Teachers working in hard-to-staff and high-needs schools receive extra compensation for the unique challenges that come with the job. But many say they'll begin the new year without this pay after unknowingly taking too many sick days and violating eligibility requirements.
Called differentiated compensation, the stipend is offered to educators through bonuses or through an increase in pay as a way to retain and incentivize teachers to work at Hamilton County's most underserved public schools, also referred to as Hope and Promise schools.
However, it has stipulations. Although district policy allows teachers to accrue and roll over unused sick days -- they are allotted 10 days each school year -- those on differentiated pay plans cannot use more than 10, according to the district's eligibility requirements.
Heather Davis, a teacher at East Lake Elementary, said she, her colleagues and administrators were unaware of this rule.
"Nothing was ever mentioned to us, from the very beginning, about having anything to do with attendance," Davis said in a phone call.
She added officials did communicate the pay was contingent on teachers' Level of Effectiveness scores, a system used to evaluate teacher performance. They must score a three or above on a scale of five to continue receiving differentiated pay. Teachers new to the district are not subject to this requirement until the following year when they are evaluated.
The Tennessee Education Association -- the state's largest teachers union -- started a petition calling on the Hamilton County Board of Education to reinstate the pay for the remainder of the school year.
"Some teachers at Hope and Promise schools across the county have been informed that they are losing their differentiated pay stipends due to circumstances beyond their control," the petition, published on actionnetwork.org, states. "The change in eligibility rules for the stipends were not adequately communicated to teachers, many of whom made their employment decisions with those stipends in mind. Furthermore, it is extremely unfair -- tantamount to wage compression -- to rescind the stipends from veteran teachers and leave them in place for new teachers."
As of Thursday, the petition had more than 300 signatures.
Davis said while she hasn't exceeded her 10-day allotment, she suffers from an autoimmune disease that requires her to undergo frequent, invasive surgeries. She said she's banked 20 sick days and had been saving them for her surgery dates.
"I'm scheduled to have another surgery again in February," Davis said. "And so I'm at a point right now, where I am literally balancing this choice: Do I go through with my surgery and take the time off, or risk losing $400 a month?" Davis said.
Davis said she has the option of taking family medical leave without losing her stipend, but she would still lose a week of pay.
"It's wrong to take something that, in my opinion, the district acknowledges that teachers in these Hope and Promise schools face different challenges than some of our other learning communities and acknowledges that by saying, 'Hey, we're going to give you a pay differential because of the extra challenges that you face,'" Davis said. "But now, in addition to those challenges, we're going to put stipulations on and we're going to tell you that you can't use the sick days that you have saved without being penalized, even though we give you the sick days and we allow them."
Davis said she hopes the Board of Education reinstates the pay and reconsiders the policy overall.
"They need to find a way to make things as equitable as possible," she said. "And I recognize that nothing is perfect. But it's time that they start treating their teachers like professionals."
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reached out to district officials multiple times for a statement and did not receive a response by press time.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327.