As part of a biannual listening tour, Stafford County residents may ask questions of school officials about issues that matter to them.
- Sessions are held in North Stafford and in the southern portion of the county each year.
- Stafford High School hosted the Listening Tour on Thursday, October 24 night for the first time.
- About 30 people attended the Q&A session and attendance was on the lower side as past listening tours have ranged from 10 to 175 people.
There were questions about the county’s population and its projected effects on school growth were the topics of several questions, and confusion about the county’s soon-to-be-built sixth high, and 18th elementary schools.
- The two new schools are slated as Capital Improvement Plans for 2023.
- By 2023, all of the existing high schools will be at or over max capacity
- “When we said when these projects were planned, we were greeted with ‘how are we going to fund it,’” Hartwood District School Board member Holly Hazard said, referring to the joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors.
The county also has a shortage of bus drivers.
- “We have been in crisis with the transportation,” Rock Hill District School Board member /Chairman Patricia Healy said.
- 40-50 bus driver positions need to be filled.
- Their vacancy is causing buses to run late and limiting athletic and field trip bus usage.
The School Board approved a raise in bus driver salaries, resulting in a total $880,000 one-year hit to the school budget.
- Raising salaries creates a more competitive pay scale to recruit and keep drivers, officials claim.
School safety was another main concern.
- Heightened security concerns come after a 26-year-old man rode a school bus to Stafford High School during the first week of school in August and got into the cafeteria before being caught.
- Since that incident, additional faculty members have been supervising the halls in the mornings.
- There are now about 16 who are actively monitoring the halls.
The Board has hired a firm to do a safety analysis of the school buildings and procedures.
- $90,000 has been approved to pay for the security issues.
- The report will come in early winter and provide recommendations for how to strengthen security in the schools.
