Return the Half Hour to County Teachers
by Bill Hosp
During the last local election one of the issues that received a good deal of attention in the campaign for the Potomac District seat on the Prince William County School Board was over a vote that had been taken in March 2012 that added half an hour to the teacher work day.
Those who defended the decision tried to justify it by arguing that teachers officially work a seven and a half hour work day in neighboring jurisdictions, such as Stafford and Fairfax counties. Administrators had defended the practice by observing that teachers put in much more time than that to get their jobs done. These arguments took facts that were true to divert attention from the consequences of this controversial policy.
In my role as senior advisor for Justin Wilk, the winning candidate in that contest, I advised him to make the connection between this policy and its ill effects because he would want to demonstrate to voters that it had been a serious mistake. In an attempt to show teachers who their bosses were the school system did a huge disservice to students, parents and taxpayers.
Students suffered the most. Compensation and working conditions made teacher recruitment more of difficult. Teachers and specialists not only faced the prospect of the lowest pay in the Washington area, but also much higher class sizes and caseloads. Who wants to take that challenge in the face of better options?
Parents of students with special needs had to cope with the provision of services by schools that were understaffed and service providers who were overworked. Their children’s educational experience suffered as a result.
Taxpayers inherited the risk of legal action and government intervention. Prince William County‘s schools already suffer the consequences of the system’s previous failure to adequately serve the community’s English language learners in the form of expanded translation services, extra documentary requirements and mandatory professional development for teachers and staff. The potential liabilities of the system’s current failures represent a huge risk for every citizen of the county.
These legal mandates don’t help us attract teachers but neither does the management philosophy. Certainly, no school administrator would actively discourage teachers, but actions have spoken louder than words. Payroll information is confidential, so no aggregate data is available. On the other hand, I had my own pay stubs from 2012 and I did the math.
Comparing pay stubs from June and October demonstrated the impact on teachers. My raise of 3% was reflected in the change of my gross salary but when I computed the hourly rate I was getting 3% less per hour. This was the motivational equivalent of a kick in the teeth.
The school board adopted the raise as part of the budget but added the half hour to the teacher workday as an amendment. Critics claimed this action was a result of ill will on the part of leadership over the aggressive lobbying by teachers. Supporters of this move said they did it to give teachers more planning time, but they forgot to send a clear message to principals, who used the extra time in a variety of ways, according to reports we received from members.
The results of the November school board election show that the public has figured that out for themselves. The new school board has a mandate to set about fixing problems that have been swept under the rug for too long.
A majority of the new school board has said they agree with us that teachers should get the half hour back. We hope that they will live up to their word in the face of the propaganda that will come from the powers that be. We invite students, parents, taxpayers and especially teachers to join us in this effort. Enough is enough.
William Hosp is president of Prince William Federation of Teachers.