As she stood on the front porch of her Fredericksburg home, Mayor Mary Kathrine Greenlaw delivered some grim news earlier this month in a video posted to the city’s YouTube page as the city battles the financial strain of the coronavirus pandemic.

Greenlaw announced that the city would be furloughing roughly 41 city employees effective May 2. Twenty-eight of whom are currently listed as part-time employees, while 13 full-time employees will, unfortunately, be furloughed as well.

The employees affected will be placed on furlough status until July 31.

“It’s now time for us to take aggressive action to address the pending financial crisis here in the city,” Greenlaw said in her video announcement. “These feel like drastic actions, and they are. We must pull back and regroup on our budget now, so that we can move forward again on a strong financial footing.”

Some of the positions and departments affected by the furloughed employees include:

• One full-time and three part-time police department workers
• Four full-time public works employees
• Three full-time and one part-time parks and recreation employees
• One part-time sheriff

On a more positive note, though, the city will pay for all insurance premiums for the furloughed full-time employees, including the employee’s share, to maintain health, dental and eye care benefits until July 31. Those furloughed will still be eligible for unemployment benefits, thanks in part to guidelines that were recently revised by the federal government.

Fredericksburg, along with just about every locality across the country, will face budget cuts from lost revenue after states imposed stay-at-home orders during March and April to limit the spread of coronavirus. Virginia’s stay-at-home order is set to expire on June 10.

“Our community is doing a good job of staying at home and doing your part to flatten the curve,” Greenlaw said. “While case numbers are still increasing, they are showing promise that all of our hard work to practice social distance is indeed working here locally.

In addition to budget-cutting efforts, Greenlaw also announced that the city will be implementing a salary reduction for all employees that won’t be affected by the furlough.

All employees that make under $70,000 per year will see a 2% reduction in their pay. Meanwhile, a 3% salary reduction will be applied to all non-public safety employees that make more than $70,000 per year. The temporary salary reduction will begin on May 2 and will last until the furlough date expires on July 31.

“These actions represent only a small part of the reductions we need to make on the current budget,” Greenlaw said.

As for the bigger picture, some of the other budget cuts include a freeze on city hiring, retracting some pending plans for the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, city schools, the Buffett Pool at Dixon Park and other parks, and many planned capital projects.

“Our work may be slowed a little, but it does not stop,” Greenlaw said. “We will come back ‘Fredericksburg Strong.’”

As toilet paper shelves sit empty, flushable wipes are in demand across the region. The one catch is that the wipes aren’t supposed to end up in the sewer.

Those ‘flushable wipes’ that residents are sending down the toilet are starting to clog the system.

Kathy Bentz of the Prince William Service Authority is urging residents to stop flushing wipes and hygiene products down the toilet as well as dumping oil, fat, and grease down the sink. When those products get into the pipes, it creates a clog in the pipes that county workers have to manually clean.

“There shouldn’t be any circumstance where these products can be flushed down the toilet,” Bentz said. 

Wipes and other products that get into the system can not only clog the community pipes but they can also clog pipes that are in your home.

“These are costly repairs for your system as well as the county’s,” Bentz said. “You don’t want to deal with those plumbing costs.”

The sewer systems are built to deal with small amounts of wipes through devices called grinders and channel screens that grind up and catch non-flushable items.

“When the flows are heavy, it’s difficult for the system to keep up,” Bentz said.

For fat, oil, and grease, Bentz says not to throw the cooking waste down the drain, but rather let it cool and then throw the waste away in a garbage bag.

The county has dealt with this issue in the past. They’ve had to shut down certain pipes to clean and replace the grinders and channel screens which is ‘costly’ according to Bentz.

Not only are the backups costly, but they also harm the environment. The pipe can burst and unsanitary water can pollute the environment if it were near a manhole.

“Dont flush those wipes,” Bentz said “The only things you should flush are the three P’s. Pee, Poo and Paper.”

Surrounded by Marvel action figures and posters on the bedroom wall behind him, all while sitting in the comfort of his own home, Del. Josh Cole (D-28, Fredericksburg, Stafford) hosted a virtual town hall Wednesday evening with Stafford County Schools Superintendent Scott Kizner and Fredericksburg City Public Schools Superintendent Marceline Catlett. 

Both superintendents answered questions from the public about each school systems’ plan to continue educating its students from home after the coronavirus closed school buildings statewide until at least June 10.

Two weeks ago, Gov. Ralph Northam closed school buildings across the commonwealth for the remainder of the school year citing his concerns about the virus. The sudden change left school systems scrambling to create virtual lesson plans to continue educating Virginia’s students. 

Fredericksburg and Stafford, along with the majority of other jurisdictions across Virginia, are continuing to work together to create online learning plans that are as complementary as possible to one another. 

“If we don’t do this right then this has the potential to expand the [achievement] gap between students,” Kizner said. “We don’t want to rush. We want to do it right.”

Both school districts are focusing on three ‘major areas of concern,’ according to Catlett. Those three areas include instruction, technological support, and meal distribution.

Instruction

School leaders had a choice when it came to online learning; they could have directed each teacher to hold a live-streamed class or pre-record a lecture. Instead, Kizner and Catlett –along with most of Virginia– are giving the power to the teachers to make their own call when it comes to online learning.

“We’re not going to be able to replicate a traditional classroom setting during this period,” Kizner said.

Most teachers already use google classroom as a communication tool during normal school operations. Kizner widely expects that teachers will continue to use google classroom to post assignments and pre-recorded lessons.

The only thing teachers were directed not to do: grade assignments.

Teachers were told that the assignments that they give out are ‘enrichment material’ and should ‘strongly encourage’ their students to complete them but the potential lawsuit and other equity concerns are prohibiting teachers from grading assignments.

“We are, of course, concerned about equity in how we distribute supplemental learning from this point on,” Catlett said.

Online instruction for elementary and middle schools is set to begin Monday, April 6 while high school instruction is slated to open the following week.

“We’re going to look at expanding summer school [for those who fall behind in online learning],” Kizner said.

Technology support

Both school systems know they have students that don’t have access to online learning while at home. Some students come from low-income families that can’t afford mobile devices or an internet bill. Others, mainly in the rural areas of Stafford, live in homes where there is no infrastructure to access broadband internet.

To compensate, Fredericksburg and Stafford are beginning to lend out Chromebook laptops to students that don’t own a laptop or tablet that would need to be returned either in the summer or the following school year. 

Students in Fredericksburg that don’t have in-home access to the internet were asked to call the school system and were referred to Cox and Comcast. Both Cox and Comcast are offering special deals to teleworkers and students that include higher internet speeds at lower prices until students are able to physically return to school.

The city’s school division has asked families to fill out a survey to gauge how many students have access to a computer at home. 

Prince William County Public School last week announced the $6.4 million purchase of more than 15,000 computers for some of the county’s 27,000 high school students. Those computers will be handed out next month.

Stafford, meanwhile, is offering hotspot devices called Kajeets to students that live in rural areas with no internet access for the time being.

Meals distribution

More than 68% of Fredericksburg students are eligible for free and reduced lunch while Stafford County sits at around 33%, according to a report from the state’s Department of Education. Both Catlett and Kizner understand that schools often provide students with their only full meal of the day.

Knowing that some parents of students rely on school meals to feed their children, each school system has set up a meal distribution plan during the normal school week. 

Stafford and Fredericksburg have set up ‘grab-and-go’ meal distribution centers near low-income neighborhoods, churches and at community centers in their respective jurisdictions. Both Kizner and Catlett ask that the meals be ‘for the students’ but anyone is welcome to grab a bag.

Graduation

Kizner and Catlett said that they’ve received endless questions about whether each school district will hold in-person or virtual high school commencement ceremonies. Both reiterated that they want to honor graduating seniors and will ‘do their best’ to hold an in-person ceremony later in the summer.

“I’m planning on making an announcement or recommendation to the community about graduation at the next School Board meeting on April 14,” Kizner said.

Residents with questions are being directed to their school respective districts websites to keep up-to-date on what each school system is doing in terms of online learning.

In the Rappahannock region, Stafford County has the most cases of coronavirus at 41, as of Sunday, April 5, 2020. Spotsylvania reported 24, and Fredericksburg reported seven.

In the Prince William region, there are 175 cases in Prince William County, 14 in Manassas, and two in Manassas Park as of Sunday.

Statewide, 2,637 people had tested positive for coronavirus (625 more than Friday, April 3), 431 people had been hospitalized (119 more than Friday, April 3, 2020), and 51 had died (five more than Friday, April 3).

Tapping his foot once, twice, and third time against the rough grey carpet in the School Board chambers, Stafford County Schools superintendent Scott Kizner looked back at the small crowd that faced the School Board meeting Tuesday night. 

Immediately after his glance back, Kizner calmly addressed the School Board on his staff’s response to the ongoing fears of the spread of the Coronavirus.

Recently declared a ‘global pandemic’ by the W.H.O., the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, made its way to Virginia last week. The number of positive cases sits at nine, including one in Spotsylvania County, Stafford’s neighbor to the south. 

Risks to the general public remain ‘low,’ according to a press release.

Kizner and his staff chose not to wait for the virus to spread to Stafford before coming up with a plan. Instead, Kizner and his staff took a proactive approach by canceling school field trips, large events, and evening programs. Outdoor spring sports will be able to continue as planned, but that could change at any time.

“We’re trying to anticipate, but more importantly, we’re trying to keep people safe,” Kizner told the School Board. “To do that, school staff needs to make some decisions that could cause people to say that this is an overreaction. We have to make the best decisions that are in the best interests of our students.”

Large events are a relatively subjective view and Kizner identified that his determination of what a ‘large event’ could be is different than others. Kizner defined a large event as “bringing people together for purposes of a community discussion, social, recreational, or educational activity that does not occur during the regular school day.”

Kizner has already canceled the annual Fine Arts Festival which usually draws in about 10,000 people to Brooke Point High School. His biggest worry is that the event would draw in many young children and grandparents, the age groups who are most at-risk to being infected by the Coronavirus.

“The experts are saying that we need to minimize people crowding together,” Kizner said.

High school prom and graduation ceremonies are still scheduled to go on as planned but that could change if the outbreak worsens. The final decision will be made after spring break which takes place next week.

Although school officials don’t expect coronavirus to cancel school just yet, contingency plans are being made so that students can continue their education through online learning. 

In Kizner’s plan, elementary and middle school students will be given an online platform to learn on their own until normal school days resume. High school students are working more closely with their teachers because the classes are more content-specific.

All families will receive a robocall from the school system detailing as to what will happen if school is canceled. If calls are made to households without internet access, those families will be given a number to call and accommodations will be made. 

Kizner said those accommodations will include paper copies of the assignments that will be dropped off at the student’s home.

If schools do close, Kizner and his team are still working out how hourly workers will be paid. After he was asked by a board member, Kizner was unable to provide an answer as to how hourly workers will be paid in his presentation.

Last night, Prince William County Schools, Stafford’s neighbor to the north, announced their plans for school closures if the Coronavirus were to become widespread. Meanwhile, George Mason University is suspending all university-authorized travel.

Universities across the U.S., mainly in the northeast region and on the west coast, have suspended residential classes and are urging students to return home until March 30 at the earliest. The University of Virginia followed the same course of action earlier today.

So far, the virus, which originated in China, has infected 938 people in 39 states. A total of 29 have people who contracted the virus have died. 

“I appreciate the precautions,” said Patricia Healy, Griffis-Widewater School Board member. “It’s comforting to know they’re in place and that our education will continue.”

With Opening Day on the horizon, fans around the Fredericksburg region are getting ready to welcome in the newly formed Fredericksburg Nationals at their new ballpark on Thursday, April 23.

When preparing to spend your evening at the ballpark, keep in mind the team’s latest backpack policy which will be in effect come Opening Day.

This season and in the coming seasons, the FredNats will only allow clear bags and small purses into the new ballpark. Diaper bags will not be an exception and will need to remain in the car or at home according to the team.

“With the Fredericksburg Nationals moving into a new state of the art facility we took this opportunity to update our safety procedures to adhere to the policies that the NFL, collegiate conferences and some MLB teams have adopted to ensure the highest level of safety for our fans,” the team wrote in an email.

The Nationals know that this new policy may be initially viewed as an inconvenience to fans but the priority here is on safety. The team has included a free 12″x12″x6″ clear bag as a promotional item that will be given out to fans at the third home game of the season on Saturday, April 25.

In addition to the promotional bag, the team will sell a drawstring backpack that is 14″x17″ and another clear bag that will be different than the giveaway bag that will also be 12″x12″x6″ in the team gift store.

The Washington Nationals, the FredNats’ parent club, announced their clear bag policy just prior to Opening Day 2019. None of the other Minor League teams in 

Washington’s Minor League system has implemented guidelines for a clear bag policy.

Clear bag policies have seen an uptick in usage in recent years as the NFL  implemented a no-backpack policy just after the Super Bowl in 2018. MLB, the NBA, and the NHL, meanwhile, allow for each team to decide its own backpack policy.

The FredNat’s new stadium will be located in Fredericksburg, next to the city’s convention center, at 2171 Carl D. Silver Parkway.

Stafford County Schools superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner announced that he will resign from his position just two-and-a-half years after taking the reins. He will step down about a year from now.

Kizner, 62, announced his decision with a statement he wrote prior to the School Board meeting on Tuesday night.

“After much personal reflection, I have decided to end my superintendency in Stafford effective Jan. 1, 2021,” Kizner said. Kizner told board members that he has “no definite plans’’ about what’s next for him in his career.

Kizner plans to help the School Board with their search for his replacement. Chairwoman Holly Hazard is “unsure” when the board will begin their search for a new superintendent. Hazard also mentioned that the board members have not yet scheduled a meeting to discuss their plan of action.

After beginning his career in public education in 1981 as a special education teacher, Kizner rose through the school leadership ranks and is currently serving in his 21st year as a school division leader.

Kizner was hired by the School Board in the summer of 2018 and signed a four-year contract with the School Board that paid him more than $260,000 annually. Prior to his move to Stafford, Kizner served as Harrisonburg City Public Schools superintendent.

After Kizner’s surprise announcement Hazard thanked Kizner for what he has and will continue to do for the county’s schools.

“I know you will lead us as we look for a new leader and hopefully you’ll still be out there advocating for us,” Hazard said. “I know we have to accept this letter [of resignation] but I don’t want to accept it.”

During his time with Stafford, Kizner oversaw several controversial issues, mostly about transgender student incidents that were brought to the attention of the School Board when a transgender student that was barred from using either locker room during a lockdown drill. 

Following the incident, Kizner subsequently proposed a policy that was shot down by board members before it could become an action item on the School Board’s agenda. The policy would have allowed transgender students to choose their preferred bathroom.

 After the policy failed to make its way back to the Board after appearing as an information item in December 2018, Kizner successfully negotiated with School Board members and passed an employee and student non-discrimination policy that included ‘gender-identity’ language in September 2019.

Earlier this month, we reported that Kizner said he wanted to put the transgender policy debate that not only embroiled the School Board but also members of the community for a year, behind them and now to focuses on the job of educating students.

Kizner also helped lead the charge for an across-the-board 5% raise for all school employees during last years’ tense budget negotiations with the Board of Supervisors that ended with a hike in county property taxes.

The School Board will be searching for its fifth superintendent since 2006. Kizner was the county’s fourth in 10 years, as we outlined in this post at the time he was hired. 

Prior to Kizner, Dr. Bruce Benson served in the position from 2013 to 2018. Before him, it was Dr. Randy Bridges who took the job in 2010. 

The position was vacant for four years prior to Bridges accepting the job.

Susie Webb contributed to this report.

A new policy from Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner means they can’t take pictures of athletes during school sporting events.

Professional photographers Sandie Waters and Jen Mulenbruck are the inferred subjects of the new policy. The duo had been hired to take photos of athletics teams at Stafford and Colonial Forge high schools, respectively. They’ve been shooting team photos since 2013.

“I am saddened by the decision, I also feel for the Colonial Forge wonderful photographer that this has affected also,” Waters wrote in an email to Potomac Local. “The tremendous outpouring of affection and support from all over has been totally overwhelming! I appreciate everyone’s kind words and comments as they have shared memories they treasure that I have captured for them.”

The photographers struck agreements with the individual high schools that allowed them to stand on the sidelines, shoot photos, and then sell the photos on their respective websites. They both shot football, basketball, baseball, and soccer games. No other school had such agreements with other private photographers.

Waters was not allowed on the sidelines to take photos for Stafford High School’s football game against King George High School on September 6. Waters said she got a phone call from Stafford High School’s athletic director the day before the game telling her to about the new rule.

Despite this, Waters still supports the team.

“I will be in the stands on Friday nights cheering on our Stafford Indians and will continue to support my local community however I can,” Waters wrote.

The photographers offered free watermarked photos for parents and athletes to preview. Both photographers sold the photos privately and would remove the watermark after parents bought the photos.

Both photographers put together each athletic team’s ‘Senior Night’ banners at no cost to the individual school, parents, or players. The photographers sold pictures in digital download and print starting at $4 per photo.

Under Kizner’s new rule, paid student interns will shoot game photos and provide them to the public at no cost. Taxpayers will pick up the tab, paying the students about $14 an hour.

Kizner and Mulenbruck did not respond to Potomac Local’s request for comment.

STAFFORD — Starting in October, Ferry Farm Elementary School will be home to eight modular classrooms that will not be built with restrooms.

It is the first time trailers will be used as classrooms in Stafford County.

The School Board held a special called meeting Wednesday evening to discuss and take action on using four double-modular classrooms and a single modular building for administrative staff.

The School Board approved the lease on Wednesday evening, which will cost the county a grand total of $219,500.

The eight classrooms and front office were in need of a new home when the School Board approved a $10.8 million renovation in December 2018 to the 1955 wing of the elementary school making it the oldest school in the county. The School Board then added another phase of the renovation in February which will cost the county $1.9 million.

The Board of Supervisors, which supplies the money to the School Board, approved funding for the renovation after rejecting a full-scale rebuild that was presented by the School Board in February 2018.

In March, the School Board requested that the design firm Moseley Architects had to create plans for a modular classroom.

The School Board then started two bidding processes, one in May and one in June, but each of the bids that the school division received back was either over budget or weren’t in line with the School Board’s requirements.

Dwyane McOsker who represents the George Washington district on the School Board expressed his frustration with the bidding process. Ferry Farm Elementary sits in his district.

“People are not bidding on this [modular construction] stuff,” McOsker said.

After not receiving any bids that the Board wanted to pursue, the School Board then entered into an existing contract with Henrico County Public Schools to lease modular classrooms.

School staff reported that the School Board would need to hire two temporary staff members to “aid in escorting students to and from the main building and to aid in the safety and security of the students.”

Aquia representative Irene Egan was the only dissenter in the vote saying that she was concerned with the lack of bathrooms.

The School Board expects the installation of the modular classrooms to begin later this month and be fully furnished by Oct. 13.

Classes, which start Aug. 12, will be held in the existing Ferry Farm building until the modular classrooms are completed.

Griffis-Widewater representative Jamie Decatur was absent for Wednesday’s discussion and vote.

Around this time last year, the School Board was presented with a $99,500 modular classroom that was planned to be fully furnished and completed with a restroom. The modular classroom was appropriated by the Board of Supervisors in order to reduce capacity concerns at Hartwood Elementary School.

The School Board ultimately rejected the modular classroom last year with the dissenters being Patricia Healy, Rock Hill District, Dewayne McOsker, George Washington District, and Pamela Yeung, Garrisonville District.

Sarah Chase, Falmouth District, was absent from the 2018 meeting.

Modular classrooms have been a favored way of housing students at overcrowded schools in neighboring Prince William County.

In 2018, Prince William County Public Schools used more than 200 modular classrooms to teach students across the county. After spending more than a year considering how to reduce that number, School Board members developed a plan to eliminate the trailers by 2027.

That plan to remove all modular classrooms will end up costing Prince William County $143.2 million.

FREDERICKSBURG — Fredericksburg baseball fans are one step closer to seeing Minor League Baseball in their city — construction on the new stadium is set to begin in July.

Currently, the site stands dormant with rocks, trees, dirt, and even a local business sign that needs to be excavated before construction can begin.

The Potomac Nationals, the Nationals’ Single-A Advanced affiliate, plan to make the move down from their current stadium in Woodbridge to Fredericksburg by 2020.

“Site work is set to begin in early July on the stadium to be located in Celebrate Virginia South,” the team wrote in a press release.

The $35 million state-of-the-art stadium is slated to open in time for Opening Day 2020 which broke ground back in February where over 1,000 fans were on-hand to participate in the festivities.

Even if the team weren’t able to open the stadium due to construction delays, they wouldn’t be in violation of the agreement with the city.

The agreement states that Fredericksburg would have the right to terminate the contract if the stadium weren’t ready by April 1, 2021.

In the agreement, the city will pay the ballclub $1.05 million every year for the next 30 years. In return, the ballclub will privately fund the stadium.

The team has already sold all 13 suites in its stadium and has more than 1,250 members of its Founders Club. These members will have priority season ticket seating when it becomes available in July.

“[It’s] unheard of to sell every suite a year before the stadiums opening,” part-owner Seth Silber said back in February.

The stadium will also include a family-fun pavilion, a water park, a homerun porch, an ice-skating rink, a year-round restaurant and 5,000 seats.

The team will also discount tickets to military members every Sunday in their partnership with SimVentions. They will also include a “Hats off to Heroes” with the playing of God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch. The Washington Nationals participate in the same ceremony every home game.

The team had more than 2,400 responses in its “Name The Team” contest that was conducted during April.

Fredericksburg residents provided input on the name, mascot, and colors.

The team plans to unveil the team name and logo to fans at a public event in the early fall.

“Based on this incredible response, Fredericksburg Baseball is moving forward with finalizing the team name, developing a new logo and uniform designs,” Fredericksburg Baseball said. “The team plans to unveil the team name and logo to its fans early this fall at a public event.”

Fredericksburg Baseball plans to open its downtown store on July 5 located on the first floor at 601 Caroline Street. The team plans to have the store open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. that day.

Fans will be able to buy all types of Fredericksburg merchandise, including hats and t-shirts.

Fans can see the progress on the stadium’s construction at the team’s official website and follow the team on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Potomac Nationals won the Carolina League Mills Cup as recently as 2014.

They won the Northern Division last year but ultimately fell short in a one-game, shortened series against the Buies Creek Astros.