DeKalb County teachers fear furloughs are ahead

The new superintendent for DeKalb County Schools is expected to present her amended budget proposal this Friday to the school board. Some teachers are concerned about the possibility of furloughs because of COVID-19.

FOX 5’s Christine Sperow spoke with the superintendent to ask her about that issue and other decisions ahead of the unprecedented school year.

“I believe I was made for this type of challenge,” said Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris.

Sign up for FOX 5 email alerts

The new superintendent is just two weeks on the job officially, carefully planning the district's virtual start, so students have devices and internet access on day one, and teachers are given the professional development needed to teach virtually.

In Harris' previous role with the Department of Education in New York, starting school virtually was the ideal choice.

“Coming from an experience where a number of our faculty meetings had to start with a moment of silence to mourn the loss of a staff member or a student is something I don’t want us to experience here in the DeKalb County School District,” the superintendent said.

On Friday, many will be watching closely for details in Harris' amended budget proposal that she will present to the board. The big question for some teachers is will it include furloughs, days where teachers will have to take days off unpaid?

“Our goal really is to, uh, come up with a plan, a proposal that has the least negative impact on our teachers that work so tirelessly for the needs of our students,” Harris said. “What’s important to me is that teachers know that they’ve been heard that they are respected, they are valued. We are trying desperately to ensure that if furloughs become essential in terms of our approach that it would be at the very minimum amount of days possible.”

With an already difficult end to the last school year, by Friday it should be known if more sacrifices will be asked of teachers this new school year as decisions are made to trim the budget

Download the FOX 5 Atlanta app for breaking news and weather alerts.