Teachers union: 225 CPS employees did not receive stipend for summer duties; district aiming to make payments by Friday

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Public Schools is working to pay some of its employees for summer duties by Friday.

According to the district, the delay in payments was due to paperwork not being submitting on time. CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said employees who submitted their information after the payroll deadline will receive their stipend in a special payroll.

Columbia Missouri National Education Association President Noelle Gilzow said after completing a survey of teachers in the district, she found that the issue was widespread across the district. According to Gilzow, a teacher from every school except one in the district noted they had not been paid on time.

"About 225 people reported that they receive a stipend and that they did not get the payment that they expected to on August 30th," Gilzow said. "About 30% had gotten a notification that they would be paid on or before September 13th."

Although the district says the delay came after a failure to submit paperwork, some teachers say they were never informed about this.

Julie Swope teaches band at West Middle School, while her husband Denis Swope is a band teacher at Hickman High School. The Swopes claim they were among those 225 people who did not receive their stipend.

According to Julie Swope, the two received an email with the subject "National board certification stipend opportunity" on Aug. 22. Swope said teachers typically disregard this email because it applies to very few people.

However, Swope said after finally reading it, she realized the email was informing her that all stipends would be delayed until Sept. 30. Swope said she had trouble believing the email, given the district had not told them anything about it, which frustrated her.

Denis Swope said the two have two children and a dog who recently underwent surgery, so losing out on the money they normally expect to receive made things difficult.

"It's disheartening for such a lack of and I'll just say care for individuals in a tough situation," Julie Swope said. "Turns out that that statement was true and that was the only statement we ever received about it. There was never anything district wide that went to all employees about an apology."

The Swopes say they believe the delay in pay may have come from miscommunication within the district. Julie Swope claims the district told them paperwork was not submitted on time from principals within the schools, which caused the delay.

However, the two said in their 25 years of working for the district, there has never been such a rule.

"I think that what they told us was that it was principals not completing the paperwork, but in conversation with my principal, there's some confusion about what that was," Denis Swope said.

"It was completely new and changed protocol and so if it was new, we followed very poor procedures when it is related to somebody's pay, they're excuses," Julie Swope said.

In a statement sent to ABC 17 News via email, Chief Human Resources Officer Michelle Holz said the district has not altered any policies regarding the payment of stipends.

"Our goal is and has always been to avoid any delays in payments to CPS employees.  In those rare instances when human error or unforeseen events causes a delay in payments, our goal is always to communicate open and honestly with CPS employees and minimize any delays to ensure the timeliest compensation possible under the circumstances," the statement reads." "Despite what you may have heard, CPS has not changed or altered its policy regarding the payment of stipend/ extra day payments and has not breached its contract with CMNEA."

The Swopes said as of Monday, they had received deposits but due to them not receiving notification about their stipends, they're unsure if the deposit is accurate.