entire Durham community who place a tremendous amount of trust in us each day,” Lewis said. “Not just to educate their children and most importantly to keep them safe. Both of those responsibilities are critically important.”

    Lewis wouldn’t take any questions Thursday, citing confidential personnel matters and the ongoing investigation.

    On Wednesday, Eno Valley Elementary School principal Tounya Clayton Wright, and two DPS administrators, Ayesha Hunter and Tanya Giovanni, were charged with

    • Obstruction of Justice: All three officials are accused of failing to produce evidence requested via search warrants and court orders.
    • Perjury: Hunter and Wright are also accused of lying under oath. Wright allegedly claimed she only learned of the photo when it was “anonymously slipped under her door,” despite evidence suggesting she was previously aware of it. Hunter allegedly claimed she did not have any notes from the investigation.

    Giovanni, Hunter and Wright have been suspended from DPS with pay. Lewis said the district is conducting its own investigation with Raleigh-based Tharrington Smith law firm.

    DPS’ next steps

    Lewis, who became superintendent in the summer of 2024, said the unidentified teaching assistants accused in the incident were questioned, suspended, and ultimately resigned.

    “In the months that followed, law enforcement questioned various members of our staff and court orders were issued to the school system for a variety of documents,” Lewis said. “Law enforcement raised concerns that our response was not as timely, accurate or complete as it should be.”

    In December, Lewis said, the school system learned the three administrators were being investigated for their handling of the incident. DPS doesn’t have a timeline for how long the investigations will take or know if the administrators will be reinstated.

    While DPS has established policies in place, Lewis said additional measures will include the mandatory training, standardizing systems to log and store legal documents, and figuring out how to better respond to law enforcement agencies’ requests.

    “When we’re talking about the safety, the well-being of our scholars, there is only one path forward,” Lewis said. “We must act with urgency, and we must cooperate fully, and if we fail to do that we must indeed hold people accountable.”

    Durham Public Schools has over 50 schools. Eno Valley Elementary, on Milton Road, has 396 students, according to the school’s website. Alexis Spann is listed as interim principal.

    This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 5:57 PM.

    Related Stories from Raleigh News & Observer

    Kristen Johnson

    The News & Observer

    Kristen Johnson is a local government reporter covering Durham for The News & Observer. She previously covered Cary and western Wake County. Prior to coming home to the Triangle, she reported for The Fayetteville Observer and spent time covering politics and culture in Washington, D.C. She is an alumna of UNC at Charlotte and American University. 

    [ad_2]

    Kristen Johnson

    Source link

  • Durham school leaders consider revisions to cellphone policy

    [ad_1]

    Durham Public Schools is the latest district in the area to weigh revisions to its cellphone policy to align with a new state law.  

    School leaders Thursday will review changes that would require middle and high school students to power off their
    phones instead of just silencing them. The new policy also has two options to either
    prohibit smart glasses altogether, or they only be used as prescription glasses
    with technology turned off.

    Wake County Public Schools is also considering making changes to align with the law. The current policy says cellphones can be kept in silent mode.

    Wake school leaders are also considering amending the policy to ensure students can still bring personal laptops to school, so long as they’re used for instructional purposes. That has been a point of confusion, with some believing the policy did not allow personal laptops at all.

    The Wake school board plans to approve the changes by the end of the year.

    Earlier this year, the school board approved a standalone cellphone policy that drastically restricted their use, after years of schools establishing their own rules and enforcing them differently.

    WRAL News reported earlier this year that different approaches to enforcement yielded different successes.

    This summer, state lawmakers passed House Bill 959, which requires school boards across the state to approve policies restricting the use of cellphones and other communication devices and to establish consequences for people who violate those policies.

    The push came as states and schools across the country were responding to concerns about device addiction among young people and concerns that devices were disrupting learning.

    Some research has suggested that some policies can effectively curb device use. One recent study found modest academic gains two years after schools implemented a strict policy, but saw more  students suspended when policies were strictest.

     

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • DPS teacher raises money to help fund student trip to Washington DC

    DPS teacher raises money to help fund student trip to Washington DC

    [ad_1]

    DURHAM, N.C. — Jahara Davis, the Durham Public Schools teacher of the year, is on a mission to celebrate the achievements of her students-with a trip to Washington DC.

    Davis, who is an English teacher at Hillside High School, started a GoFundMe.

    The goal is to raise nearly $30,000 still needed for the trip. The money will be used to pay for hotel accommodations, a charter bus and food.

    The money will also help purchase tickets for a Washington Wizards basketball game and to see the Washington Monument.

    Davis said the trip would be a memorable experience for the students.

    “To have this as a transitional event in our lives, to build ourselves up and to know that our high school career is ending,” Aya Jackson, a senior at Hillside, said, “we have made something so beautiful in this time. And it’s worth celebrating, and it’s worth coming together.”

    The students will also visit the National Mall and African American Museum.

    SEE ALSO | Durham Public Schools classified staff react to latest pay decision: ‘A punch in the stomach’

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Durham Public School Board meets with educators as pay dispute continues

    Durham Public School Board meets with educators as pay dispute continues

    [ad_1]

    DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Hours of discussion led to very little progress at the board of education meeting in Durham.

    The meeting comes amid the ongoing pay dispute among Durham Public Schools staff. Several people walked out of Thursday night’s meeting with the new interim superintendent and the board as they tried to figure out the next steps.

    After several callouts, protests, and demands for fair pay, district leaders now believe they are headed in a better direction.

    They say they are hoping a deal could be reached by as early as next week.

    On Wednesday new interim Superintendent Catty Moore spoke with the media for the first time and said this is definitely a temporary role but is ready to get DPS back on track.

    She says the larger pay issue isn’t something other districts haven’t seen and hopes they can reach a longer-term solution so the district doesn’t hit a breaking point again.

    There are also a lot of questions about the $300,000 payout to former Superintendent Mubenga and the almost equivalent $25,000 a month she is making and how this will impact the budget and outcome.

    “And so I think the dollars are there, that’s a discussion with the board, and you know we arrived at something that was doable and commensurate with what the previous superintendent was doing, and so I think that would be expected.,” Moore said.

    DPS Board Chair Bettina Umstead was hoping for a breakthrough insisting they’re moving as quickly as possible.

    “It’s about our students, it’s about our families, it’s about the whole Durham community counting on all of us and all of us have to come together to make that real, so I’m just asking for that two-way street,” she said.

    Much of the meeting Thursday devolved into who would be on the other end of that two-way street, with the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) leading the charge.

    Another group of transportation staff, who led the callouts that led to school closures, walked out of the meeting saying DAE doesn’t represent them.

    “There’s a lot of issues that are going on in our department and as a whole as well, but we felt like we were unheard and we were disrespected we didn’t have a seat at the table and we were promised a seat at the table,” said Assistant Area Manager, Transportation Kitora Mason.

    After watching staff members walk out, and the DAE’s refusal to disclose how many members they actually have, the board voted to create a compromise. A new work group will be named starting at next week’s board meeting, made up of two board members, two administrators, and eight DPS staff members that will be split. Four will be selected by the DAE and 4 others.

    Union leaders told ABC11 that despite the walkouts, they’re hoping this new group can move things forward.

    “We have and will continue to reach out to every sector of DPS cafeteria workers, classroom teachers, transportation, counselors, the whole gamut,” said Durham Association of Educators President Symone Kiddoo.

    The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 22 where the board will decide who will serve on the new working group that will meet every week.

    Copyright © 2024 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.

    [ad_2]

    WTVD

    Source link