STAFFORD -- The Stafford County School Board will move forward with its effort to change the attendance boundaries of every elementary school in the county.

The school division will now look at two of three new redistricting proposals, plans C and E. Each School Board member has the ability to make changes to the plans that were selected.

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FREDERICKSBURG -- Baseball in Fredericksburg took a big step forward as the Fredericksburg Baseball Club held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $35 million multi-purpose stadium that will be the new home of the Potomac Nationals.

The owner of the Minor League Baseball team, Art Silber and his family, Mayor Mary Kathrine Greenlaw and City Council members attended, along with others who played a key role in bringing baseball to the city.

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FREDERICKSBURG -- Fans will have a chance to rename the Potomac Nationals as the Minor League Baseball team moves from Woodbridge to Fredericksburg.

Team owner Art Silber says he’s open to a name change and plans to listen to the community in the coming months about proposed team names. Silber plans to include “Fredericksburg” in the team name.

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STAFFORD COUNTY -- Ferry Farm Elementary School will receive a renovation to its 53-year-old basement addition under a resolution passed by the Stafford County Board of Supervisors.

All told, the renovation will cost $1.9 million with money coming from leftover money from last fiscal year and diverted funds coming from renovation projects at H.H. Poole Middle School and Mountain View High School.

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STAFFORD -- The School Board postponed a series of planned public hearings on Feb. 12 and Feb. 26 for the ongoing elementary school redistricting process.

The move delays a commitment by the Board to have a redistricting plan in place by the end of the month in exchange for funds from the Board of Supervisors to purchase a building in North Stafford to be converted into head start center.

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PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — (Press Release) On Thursday, February 7, at 9 a.m., the Department of Fire and Rescue will hold its graduation ceremony for Recruit Class 2018-2 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas. Battalion Chief Chris Granger will preside over the ceremony. Class 2018-2 consists of Fire and Rescue Technicians who successfully completed 29 weeks of rigorous academic and physical training at the Department’s Public Safety Training Center in Nokesville, Virginia. Each student performed in excess of 1,392 hours of training.

The training consisted of 1 week of Orientation/Study Skills/Health, Nutrition and Fitness, eight weeks of Emergency Medical Training, 15 weeks of Fire Training, and five weeks of Specialized Training. The Department will announce the following graduates:

Nicholas A. Beede

Andrew R. Denner

Zachery E. Lloyd

Brandon S. Rice

Ashford P. Bembry

Kevin W. Fagga

Tobi A. Olafisoye

Lindsay E. Savat

Mollie L. Bodmer

Ian E. Franklin

Alexander J. Otto

Matthew G. Truslow

Dominic J. Clarke

Matthew K. Harris

Jeffery R. Payne

Juliana C. Veloso

William B. Cornwell

Talia B. Hedley

Rachel K. Payne

Jacob W. Vetter

Brent A. Corrinne

Aaron M. Kearns

Kimberly C. Peele

Randy L. Williams

Pierre L. D’Elia

Joshua J. Labuhn

Logan J. Penry

Brian T. Zimmerman

Sean K. Denise

Michael D. Lamb Jr.

Lawrence J. Price

For more information, please call 703-792-6162.

STAFFORD — (Press Release) The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is searching for the suspect behind a pursuit that occurred over the weekend following a traffic stop.

On Sunday, February 3, 2019, at approximately 11:04 a.m., Deputy Layug observed a red two-door vehicle traveling westbound on Kings Highway at a high rate of speed. The deputy activated his emergency equipment and initiated a traffic stop in the area of Kings Highway and Little Street.

The deputy then made contact with the driver and asked for his driver’s license and registration. The driver advised he did not have a driver’s license, and reluctantly turned over his registration after the deputy repeatedly requested it.

Deputy Layug returned to his cruiser to run the tags and they returned to a different vehicle. The suspect vehicle then began to drive away at a high rate of speed.

A pursuit ensued on Kings Highway, prompting the deputy to call for additional units. The suspect vehicle abruptly changed lanes on several occasions and struck an orange barrel in a work zone.

At the intersection of Blue and Gray Parkway, the vehicle went through a red light without stopping. The vehicle went through another red light at the intersection of Butler Road and Chatham Heights Road, and then traveled over the double yellow lines to pass a vehicle.

The suspect vehicle turned onto Colonial Avenue and then Forbes Street. When attempting to turn onto Route 1, the suspect vehicle went through a stop sign without stopping and hit the rear end of a vehicle traveling on Route 1.

The suspect vehicle got stuck in the median on Route 1. Deputy Layug exited his vehicle and commanded the driver to exit the vehicle. However, the suspect vehicle was able to get out of the median and began traveling southbound on Route 1.

The deputy followed the suspect vehicle onto Route 17 and then onto Interstate 95 northbound. The suspect vehicle passed several vehicles by traveling on the right and left shoulders of the roadway.

The deputy then observed the suspect vehicle exit the interstate at the 143B off-ramp onto Garrisonville Road westbound and then spin around so that it was facing the deputy’s vehicle. The suspect vehicle then careened into the front of the deputy’s vehicle before proceeding to turn left onto Route 1 northbound and then left onto I-95 northbound.

Additional units continued the pursuit on the interstate. Once at the Prince William County line, Virginia State Police units took over as primary in the pursuit. The pursuit was ultimately terminated after units lost sight of the suspect vehicle.

Deputy Layug confirmed that the identity of the driver matched the DMV photo of the registered owner of the vehicle. The suspect has been identified as Britney Bates, 34, of King George. Warrants have been obtained for felony eluding, felony hit and run, felony destruction of property, reckless driving, driving revoked, identity theft, providing a false identity to law enforcement, and several traffic violations. The suspect remains at large.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (540) 658-4400.

STAFFORD — Faced with redistricting all of Stafford County’s 17 elementary schools, the administration has decided to rely heavily on the contractor they hired to do the job.

The School Board met Tuesday evening to discuss possible solutions for the school system’s eight-month-long elementary school redistricting process which began with the School Board’s request to purchase the old Fredericksburg Christian School to house the county’s Northstar campus in June and will conclude in late February.

The School Board still hasn’t narrowed down their wishlist and criteria from the original 17 bullet points from previous redistricting efforts. They also did not direct Arc Bridge, the redistricting consulting company to include different criteria while redistricting students.  Instead, Arc Bridge outlined the criteria that they were going to follow.

“We did not provide them with any direction or criteria,” said Scott Horan, Assistant Superintendent for Operations.

Under the criteria that Arc Bridge outlined,  the redistricting process should balance enrollment across the county’s existing 17 elementary schools and, as much as they can, keep children from the same neighborhoods in the same schools.

The school division is considering two plans for its redistricting process. A total of 3,195 students would be affected if Plan A were to be chosen and 3,800 students would be affected if the School Board chose plan B.

The redistricting plans will take effect during the 2019-2020 school year. The School Board’s main goal is to limit school capacity to about  85 percent for the 2022-2023 school year. The board wants to get close to the 85-percent capacity in order to manage the county’s expected growth in the next 10 to 15 years.

“We don’t have to meet the standard 85-percent capacity goal, we can try to find other ways to redistrict to reduce the families impacted,” Superintendent Scott Kizner said.

The School Board has stated numerous times that neighborhoods that have been redistricted in the past four years can still be subject to the redistricting process but the School Board will try their best to avoid moving those neighborhoods.

The neighborhoods that have been redistricted recently:

• Cabin Creekwood
• Colonial Terrace
• Falmouth Village
• Hamlin Hills
• Hills of Aquia
• Leeland Heights
• Liberty Place
• Patriot’s Landing
• Port Aquia 186
• Ridge Point
• Staffordborough
• Sunningdale Meadows
• Woodstream
• The Manor at England Run

School Board asked if the consultant was using common sense instead of just trying to achieve the School Board’s 85-percent capacity goal when redistricting students to different schools.

“I think the consultants were more focused on meeting the 85-percent goal rather than common sense,” Chairwoman Patricia Healy said. “I hope common sense prevails. We shouldn’t move different areas to get to the correct numbers.”

In both Plan A and Plan B, some subdivisions are split up and into small islands requiring passing two or three closer elementary schools to get their districted elementary school. According to Healy, some students in her district that live across the street in the Hampton Oaks subdivision will be taken from Hampton Oaks Elementary sent to Kate Waller Barrett Elementary.

“If [residents in] neighborhoods are able to walk to school we must keep those communities together,” Garrisonville representative Pam Yueng said.

Yueng asked about building a new elementary school, which would be the county’s 18th, but that discussion was quickly shot down by other board members because the School Board won’t have the funds for another 10 to 20 years.

Yueng asked about adding trailer classrooms to schools across the county. The Board of Supervisors appropriated funds for a trailer for Hartwood Elementary to relieve the overcrowding in the school but the School Board voted against the appropriation. Yueng was one of the dissenters when the School Board voted on adding the “learning pod” in July.

Currently, there are no trailer classrooms at any Stafford public school.

The School Board could ask for more plans from Arc Bridge if they don’t feel comfortable on voting for either Plan A or Plan B.

The School Board will host another work session meeting on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 9 am. After the work session, the board will host a special called meeting to inform the public, once again, about the redistricting process.

The School Board plans to approve the redistricting maps in late February.

STAFFORD — County teachers on are on tap for a  five percent raise in this year’s budget instead of the two percent originally planned.

Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner unveiled his planned budget for FY 2020 that would begin on July 1. The requested budget will be around $328.5 million which is a 13 percent increase from the FY 2018 budget.

All school staff will see a five-percent raise while office and building administrators will receive a three-percent raise if his budget is approved.

The Stafford Education Association had originally asked Kizner for a five percent raise in November during a closed session meeting with the School Board.

“We have a lot of educators who are talking about how five percent would significantly change their lives,” SEA President Christian Peabody wrote in an email to Potomac Local. “They [teachers] are empowering each other and gradually becoming more vocal about speaking out to fight for their worth and their division.”

In Kizner’s budget, the expectation is that county schools will be able to “attract and retain the workforce and promote a positive working and learning experience for all involved.”

“This is a journey we have to collectively think of ways to make this a place people don’t want to leave,” Kizner said during his presentation to the School Board.

The total increase in staff salaries with the five percent raise will turn out to be $38.8 million. Kizner also plans to bump school nurses up to the planned teacher pay scale. He also plans to include referral bonuses for staff and tuition assistance for teachers who work to achieve masters degrees while working for the county.

“We, as a collective group, would like to try to remove any barriers from teachers coming to Stafford,” Kizner said.

The proposed budget also includes the addition of school counselors so that students can get more career, emotional, and mental health support from school staff. The ultimate goal is to bring down the ratio of counselors to one counselor to every 250, which is what the Virginia School Counselor Association recommends.

Kizner also requested that the school division to hire 27 more full-time teachers for the 2019-2020 school year.

In December, Gov. Ralph Northam proposed a five percent increase for all teachers in the state. Northam’s proposal is contingent on a funding match from local school districts would take effect on July 1, 2019. If the proposal were approved, it would be the state’s largest single-year raise in 15 years.

House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox (R-66) announced his plan to include the five percent teacher raise in the GOP’s budget that will be presented later this week. The increase in teacher pay won’t increase taxes in either budget.

Many teachers and activists took to the streets in front of the State Capitol for the Red for Education rally for an increase in state funding for public schools.

“I think our teachers deserve better raises than what they’ve gotten in the past,” Kizner said as he wrapped his presentation up.

The School Board is expected to approve the budget on April 30, 2019.

STAFFORD — The Stafford Education Association is pushing the county School Board to reschedule a teacher workday so instructors may go to Richmond to lobby lawmakers for higher wages.

The association wants the workday, which is used for teachers to finalize grades for the first semester moved to Monday, Jan. 28 from Tuesday, Jan. 29. The planned workday has been on the books since last year when the school division approved its annual calendar.

Monday marks the  SEA’s Virginia Education Association’s annual Lobby Day, also known as “Red for Education.” If the workday is moved, teachers would be able to attend and would and not have to use a sick day, says SEA spokesman Al Watkins.

Stafford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner, who’s also an SEA member, has already approved a “professional day” leave for the 35 teachers across the county that have been selected to attend the rally in Richmond. Kizner will also be attending the rally.

Kizner and the School Board did not offer public comment about swapping the teacher workday.

“Red for Education day is extremely important to securing funds for our school system,” Kizner said during a School Board meeting Tuesday. “State funding for schools has not been in a positive trajectory.”

“I knew this request would inconvenience some folks in Stafford,” Watkins said. “The potential benefits outweigh the inconveniences. This is one of the most important days I have been a part of in my time in Stafford.”

According to Watkins, over 400 school employees have been surveyed and would like to attend the “Red for Education” event.

The selected attendees will meet with their locally elected leaders before the rally to discuss a plan for more funding to Stafford schools.

“I came from Arizona where school funding was an issue and teachers went on strike,” said Matt Lentz, Red for Education spokesman. “I ask the School Board for their support.”

The SEA has already asked Kizner to include a five percent across-the-board pay raise for all school employees.

“We have a lot of Educators who are talking about how 5% would significantly change their lives,” SEA President Christian Peabody wrote in an email to Potomac Local.

Members of the Prince William Education Association also plan to make the trip down to meet with their representatives and participate in the rally on the Capitol grounds.

“Virginia public schools are underfunded, and we are taking our case straight to the General Assembly to demand that our elected officials support our students and our schools,” states Riley O’Casey, PWEA president in a press release.

O’Casey went on to say state support for local public schools has declined:

• Since the Great Recession, Virginia’s state funding of K-12 schools has declined 9% when adjusted for inflation. Meanwhile, student enrollments have risen.
• Virginia is the 12th wealthiest state but ranks 42nd in per-pupil state funding.
• The gap between what Virginia teachers make and the national average is at an all-time high. Virginia teachers currently earn $9,218 under the national average, ranking the state 34th in the country.

O’Casey says PWCS will benefit from greater state funding of local schools—and that’s well worth the trip to Richmond.

In December, Governor Ralph Northam proposed a 5 percent increase for all teachers in the state. Northam’s proposal is contingent on a funding match from local school districts would take effect on July 1. If the proposal were approved, it would be the state’s largest single-year raise in 15 years.

“The SEA’s plan predates the Governor’s by months and includes every Educator,” Peabody said.

Northam also announced his plan to throw more money at the state’s schools, this time school counselors would be receiving extra funds. Northam says that a $36 million increase would allow a better student to counselor ratio. The Virginia School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of one counselor to every 250 students.