DURHAM, N.C. — Durham Public Schools will be closed Friday due to "an overwhelming number of staff absences," the school system said via news release on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It caps a week where DPS Superintendent Pascal Mubenga resigned as a dispute about the cutting of staff pay continues.

A strike by teachers closed seven schools on Monday. There was a similar strike last week that closed different schools.

The Durham Association of Educators said it did not call for a strike Friday. 

"We do not know why district administration has decided to close schools for students tomorrow. Along with the rest of the Durham community, we eagerly await clarity from central office on exactly why this decision was made," the association said at about 7:15 p.m. Thursday, an hour after an automated call went out to parents cancelling school.

The school system clarified Thursday night: "The cancellation of classes tomorrow is due to the callout of all transportation support personnel who are responsible for daily bus inspections, which are required by law before students can be transported."

At the beginning of the year, the school system changed how it counted years of experience to calculate pay. That meant cutting the pay for as many as 2,000 staff members, including bus drivers, custodians, after school workers and other non-teaching positions.

The Durham County Board of Education released an outside report Thursday by a law firm that investigated what happened. 

"There was a lack of clarity and a failure of communication from the finance officer about the true cost of the proposed changes to the salary schedule. The finance officer knew in February 2023 that the cost of the pay raises could rise from $10 million to $20 million based on how years of service are calculated," School board chair Bettina Umstead said in a statement. 

"That variability was never communicated to the School Board and budget proposals consistently showed the cost as approximately $10 million," she said.

Umstead said the superintendent knew about the problem in November, but did not tell the school board until January.

Friday will be a teacher workday, and athletics and after-school activities are unchanged, according to the DPS.