When a few members came to NCAE for help, their request ended up benefitting 170 teacher assistants who work in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County schools -- to the tune of 500,000 dollars.
“This situation just points to the importance of being a member with an Association behind you that can ask the right questions and follow through,” said Ann Petitjean, president of the local NCAE affiliate in Forsyth County. “When the Association was alerted to a potential pay issue, we put out a call through our Association Representatives to have members who were TAs submit pay stubs for our review."
“We found at least one person in that group who was not being paid at the state minimum, so our local NCAE staff requested a meeting with Bill Bucher, the district’s chief financial officer. He said the district would look into it. We followed up with Bucher a few weeks later and after that meeting he went to the superintendent to request a full investigation into the matter.“
Shortly thereafter, the district told NCAE it found 170 teacher assistants who had not been paid correctly for three years. The school board voted last Tuesday, November 8, to correct the error and all back pay is scheduled for payment to the affected TAs in their mid-November paychecks.
“I’m not sure an individual educator, working alone, could do what we did," Petitjean added. "It was the incredible NCAE staff, and the partnership with the administration and central office that our local NCAE affiliate has built through several past presidents, which made the difference. And Marge Foreman, research specialist at NCAE, helped us find the information on the state minimum pay on the DPI website. We’re making sure our ARs share with other educators how NCAE has helped them. I want all members to know that they should contact their Association for help if they think there is a problem.”
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