Pr. William County teachers start pay freeze protest
The beginning of what could be a prolonged protest in Prince William County against teacher and staff member pay freezes began on a frigid Monday morning this week outside Forest Park High School in Woodbridge.
About 30 teachers clutched coffee mugs and pinned yellow “work to the rule” buttons on jackets as they prepared to walk in unison into the school at exactly 7:15 a.m. The campaign is meant to highlight how much teachers do for students and the community outside their contracted 7:15 a.m to 2:15 p.m. school day.
As teachers plan to work limit their work to those hours, after-school activities and club meetings could be dramatically affected and would probably have to be altered or canceled if the campaign becomes widespread.
Teachers have grown frustrated over the superintendent’s proposed budget, which does not include pay increases next year or the following three years. Although teachers have earned small pay increases, “step” increases — automatic bumps in pay that factor in how many years teachers have worked in the system — have not occurred because of budget cuts over the past several years.
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“You think it’s going to get better, and then it doesn’t,” said Annie Malloy, an art teacher at Forest Park.
Battlefield High School and Patriot High School also held work to the rule protests, said Philip Kavits, a county schools spokesman.
“We trust in their professionalism to ensure this doesn’t take a toll on students,” Kavits said. “It’s very, very early in the process, and what the superintendent has done is to create a foundation that protects programs and protects jobs. That process needs to play out to see what more can be done to address the [teachers’] concerns.”
The work to the rule campaign has roots in previous protests, the most recent in Loudoun County.
Teachers at Forest Park High said they had to take a stand on the prolonged pay freezes despite a potential negative reaction from parents and students.
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Malloy said she hopes parents will get behind the effort to increase teacher salaries. “That’s who the county listens to,” Malloy said, “and that’s who the Board [of County Supervisors] listens to.”
Shannon Geraghty, who works in Forest Park’s social studies department, said teachers would try to find ways to meet with students during lunch breaks instead of after school. She said after-school clubs that she leads would have to be canceled.
“We all said we can’t go another year without a raise,” Geraghty said.
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