Prince William Education Association members and friends stand "UNITED," supporting teachers at the Kelley Leadership Building before the Feb. 17 Prince William School Board meeting.Some Prince William School Board members addressed the issue of 'teacher bullying' during Wednesday night's meeting.
Reports from several schools have surfaced throughout the school division of administrators intimidating members of their staffs.
“This board is ushering a new era of responsibility and accountability,” Potomac school board representative Justin Wilk said during the board matters segment of the meeting.
In response to letters, emails and phone calls he had received, Wilk proclaimed that the issue will not be ignored.
"I can assure those individuals who believe it is acceptable to tolerate teacher bullying that I will make it my personal duty to bring well-documented cases before the board in closed sessions," he said. "We have too many talented individuals in our own administrative pool to be having leaders kept in the system despite well-documented accounts of employee bullying."
Coles District Representative Willie Deutsch offered an example of a teacher intimidation incident; he explained that at one school in his district, teachers were told to provide positive reviews of their school in an evaluation.
"Some parents and teachers alerted me to a school where all the staff was pulled into a room to fill out a teacher survey," Deutsch said. "They were told they couldn’t leave until they had filled them out; they were told they should make them positive so that it reflected well on the school."
Brentsville District Representative Gil Trenum proposed the school division hire an ombudsman to address the issue in a fair and nonbiased manner. He said an ombudsman is defined as someone who investigates and attempts to resolve problems between employee and employer.
“We have a de facto 'eight ombudsmen' right now; we’re all sitting up here. We do it part time in an ad hoc way, here. We’re trying to balance it out with all our time commitments and everything else,” Trenum said.
He said the Board should decide who this individual will ultimately report to the school division or the school board.
Trenum told Bristow Beat he hoped this individual would report directly to the school board and that the position could be filled quickly.
Occoquan District Representative Lilly Jessie agreed with Trenum's proposal, stressing the need for an impartial consultant who can objectively investigate incidents.
"I hear a lot of teachers who really do have some complaints and I know we have a system in place in this county, but I think if we could get someone who is not really necessary hired by us, but an allegiance to the teachers, [or] an allegiance to central staff and they are an unbiased person, I think teachers really need that."
The community of teachers and parents put pressure on school board members that evening to address the issue of employee intimidation in Prince William schools.
Members of the Prince William Education Association, teachers and parents wore t-shirts, emblazoned with “UNITE” “4 Students, 4 Teachers, 4 Community,” while others wore their school t-shirts.
Over the past two months, parents with students enrolled in two western Prince William County elementary schools reported to Bristow Beat that they have concerns about those principals. Paramount among their concerns is that teachers are afraid to speak up about their concerns for fear of retaliation.
PWEA Vice President Riley O'Casey previously address the issue of teacher bullying in one of her Bristow Beat LIVE & LEARN column entitled "School Division Should Seek to Reduce Adult Bullying."
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