In the last four months a group of leaders with the PA Education team undertook to research the proposal by the Durham Association of Educators for the Durham BOE to adopt a Meet and Confer Policy.

The People's Alliance is founded on a set of values. We rely on these to guide our decisions. We believe that implementing a Meet and Confer Policy would enhance the ability of the Durham Public Schools to honor Honesty, Transparency & Accountability. Success for Durham’s students relies on the ability to lean into difficult conversations and ensure that everyone has access to information. Given the stellar organizing work Durham Association of Educators has done, we fully expect and support their continued growth in membership.  We recommend that ALL parties strive for robust and timely communication and information sharing. 

At PA we also believe in Collaboration as a shared responsibility to the whole, both internally and externally. In this case, the “whole” is our students. For our elected leaders, administration, and educators to truly be in community, it will take compromise. The process and language of compromise does take time. We also understand the power of protest and honor the need to wield that tool when necessary. Now that we have a new Superintendent we recommend a new beginning that starts with civil engagement and negotiations. With the school year beginning the focus should be on stability and making sure the fundamentals for school success are met. 

In adopting Meet and Confer we recommend additional actions to make all staff feel seen and heard. We encourage DAE to be an open tent for conversations beyond the membership and we ask that the Board and Administrators honor the leadership democratically elected by DAE representatives who are DPS employees. At PA we keep our focus on Durham first and also understand that we operate in a state context. Together we can work toward the true problem of underfunding and privatization from the State Legislature.  

Statement about Meet and Confer

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