Easley Weekly Update

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Thank you to all of you for your grace, flexibility, and understanding last week as we navigated a challenging situation. I am hopeful this week will be less chaotic and will continue to provide updates as we have them. Many parents have reached out asking how they can support our impacted staff. Please see the message below from our PTA. We will be organizing efforts to show our classified staff just how much we valued and appreciate all they do to keep our school running smoothly.

A Message from the PTA

Dear Easley families,

Thanks to those of you who have reached out inquiring how you can best support the staff affected by the DPS pay issue. We certainly share the sentiments of how vital our bus drivers and supervisors, mechanics, teaching assistants, EC behavior support assistants, cafeteria workers, custodial services and other support staff are to our school. They are crucial members of our Easley village and a major part of what makes our community so great. As a small token of our support and appreciation for their work, our PTA funded gift certificates and care packages that were given to bus drivers and cafeteria staff on Thursday. We want to make sure our staff know how much we appreciate them and will be planning ways to celebrate others the week of January 29th. More details are forthcoming.

We also feel the staff impacted, our community and the entire DPS and local community deserve to have clarity on the facts surrounding the pay issue. In that spirit, we sent this letter to our school board in partnership with our School Improvement Team. The letter asks for clear, concrete and transparent answers to specific questions about what happened, details of how the issue is being resolved and the plan moving forward. We will keep you updated as we learn more.

The board of education has called a special meeting for tomorrow at 8 am. The meeting notice says “The purpose of the meeting is to review the salary overpayment issue. The Board will meet in closed session to discuss attorney-client privileged and personnel matters. The Board will not have an open session discussion about the salary overpayment, but the Board is planning to release a statement regarding the matter after the meeting.”

The school board is also meeting on Thursday, January 25th at 6:30 pm at the DPS central office at 511 Cleveland Street. A rally is planned to support impacted staff at 5:30 pm at the same location.

Finally, we want to take a minute to say “thank you” for continuing to be such an extraordinary community. The amount of support you have offered for our staff has been inspiring, but not at all surprising. We are also grateful for our school leadership who help foster an atmosphere to support each other, focused on a mission to provide the best education possible to our students.

Erin Medlyn, PTA President

Ryan Kelly, PTA Vice President

Leigh Muller, PTA Treasurer

Megan Kilb, PTA Secretary

The Lottery Window is Still Open

As you are aware, Durham Public Schools is going through a major redistricting plan called Growing Together. Earlier, you’ve been contacted regarding your child’s school assignment for the coming school year. Most of our families are affected by this redistricting plan and will need to apply for the lottery in hopes to continue at Easley. On Monday, January 8th, the lottery application opens and will continue until February 9th. You must apply before 5:00 pm on February 9th.

You may submit your application starting at midnight at this link: https://applydpsnc.schoolmint.com/login You will first need to create an account and then apply for each child (in grades K-3). You will need your child’s student id. Please contact Leah Rubow at leah_rubow@dpsnc.net or call the school if you need your student’s id number. If you need assistance, please contact Leah Rubow at leah_rubow@dpsnc.net or 919-560-3913, option 3.

Easley will also hold two afternoon events at our front lobby to assist families with the application. Leah Rubow and our interpreter, Ana Ramirez, will host two assistance events (both in English and Spanish) on January 17 and January 24 from 2:00-4:30.

Also, the district is hosting application assistance sessions. Saturday help sessions are available at 2107 Hillandale Rd. Durham 27705 9:00 am –1:00 pm on the following dates: Saturday, January 20, Saturday, January 27, and Saturday, February 3 You can also schedule an appointment by calling English: 919-560-205 Spanish: 919-560-2510

We hope to make this process as simple as possible. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any help. If you need assistance, please contact Leah Rubow at leah_rubow@dpsnc.net or 919-560-

Easley Calendar

Here is the link to the Easley Calendar that is posted on the school website.

PTA Updates and Reminders:

2023- 2024 PTA Fundraiser Dates:

Apex fundraiser - February 26 - March 8, 2024

Spring Book Fair - May 6-10, 2024

2023 - 2024 PTA Meetings

All meetings are at 6:30 pm in the Easley Media Center and via Zoom. Spanish interpretation will be provided.

August 14, 2023

September 18, 2023

October 16, 2023

November 13, 2023

January 8, 2024

February 12, 2024

March 11, 2024

April 8, 2024

May 13, 2024

Meet the Easley Staff

Please click here to learn more about the Easley teachers and staff.

Easley Spirit Wear

Spirit wear Store. Get all your Easley gear here.