'Stretched beyond our limits' – Henrico teachers detail hours of unpaid work

Nearly 100 Henrico Schools teachers and staff took to the Henrico School Board’s March 27 online public forum to voice concerns about extra work they said they are expected to complete outside of their contract hours without compensation.

Staffers said that the extra duties they are assigned by their principals or administrators, often without compensation, include teaching split classrooms or covering classes, attending Individualized Education Program meetings, sponsoring student clubs, chaperoning weekend club conferences, covering bus duty, monitoring the cafeteria or playground, and more. 

“Every single day, teachers, [instructional assistants], and school staff are being assigned additional duties that go beyond the scope of our contracts in exploitative ways,” said Skipwith Elementary teacher Lauryn Galloway at the board’s in-person public forum. “We are constantly asked to go above and beyond – ‘Do it for the kids. Be a team player. We all have to pick up the slack.’”

After not going through with introducing a collective bargaining resolution, the school board tasked HCPS Superintendent Amy Cashwell to examine current teacher contracts and revise policies on staff time. On March 13, Cashwell announced that an addendum would be added to teacher contracts this May that would clarify the breakdown of staff working hours and days, expectations for duties, and planning time protections.

Since the contract addendum is still a working document, HCPS cannot release it to the public, HCPS spokesperson Eileen Cox said.

But some staffers argue that a contract addendum cannot be effective without direct input from teachers themselves.

“The drafted addendum attempts to provide clarity, but it’s still too vague. It does not sufficiently address what staff has been asking for,” Galloway said. “Teachers, IAs, and other school staff need a seat at the table. The language needs to be explicit. You need to hear from us directly – the people actually doing the work.”

The addendum was influenced by feedback from the Teacher Advisory Committee and other staff focus groups, according to Cashwell.

Several teachers said they often have to work upwards of 12 hours of overtime during the week to complete required tasks such as grading, lesson prep, and contacting parents – work that does not earn them any extra compensation.

“I take a lot of work home that I need to complete on nights and on weekends. My husband is a physician and he works less hours than I do. How is that possible?” said Pocahontas Middle teacher Heather Snyder. “Why am I working overtime, without compensation and earning a salary way less than I am worth?”

While federal regulations exempt teachers from overtime pay, any hourly employee will be compensated for overtime work by HCPS, according to Cox.

“If, for any reason, an hourly employee’s work week exceeds 40 hours, the staff member is compensated at an overtime rate of time and a half in accordance with federal Fair Labor Standards,” she said.

‘Other duties as assigned’

Several teachers said that a phrase in their current contract – “other duties as assigned” – allows for principals to delegate tasks or meetings that cut into required planning time. Under HCPS policy, elementary teachers must be provided at least 30 minutes of planning each day and secondary teachers must receive one full block or period of planning time.

However, many teachers are not getting their required planning time due to other duties they are assigned, and some are not compensated when they make up their planning time later in the day, staffers said.

“Many teachers have [duties] after the kids leave that cuts into their planning time. It is not equitable because others in the same building do not have that responsibility,” said Rebecca Brickhead, an exceptional education teacher at Glen Allen Elementary. “It needs to be spelled out what is required and what can be asked of us to do. We should not be penalized or bullied into attending these activities.”

“I do not have a planning period during the day and am consistently working for 45 minutes before contract hours and 30 minutes after contract hours in order to complete paperwork and try to plan lessons. I do not receive extra compensation for any of these responsibilities or duties,” said exceptional education teacher Jillian Flowers, who works at Crestview Elementary.

But HCPS has introduced efforts to include clear planning time protections, and clarify which duties will warrant compensation, in new policies.

At the direction of the school board, Cashwell introduced changes to policies that would add language stating that principals should not add “long-standing duty assignments that would regularly infringe” on planning time. Other changes would clarify that secondary teachers would be compensated for missed planning time when covering classes or study halls, or when assisting with duties “essential to student health and safety.” 

Compensation would not apply to elementary teachers, however, because elementary teachers would not be asked to cover classes or monitor the cafeteria or playground during their planning time, Cashwell said.   

“[Elementary teachers] are due their required planning time,” Cashwell said. “Because we have offered the option for secondary teachers, due to the unique nature of the schedule, to give up their planning time, we compensate them for that.”

However, several elementary teachers commented that this was not always the case, with some elementary teachers having to cover classes during planning time or split classrooms due to staff shortages.

Duties completed by staffers during the regular course of their day, that do not infringe on planning time, would also not warrant compensation according to HCPS policy. For elementary staffers, that includes monitoring weapons scanners – which secondary teachers are paid to do because the task is outside their regular hours.

Weapons scanners should primarily be monitored by school security officers and administrators, Cox said, and when necessary, hourly employees such as instructional assistants.

However, elementary teacher Tori Swartz, who works at Gayton Elementary, said that she had been assigned to monitor the weapons scanners without receiving compensation – or training. 

“I have been assigned weapons scanner duty this year at my school, Gayton, and was given no training and am not compensated,” she wrote. “It’s wrong that secondary gets compensation for this and not elementary.”

Secondary staff currently receive a $50 per hour stipend for weapons scanners duty, said Short Pump Middle teacher Mary Morrissey, and staff are selected for the duty by administration.

‘Overburdened and without a voice’

More extra duties have been piled onto teachers each year, said Hungary Creek Middle teacher Mark Tertocha, causing burnout and disillusionment, and while some duties have hourly compensation, some pay nothing.

“Teachers in Henrico County are consistently asked to go above and beyond for their students every year, and every year, the ‘above and beyond’ grows a bit bigger,” he wrote. “As it stands now, teachers have difficulty understanding what is required, what is extra, and if any of it is actually optional.”

The compensation staff do receive is simply not enough to cover all of their duties, said Longdale Elementary library assistant Danielle Batchelor, who said her extra tasks often include covering classes during planning time, cleaning classrooms, sponsoring clubs and extracurriculars, committee work, riding buses home with students to supervise, forgoing lunch to sit with students in the cafeteria, and more.

“Taking on extra duties is a known part of an educator's day, but that doesn't mean we're compensated for it adequately,” she said. “School staff are constantly taking on more and more work and while Henrico County is a leading employer with salaries, the salaries simply still do not account for the extent of our duties.”

Over the past few years, HCPS has given staff members several annual raises, increasing the division’s average teacher salary from $56,251 during the 2022-2023 school year to $71,007 this school year. For the upcoming school year, HCPS has proposed a 6% raise for all full-time staffers and raises between 13.8% and 19.3% for IAs and other support staff.

HCPS leaders have also solicited staff feedback throughout the process of revising policies and drafting the contract addendum, said school board chair Marcie Shea, with input from TAC, the HCPS Policy Committee, the Principal Advisory Committee, public comment, and other channels influencing the changes.

“It’s taken that iterative process we talked about earlier, going through a lot of review groups, going back through the same review groups, because we want it to truly be responsive to the needs of our staff and reflective of what as Henrico public schools we’re providing for our staff,” Shea said. “And so this has been a lengthy process, and it continues.”

But staffers brought up what the school board has still left unaddressed: continued support and an exuberant push for collective bargaining from many staffers. In October, the school board announced it did not have a majority to move forward with a collective bargaining resolution, which would have begun the process of allowing employees to negotiate their contracts. 

Many staffers urged the board to reconsider collective bargaining and give employees “more of a voice” in their working conditions.

“We are the ones in the classrooms, working tirelessly to create meaningful experiences, and overwhelmingly, we are asking for this. Why are you not listening?” wrote Glen Allen High teacher Erin Mable. “We will continue to advocate. We will continue to demand a seat at the table. We will not stop until our voices are heard.” 

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.