Emotions run high as unauthorized pay raises discussed at Prince George's Co. school board meeting

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - Prince George's County teachers and parents were fired up at a school board meeting Thursday night as they confronted school district leaders about unauthorized pay raises in the school system along with other issues.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that several employees in the human resources department for Prince George's County Public Schools received 10 to 12 percent pay hikes that were not approved by the school board. There is an investigation underway into whether there were additional unauthorized raises.

"Stop taking our tax dollars, putting it in your pockets, giving you all secret raises, and you know what they are doing because you're here," said parent Phyllis Wright. "How can they get raises and we don't know nothing about it."

Another major topic discussed at the meeting were about five employees from DuVal High School who lost their jobs following the grade-fixing scandal that has plagued the school system. One of those fired employees, guidance counselor Troy Sibila, attended Thursday night's meeting. He previously told FOX 5 in an exclusive interview that he and his fired co-workers were made scapegoats for the scandal.

However, he received a lot of support Thursday night as he continues to fight to get his job back.

"I am here to stand in solidarity with our DuVal counselors who were thrown under bus for political gain," DuVal teacher Cela Gomez-Showell. "They followed orders from up the chain of command."

"Understand that you cannot fire your way out of this," said Theresa Mitchell-Dudley, president of the Prince George's County Educators' Association. "Our members at DuVal High School are afraid for their jobs. Everybody is worrying about what is going to happen next, who is going to get it next, what school is going to be next."

There was a bright spot for parents and teachers during Thursday night's meeting. The school board voted to fully restore spring break and all schools will be closed next week.

FOX 5's coverage on the Prince George's County grade-fixing investigation:

Maryland Gov. Hogan: 2nd state audit of PGCPS could look into wrongdoing, broken laws

PGCPS not monitoring data of students on track to graduate this school year

EXCLUSIVE: Fired PGCPS guidance counselor believes he was made a scapegoat for grade-fixing scandal

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan calls on Rushern Baker to fire PGCPS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell

Maryland State Board of Education to implement full-time employee to monitor PGCPS

PGCPS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell meets with Md. State Board of Education to discuss grade-fixing audit

Prince George's County school board members say emails show pressure to graduate students

Staff changes made at DuVal High School amid PGCPS grade-fixing probe

Rushern Baker, Prince George's County school leaders face tough questioning from Maryland lawmakers

Prince George's Co. Public Schools performed internal audit on student records, documents show

Hogan on grade-fixing probe: Prince George's County and PGCPS have 'refused to take it seriously'