The 2024-25 Essex School System Teacher of the Year told the county’s Board of Supervisors last week that no formal apology has been delivered to ECPS employees for a payroll issue that caused upheaval in the school division last month.
Michelle Dungee, a teacher at Tappahannock Elementary School, made her remarks during the public comment portion of the supervisors’ October 14 meeting.
Essex School Division employees receive their paychecks on the fourth Friday of each month, seeing the deposits in their accounts the previous evening or that morning.
But that did not happen at the end of September.
The school division recently merged its financial services with Essex County and the school division’s payroll process is jointly overseen by the county.
Bobbie Tassinari, the chief financial officer for Essex County, told the Rappahannock Times that the person responsible for payroll resigned prior to the September school division payroll run so she stepped in to make sure it was run.
“The payroll was uploaded at 6:30 on Thursday evening after the banks closed which resulted in the banks not having it posted on Friday,” Tassinari wrote the Rappahannock Times in an email.
“I understand that we had until 5 o’clock that evening to be paid, but I’ve never had an issue with payroll not being there when I wake up,” Dungee told the supervisors. “I emailed about overdraft fees twice. I haven’t had a response back yet. I shouldn’t have had to incur those fees because the payroll system was messed up. I asked if we were going to be paid on time and was told yes. Then, everyone in the county wakes up that day and we don’t have our paychecks as normal. That wasn’t fair to us.”
Dungee said while blame for the issue is being passed around, no apology has been issued.
“The staff and students are the ones that are suffering,” she said. “We have had staff that have left. We are short a couple teachers, but we can’t fill those spots because of the hiring freeze that is in place. What are we going to do to fix it, so we can get certified teachers back in the classroom.”
Dungee described human resources as “a joke” since the position is now vacant.
“Who do we call?” she asked. “When I call here no one answers the phone. When you leave voicemails, no one responds. What has to happen to put the school system back to where it used to be? There are members of the Board of Supervisors who had children in school when I was in school here and the school system was not like this…. No one has asked the staff what can be done to fix things and it’s not fair. We are suffering terribly.”
Dungee invited the supervisors to visit classrooms.
“Come speak to the staff and ask us what’s happening,” she said. “We are not happy, but we show up to work every day — despite what is being publicly shared — without pay, or with partial pay.”
Moreover, Dungee said that it was publicly portrayed that all school division employees had been paid in September.
“That was not true,” she said. “I can give you five people’s names right now who did not get paid until last week. I can give you five more right now who still have not gotten all their back pay. I encourage you to visit the classroom and have an open forum with just the school system employees so we can get back on the same page and turn the school system around.”
Later, South District Supervisor Ronnie G. Gill responded to Dungee’s concerns.
“I know there were a lot of issues involved with the last pay cycle,” he said. “We are trying to make improvements and I would hate to see that happen again. It is a two-way street between the school administration and the county. We hear you Miss Dungee. I was sorry to see that happen and the turmoil and hardship it brought on folks. That was tough to hear about.”
Tassanari later informed the supervisors that the centralized services human resources and payroll positions remain vacant. She said she hopes to fill those roles through contracting or hiring.
At the end of the meeting, Central District Supervisor John Magruder asked that the overdraft fees issue be addressed.
“What we decided to do or what can be done, I don’t know but we do need to look at it,” he said.
County Administrator April Rounds suggested that talks continue offline.
“Some of what you are requesting might be based on misinformation and some things you are requesting we have already looked at and explored the reality of those and the responsibility of the county versus the School Board and the superintendent,” she said.
“I think the county has done its part,” Board Chair Rob Akers said.
“The county has done its due-diligence in addressing that matter,” Rounds said.
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