Henrico Schools support staff demand same pay increase planned for teachers, bus drivers

A number of instructional assistants, custodians, and other support staff called on Henrico Schools to extend equal pay raises to all school employees.

Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas announced March 12 that the proposed 2024-2025 county budget would include a 4.8% pay raise for all eligible county employees, as well as an additional one-step pay increase for licensed instructional staff and bus drivers. This additional pay raise would amount to a 7.2% salary increase for teachers and push bus driver pay up to $25 an hour.

Vithoulkas said that this additional pay increase targeted school positions with the highest vacancies. Henrico Schools has 358 teacher vacancies according to Vithoulkas, as well as 60 bus driver vacancies.

The one-step pay raise would not apply to other school positions, however, such as instructional assistants, custodians, administrators, front office staff, nurses, and teachers without licenses.

Support staff, along with several teachers, submitted dozens of comments to the Henrico School Board’s online public forums March 14 and 28 expressing their disappointment that so many school positions were left out of the additional pay raise.

"I am shocked and upset that IAs are not included in the step increase for the pay raise for next year,” wrote Kade Keller, an exceptional education teacher at Longdale Elementary. “I could not do my job without them. They are some of the hardest working members of our school team and are not compensated fairly or appreciated enough. We are going to lose them to other jobs and other counties – I know of IAs planning to quit and apply elsewhere.”

“I have been a loyal, hard-working, dependable and respected employee for 12 years, putting in all I have for my students and the staff I work for,” wrote Brandi Brown, an exceptional education IA at Skipwith Elementary. “Many of us are invaluable, and teachers and admin rely on us a lot to do things above and beyond our job descriptions, and many of us are happy to do so. We should be respected and compensated as such.”

Many IAs already feel underpaid and underappreciated for the work they do, wrote Amanda D’Alessandro, an exceptional education IA at Pemberton Elementary, especially IAs who work with exceptional education students who have much higher needs.

“I have to go above and beyond most of my fellow coworkers, changing students’ diapers and dealing with behaviors,” she wrote. “Many of my students can be physically aggressive towards me, such as kicking, biting, punching and pinching…This decision makes me feel even less appreciated for all that I do for each student in my classroom.”

Henrico Schools also has struggled to fill vacancies in IA positions, although vacancy rates are lower than those of classroom teachers and bus drivers. HCPS currently has 31 IA vacancies, 25 of which are in exceptional education classrooms.

High turnover rates in IA positions often are due to many IAs feeling overlooked as educators by their school leaders, coworkers, and even students, wrote John Harris, an exceptional education IA at Short Pump Middle.

“We are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to HCPS,” he wrote. “We are paid less and treated less by most teachers, department chairs, and administrators. So in turn, most of our students treat us like that as well.”

Other support staff who did not qualify for the additional pay raise said that they felt the county had failed to recognize the importance of their work, being the “backbone” of school buildings, as well as the work of teachers who do not have a license and would also not qualify for the raise.

“As custodians, we contribute to the smooth running of education, wrote Liping He, a custodian at Chamberlayne Elementary. “We may not have licenses, but we dedicate ourselves to education. Now, the management distinguishes employees' salary increases based on whether they have a license, which I find disheartening and unfair.”

“I have worked for this county for 17 years, and felt that my role as an administrator is ‘less than’ those that are working in other areas based on the fact that I don't qualify for the raise,” wrote Suzanne Lauer, an associate principal at Crestview Elementary. “I am also extremely disappointed that others such such as secretaries, nurses, and other support staff positions also do not qualify for the extended raise. Our schools cannot run without these individuals.”

Neither Vithoulkas or the Henrico School Board has publicly commented on whether an additional pay increase may be reconsidered for other school positions. The 2024-2025 HCPS budget is slated to be approved on April 9 by the Henrico Board of Supervisors and April 18 by the school board and will go into effect July 1.

HCPS must do better to show all of its employees that they are valued and listened to, wrote Polly Dieter, an exceptional education IA at Springfield Park Elementary.

“So disappointed,” she wrote. “A slap in the face to the lowest paid employees keeping schools from chaos every day.”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.