With CMS all virtual, what happens to custodians, bus drivers and teacher assistants?

When Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools made the decision to have a virtual semester, an hourly employee felt “pushed out,” with “no information at all.”

Keisha Gumbs, a teacher’s assistant in the Exceptional Children department at Zebulon B. Vance High School, said she has “no idea what will happen” when school starts back in less than two weeks on Aug. 17 — or if she will have a job.

Gumbs said she filled out an “intent to return to work” form earlier in the summer, but hasn’t heard anything about the status of her employment since March.

Gumbs is one of 7,118 employees who are paid hourly. Among them are teachers assistants, custodians and bus drivers.

Sean Strain, the Board of Education District 6 representative, said the shift from in-person to virtual learning could significantly reduce some services or positions, if not eliminate them.

“Now it’s like we’re hanging on a thread,” Gumbs said. “Because at this point, we know there’s about to be thousands of layoffs because of the virtual teachings, but then it’s like, OK, where does that leave us?”

When the school board decided July 30 to go to all remote learning, Gumbs said she knew that decision was coming, but when hourly employees weren’t mentioned in the nearly one-hour-and-40-minute meeting, she found it troubling.

“At this point, I just feel like it’s gonna be right back where we started from,” Gumbs said. “Where we’re just tossed out. No pay. No resolve or anything.”

CMS told the Observer only that it is working to finalize plans for hourly employees.

Strain said when the board decides to move back to face-to-face classes, the positions which were reduced or eliminated will be reconstructed based on their necessity.

When schools first closed in March, Gumbs said she didn’t receive any instructions on what to do. She contacted several department heads and the school’s principal, but she didn’t receive a clear response, she said.

“They’re sitting home, getting paid,” Gumbs said. “While we’re sitting at home, not getting paid. There were never any clear answers on what’s going to happen with hourly employees,” she said.

A March 16 email obtained by the Observer noted all CMS employees who could work remotely should transition to doing so by the following day.

But the district also noted that some work can’t be done remotely, including positions like Gumbs’.

“We are reviewing alternative work options for employees serving in these positions and will adjust the work as much as we can,” the email stated.

Gumbs works in the Exceptional Children department at Vance as a “floater,” where she assists teachers wherever she is needed, something that can’t be done remotely, she said.

Gumbs said Strain told her each school was responsible for providing alternate assignments to hourly workers.

Gumbs said she and some of her coworkers returned to the school to complete an online training. She said this lasted a week, and when school buildings officially closed, they completed the training from home and could log their hours.

With the uncertainty around everything she’s seen, Gumbs said she’s looking for other employment.

“I don’t want to take the chance, sitting around, waiting for them to decide what they want to do,” she said. “... Since it is full remote, it’s like, OK, now what is there for us to do?”

This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 4:59 PM.