Durham Public Schools Board of Education Work Session - April 9, 2026: Visas, Teacher Retention, and Magnet Bus Changes
The Durham Public Schools Board of Education hears emotional pleas from Murray Massenburg families to keep a beloved international teacher amid shifting visa practices, then weighs staff recruitment and retention strategies, salary supplements, and a new express bus model for secondary magnet schools that raises equity and access concerns. 49mins
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Original Meeting
Thursday, April 9th, 2026
13111.0
#DPSCommunity | DPS Board of Education Monthly Work Session | 4/9/26
Video Notes
#DPSCommunity | DPS Board of Education Monthly Work Session | 4/9/26
In This Video
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A speaker from Murray Massenburg Elementary School urged the board to reconsider its decision not to renew a valued teacher’s visa, emphasizing the educator’s support for Spanish-speaking families, stabilizing presence amid teacher shortages, and the need for policies that serve people and community-rooted staff.
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A parent from Hope Valley Elementary and Rogers-Herr Middle School urged the board to reconsider express busing for secondary magnet schools, arguing it might improve on-time performance but reduce access for families with less flexibility and was being implemented without sufficient advance notice after lottery choices had already been made.
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Executive Director Hayes outlined Durham Public Schools’ Grow Your Own and related workforce strategies, highlighting the teacher assistant–to–teacher pipeline with North Carolina Central University, successful internal management training in Child Nutrition, associated tuition investments, and plans to expand these talent pipelines while addressing potential funding limitations.
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Executive Director Hayes outlined strategies to retain and develop staff, including a proposed International Teacher Coordinator role, employee recognition efforts, master’s pay and EC compensation differentials, the Somos DPS Latinx affinity group, and leadership development programs for current and aspiring principals.
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District staff outlined next steps to improve employee support and retention, including more consistent communication and updated job descriptions, strengthened onboarding and mentoring for beginning and alternatively licensed teachers, and an expanded, data-informed system of affinity groups with clearer tracking and success metrics.
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Board Member Chávez requested comparative retention data showing how long EC teachers stayed before and after salary supplements, Executive Director Hayes clarified that the differential was originally designed for retention but was now also used in recruitment, and Board Member Carda-Auten asked for information on how administration tracked and communicated the effectiveness of these incentives ahead of upcoming budget decisions.
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Vice Chair Rogers, Superintendent Lewis, and Chair Bettina Umstead discussed how to prevent disconnects between board-authorized programs and changing district practices, emphasizing clearer communication when funding gaps threaten initiatives like visa sponsorships and grow-your-own pipelines and the need to align cuts or continuations with board values and advance planning.
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Board Members Chávez and Beyer asked how data informed decisions to scale back programs and sought clarification from Executive Director Hayes on J1 visa terms, including participants’ prior notice that the program was a time-limited cultural exchange with a typical five-year stay and options for future participation.
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Deputy Superintedent Dr. Nicholas King clarified that the standard practice for international teachers on J1 visas had always been a three-year term with a possible two-year extension, explained that past renewals beyond that were temporary exceptions made during staffing challenges, and emphasized that current decisions reflected a return to those original agreements rather than a new policy change.
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Executive Director White presented a proposal to shift secondary magnet schools to an express transportation model using DPS facilities as express stops, outlining built-in flexibilities for families facing hardships and a phased implementation starting with Durham School of the Arts and Brogden’s DLR program in 2026–27 and expanding to other secondary magnets in 2027–28.
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Executive Director White explained the differing transportation models used for secondary magnet schools, contrasting district-wide neighborhood (door-to-door) service with centralized express stops at high schools and noting that, even within the same magnet type and calendar, schools operated under three distinct transportation modalities.
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Executive Director White outlined a proposal to standardize transportation by using district-wide express stops for all secondary magnet schools while continuing neighborhood stops only for students living within a school’s attendance zone, such as Brogden’s, and providing express service for out-of-zone program participants.
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Board Member Beyer acknowledged the difficulty of ending door-to-door busing for some students but supported moving forward with an express transportation pilot limited to Durham School of the Arts and Brogden’s DLI program, asking staff and Executive Director White to separate those decisions and commit to ongoing data analysis before expanding the model to other secondary magnets.
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Vice Chair Rogers and Board Member Beyer discussed the express transportation pilot, with Rogers advocating for an eventual expansion to all specialty high schools while still collecting data next year, and Beyer emphasizing the need to preserve flexibility for some secondary programs that might still require door-to-door service to meet Growing Together equity goals.
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Chair Umstead expressed concern that proposing an express bus pilot after the magnet application window could disadvantage families who expected door-to-door service and potentially limit access to Durham School of the Arts, asked to hear more community input and delay a decision until early next school year, and Executive Director White read existing application language warning that magnet placements might require families to use express stops instead of neighborhood buses.
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A board member asked how student supervision would work at express bus stops on district property, and Executive Director White explained that while parents were encouraged to wait with children and schools had their own communication and protocols that would be standardized, there would not be dedicated DPS staff assigned to monitor those locations.
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Board Member Chávez supported moving forward with the express transportation strategy despite access concerns and the need for data analysis, and Executive Director White assured that transportation staff would work individually with families to adjust stops and communicate directly rather than expecting families to coordinate their own shared arrangements.
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Mr. Barnes supported moving forward with the express transportation proposal, explaining that data from the pilot would help the district plan how to get future Durham School of the Arts students from areas like the Chatham County line to the new northern Durham campus without making the school feel inaccessible to families in southwestern parts of the county.
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Board Member Carda-Auten voiced unease about implementing the express transportation plan after lottery acceptances and its potential to reduce access for families with fewer resources but ultimately supported moving forward due to funding and environmental constraints, the flexibility of express stop and hardship waiver options, and the commitment to monitor future data and satisfaction from families and schools.
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Vice Chair Rogers sought clarity on transportation options so families would not disengage from DPS over busing, and Executive Director White confirmed that Fuller would not be an express stop while outlining plans to share estimated stop locations and communicate details early and often if the express model moved forward for Durham School of the Arts.
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Board Member Carda-Auten informally polled board members by thumbs up to confirm support for moving forward with planning and communication for DSA and Brogden DLI express stops and to tentatively authorize expanding the express transportation model to all middle and high school magnets next year, with the expectation that data would be gathered and reported back.
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An administrator requested an update on how retention and recruitment bonuses were being communicated to the broader community and a future agenda item on J1 visas, and Board Member Carda-Auten asked that forthcoming data on EC, ESL, transportation, and master’s pay supplements include evidence of their impact on both recruitment and retention.
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