Stafford County Public School officials are reviewing the division’s “Power Hour” lunch periods. High school students can walk around campus to have lunch with friends, study, meet teachers and guidance counselors, or attend workshops during these periods.
Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor said the power hour lunch was an idea introduced by students and allowed for the first time by the school division for the 2022-23 school year.
Potomac Local News first reported administrators removed hour-long lunch privileges at Colonial Forge High School in April 2023 following multiple fights that broke out, prompting a police response.
Ten months later, at least 10 students are charged after fights forced a day-long lockdown at Brooke Point High School in Stafford County. The brawls caused a significant police response and came about a week after another fight at the same school landed a student in a hospital.
Stafford schools spokeswoman Sandra Osborn stresses that the fights at Brooke Point on January 31 took place during the morning hours and not lunch. “We are reviewing the power hour and will make changes as deemed necessary,” Osborn told Potomac Local.
We didn’t get a response from the superintendent when asked about the effectiveness of the power-hour lunches, introduced after he took over managing the school division in 2021. In addition to fights, the power-hour lunches have also been criticized for creating opportunities for students to sneak into bathrooms and vape, which Potomac Local first reported a year ago.
When we asked what was being done to improve security and reduce distractions at county schools, Osborn stated, “Our security measures are not a matter of public record. As with law enforcement, we want to be sure these measures aren’t made available for “bad guys” to develop a plan for circumvention. After every major incident, we do conduct a thorough review of our strategies and responses to address both strengths and vulnerabilities.”
When asked about their reaction to the fights at Brooke Point, the county’s elected School Board members were mum. They are touring the county this week and holding informal public information sessions on the superintendent’s proposed 2025 school budget.
The proposed budget calls for $157 million more from Stafford County taxpayers than the previous year, totaling $453.4 million. Taylor said the budget aims to prioritize student success, address growth, and emphasize the need for increased investment in education.
The School Board will approve the budget later this winter, and then it will go to the Stafford Board of Supervisors, which will decide how much of the school’s budget it will fund when it approves the county’s 2025 budget in April 2024.
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