By Uriah Kiser
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Prince William County teachers brought papers to grade to Potomac Mills mall this weekend.
About 60 county public school teachers staged a “grade-in” at the mall’s busy food court on Saturday. The event was used to showcase how much work teachers must do outside the traditional school day.
Some sat with laptops and while others sat and ate lunch and chatted with friends and coworkers. It was one of two grade-ins held in the county Saturday. The other sit-in was held at a Wegmans grocery store in Gainesville.
Participants here wore blue t-shirts displaying PWEA, for the Prince William Education Association.
The sit-in comes as school officials are looking for ways to provide Prince William teachers a pay raise in the next budget year, something they didn’t get last year. The pay raise issue has been a sticking point with educators who banded together two weeks ago along busy Prince William Parkway to protest the lack of a pay raise in the upcoming budget that’s still awaiting approval.
“I don’t think the [Prince William County Board of Supervisors] has adequately funded schools in this county. We’re the ninth wealthiest county in the nation yet we have the largest class sizes in the state, and I don’t think the parents in this community want that,” said PWEA President Bonnie Klakowicz.
Class size in Prince William County averages about 27 students per class, according to the school division’s profile. Average class sizes in Fairfax County are about 22 students per class, according to 2010 data. Stafford County schools does not include their average class size its division profile posted to the it’s website.
So, how much of a raise to teachers want? Klakowicz says at least a three percent merit increase. The last time Prince William teachers got one was in 2008, she added.
During the 2009-2010 school year, Prince William teachers got a 2.4 percent market raise, said Klakowicz.
Teachers plan to sit in again, this time at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday in Woodbridge to draw even more attention to their cause.
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