The Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday night to make May 16 an optional teacher workday.

The vote came one day after the Durham Public School board made a similar choice. The Associated Press reported more than 1,000 DPS teachers were planning on taking leave before the district voted to close for the day. The number of CHCCS teachers requesting leave for May 16 is continuing to grow, which district officials said would make it difficult to safely operate schools.

A memo sent to principals earlier this week said that, if substitutes could not be found, principals could deny requests for leave. Teachers then responded showing up in full force and offering lengthy public comment to the board Thursday night.

Board member Mary Ann Wolf said she was proud of the teachers advocating for change to educational funding beyond teacher pay.

“I think what I really appreciated tonight was hearing how much you’re fighting for everything,” she told the crowd. “Because there are a lot of huge issues just related to teacher pay, and you’ve gone beyond that. And I really appreciate that.”

The advocacy effort is being organized and promoted by the North Carolina Association of Educators and comes after teacher strikes have taken place in some other states battling for teacher pay raises and increased education funding.

Board member Margaret Samuels said, as a parent of a student in the district, she has seen the impact of local teachers.

“Thinking of the different times he’s needed his teachers in his life and when they’ve stepped up for him beyond teaching him all that he knows,” Samuels said.

Superintendent Dr. Pam Baldwin related to the teachers based off of her experience in the classroom.

“I am a teacher, and I always will be a teacher,” Baldwin said. “I was a single parent dealing with many of what you just described as challenges of loving what you do as an educator and trying to balance, really, just living.

“I get it.”

But Baldwin did say that she did not want to enable a decision that – while allowing teachers to voice their opinion – would hurt students and families in the district.

“I also stand with every single family in this district,” Baldwin said, “to not create a challenge that I created, or that I enabled, with a decision that I helped the board make with my information.”

The day will be an optional teacher workday. The vote was 6-0. Board member James Barrett was out of the country and missed the meeting but expressed his support on social media.

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