Author: Rick Horner

News

Schools never ‘shut down’ but could have reopened sooner, says Broklawski, School Board candidate

By Rick Horner
Broklawski (center) with his family. [Submitted photo]

Mark Broklawski says he takes pride in the fact that he is the product of the public school system.

The IT professional has lived in Stafford for 17 years. His wife, Amanda, is a public school teacher, and his children attend Stafford public schools. Broklawski also has other family members that work in public schools reaching back at least three generations.

Broklawski wants to put his experiences and knowledge to use by running for the Hartwood District seat of the Stafford County School Board. He wants to continue improving taxpayer value for their dollar and making the biggest impact possible while, as he puts it, "we reimagine education to ensure our schools, kids, and community meet the challenges of our technological era."

Broklawski already has some experience with the school board in helping to build broad coalitions of stakeholders to improve efficiency and ensure that resources can be deployed where they're needed most, as he has done with the Capital Improvement Planning and Multicultural committees created by the Stafford County School Board.

Potomac Local News talked to Mr. Broklawski about his campaign for the School Board as well as his perspective on events and how they've affected the way Stafford schools will run moving forward.

What inspired you to run for the school board?

After years of underfunding and mismanagement, the Stafford County public school system is in disarray. We are 35.3% below the state average in funding while being the 17th wealthiest county in the country. This is unacceptable. I'm running for Stafford County Schoolboard because our community deserves better.

Strong schools make strong economic sense for our community. Even if you don't have children in school now, strong schools protect your home value and increase our ability to attract businesses that pay well and grow our commercial base.

As we return to in-person instruction, we need to reimagine the way we do things. In this age of advanced technology our education system has been left in the dark. That needs to change. We need to invest in our teachers and our students. We need more classrooms not trailers. We need to empower all students to prepare for life after high school. We need more teachers per student and they need to be competitively compensated.

If I'm elected I will work tirelessly with our community members, parents and teachers. I will do everything I can because I believe that education is at the core of our community's health. It's time for our schools to be brought into a future we can be proud of, and if I'm elected I won't stop until we get there.

What do you think that Stafford Schools have done that's encouraging and what could be improved?

We need to prepare students for life after high school, whether that means attending a community college, pursuing a four-year degree, entering an apprenticeship program, or going right into the job market. It's time to move beyond the "bachelor's degree or bust" mentality. Not every child wants to go to college, in today's economy, they shouldn't have to in order to build a great life - if our schools help set them up for success from the start.

Stafford Schools has done a great job with their Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, which is very encouraging; however, I see huge opportunities to further expand career path opportunities for students by building additional partnerships with businesses, community colleges, and building trades. This will allow students to concurrently earn credentials, learn apprentice-level content, and have long-term prospects for good-paying jobs with health and retirement benefits they can rely on.

CTE programs offer students marketable, real-world skills. But too many kids either don't know about or can't access these programs. This needs to change.

We must provide more staffing and space in buildings for high-demand programs, so that students can access these programs. CTE was ranked 5th on the 2020-2021 Top Ten Critical Shortage Teaching Endorsement Areas in Virginia.

Last year students missed a lot of school time due to the pandemic. Do you think it was necessary to shut down the schools?

My wife, a public school teacher, worked incredibly hard and put in countless hours whether teaching virtually or concurrently throughout the year, as did all of our teachers, admins and support staff. Let's also not forget about our special education teachers who continued to teach in-person throughout the school year.

So, to say that schools shut down last academic year is a false premise.

As a parent of two children in the public school system, the instructional models offered were far from perfect. The struggle was real for many families, including ours. Working families, especially women, have made deep career sacrifices to help oversee their children's education. Teaching children is not easy. My respect has only deepend for our incredible educators and all that they do.

In this coming year we need to make sure our teachers and families have the support in place to make sure that we are bridging the learning gap for our children.

Another struggle was the lack of affordable access to high-speed Internet in Hartwood.

We cannot have two types of education: one on paper and one on the Internet. But the pandemic has highlighted the digital divide within our district. The lack of affordable high-speed internet has deepened inequities in access to education for our children, as well as inequities in parents' employment.

I will work with local, state, and federal partners to increase Internet access by bringing in more competition into our community and advocating for community broadband networks, which will have the net effect of greater accessibility, lower prices, and more options.

Do I believe if COVID-19-relief funds were prioritized to implement proven risk mitigation strategies that we could have returned to in-person instruction sooner? Absolutely.

Children and school staff are now required to wear masks throughout the school day. What are your thoughts? 

It's critical that children return safely to in-person instruction and can stay there.

State law requires that all schools offer in-person instruction and adhere to currently applicable mitigation strategies to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC guidance continues to evolve, as the virus evolves, and as we learn more about the science surrounding the virus and subsequent variants. In fact, the CDC guidance changed again last week.

We must follow the science and the law when it comes to any required mitigation strategies, so children can safely return and remain in the classroom.

Broklawski is running against Alyssa Halstead for the Hartwood District seat on the Stafford County School Board on Tuesday, November 2. Early voting starts at the Stafford County Government Center on Friday, September 17.

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News

Up to $400,000 slated for city in opioid lawsuit

By Rick Horner
Fredericksburg City Hall [Photo: Fredericksburg Va. Government Facebook page]

The Fredericksburg City Council has approved an agreement between Virginia Attorney Mark Herring regarding allocating funds obtained through court settlements concerning the opioid crisis.

According to City Attorney Dooley, the city's piece of the litigation pie is expected to be between $300,000 and $400,000. While Fredericksburg has not set a plan for the disbursement of funds from the settlement, a percentage of what the city could get has been set by the Virginia Attorney General. 

The agreement allows 30 percent of the settlement funds to be distributed to participating localities such as Fredericksburg. Of that take, 15 percent would be used for approved opioid reduction costs, while the other 15 percent would be totally unrestricted and used by the city on other items.

Another 55 percent of funds received by the commonwealth would go into the Opioid Abatement Authority and Fund from which localities would be qualified to pull from for opioid reduction purposes.

Ward 3 Councilman Dr. Timothy Duffy called the agreement a warning shot to big business and a reminder of their responsibilities to the people.

"We have an industry that preyed on the public in a way that was appalling, a gross amount of these opioids flooded into town, throughout the country, in ways that far exceeded what could have been done for public benefit, and greed was certainly at the base of it," said Duffy. 

The opioid crisis has taken a toll on the community, he adds.

"We can't forget the appalling cost that has come to families in our city, our region, our country. There isn't anyone who doesn't know someone who's suffered from the scourge of opioid addiction."

The opioid epidemic was declared a public health emergency by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services due to the wide misuse of both prescription and non-prescription opioid medications. According to numbers provided by HHS, it was estimated that 10.1 million people had misused such drugs in 2019 alone and that 70,630 people had died as a result of drug overdoses.

Along with many other localities and states, Fredericksburg had filed a civil litigation lawsuit against various companies involved in the production, sale, and distribution of medical-grade opiates. The suit seeks to recover costs associated with opioid addiction.

Other localities such Arlington, Prince William, and Fairfax Counties have already approved similar understandings with the Attorney General.

This agreement is the latest result in Fredericksburg's lawsuit against companies involved in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain since its inception in May 2019 when the City Council declared the opioid crisis a public nuisance.

According to Fredericksburg City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, some of the defendants in the lawsuit are seeking to end these lawsuits through settlements. Some of those defendants include McKesson, AmerisourceBergan, and Cardinal Health, collectively considered the big three companies in opioid distribution. Jansen/Johnson & Johnson is also expected to make a settlement as well.

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Schools

City middle school students revert to virtual 2 weeks into new academic year

By Rick Horner

A middle school in Fredericksburg will send its students home for virtual-only learning just two weeks after the start of the new school year.

The city schools system announced that students at Walker-Grant Middle School would return to virtual learning after seeing a growing number of new coronavirus cases.

After consulting with the Virginia Department of Health, Fredericksburg City Public Schools announced it, which had determined the situation as a high-level concern due to Walker-Grant's reporting of several new cases over the last two weeks, which has resulted in the quarantining of staff and students.

According to FCPS, there have been multiple presumptive and positive new coronavirus cases just in the last week. FCPS also disclosed that just in the last two days, those cases had been linked together, resulting in multiple outbreaks and other ongoing cases resulting in high levels of student absenteeism and school staff being at critical levels.

VDH considers a coronavirus outbreak to be at least two cases reported at the same address. 

Updated stats on the FCPS school website reveals that between August 8 and August 23, a total of 95 students within the entire school division have been quarantined due to exposure to the virus. Out of that total, 25 students had been tested positive for the virus.

The total number of students in the FCPS is 3,551 for the 2020-21 school year. 

The school division's coronavirus dashboard also records that five staff members have also tested positive and been quarantined for exposure. The dashboard doesn't record from what schools these cases are being reported from, so it's hard to say whether all or just most of the recorded cases come from Walker-Grant.

However, FCPS does state in their announcement that they didn't see any closely joined outbreaks, high absenteeism, or critical staff capacity issues with any other schools in the district.

As a result, FCPS and VDH have decided that Walker-Grant will revert to virtual learning immediately until Tuesday, Sept. 7. FCPS has also ordered the staff to report to work to provide virtual instruction.

Parents and caregivers have been instructed to contact Walker-Grant if the student doesn't have their computer or internet access.

Over the past seven days, there's been an average of 11 new coronavirus cases reported in Fredericksburg, with an average of zero hospitalizations and zero deaths. Further north, the state health department reported the first coronavirus-related death of a child in the region.

The child was between the ages of zero and nine years old, as the state does not reveal victims' information.

In neighboring Stafford County, Interim Superintendent Dr. Stanley B. Jones says the division is working on a pivot plan to revert to online learning in their schools. The decision to return to virtual learning would only be made after consulting with local health officials, said Jones.

 

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News

Opposing closures, mask mandates, Halstead running to change the course of Stafford Public Schools

By Rick Horner
Halstead

Alyssa Halstead has a long history of service when it comes to public safety and health.

She's worked as a public health emergency manager for the City of New York's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has a Master's degree in public health and education, and worked for 15 years in infectious disease planning for a pandemic.

Now she's running to represent the Hartwood District on the Stafford County School Board.

Halstead and her husband, a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, came to Virginia In 2012 and settled in Stafford three years later. The couple has two children and two rescue dogs from a boarding facility in Woodbridge, where she developed a curriculum to help children learn social and emotional empathy by bonding with shelter animals.

Potomac Local News talked with Halstead about her campaign for the school board seat and other issues related to the Stafford County Schools.

What inspired you to run for the School Board?

My decision to run for the school board is because our children deserve better than what they are being provided. There were previously well-defined strategies for how to accommodate learning during a pandemic. But, not even one included doing what we have done to our children over the last 18 months.

The back and forth, the indecision, and the fear posturing must stop, and we must return to education where the focus is on learning and helping our children move forward in their lives. Our children are the future of this country but over the course of the past few years, the public school system has continued to lower educational standards to manipulate greater positive outcomes. Education does not work that way; someone needs to stand up for our children.

But it's not just our children we have shortchanged, we have also allowed our teachers to be taken advantage of as well. In many situations, they are underappreciated and underpaid.

What do you think Stafford schools have done well, and what could they improve upon?

The elementary schools and their teachers have done an excellent job at showing their passion for educating young students and they are dedicated to moving forward strong, particularly under the circumstances we've seen this last year.

However, there are several things that need to change within the school system. We allow children far too much freedom to control the classroom and disrespect the teachers and policies in place to protect the learning environment. We need to go back towards stricter rules regarding disruptions in the classroom, respect, and even grading and achievement.

Over the past year, students missed classroom time due to the pandemic. Do you think it was necessary to shut the schools down?

No, it most certainly was not necessary for schools to be shut down during the pandemic. Based on my work, we have egregiously failed our children by ignoring well-defined strategies designed to protect them. Instead of trusting well-developed and practiced emergency plans, we have allowed the CDC, a nongoverning group of scientists, to dictate how free Americans live their lives. 

Considering many people continued to work and survived the year and a half it seemed ridiculous that teaching and education weren't deemed essential. I personally, at the beginning of the pandemic introduced myself to the current school board and offered my expertise to avoid the shutdowns, and was ignored. We need to understand that for many students, schools are also considered the largest custodial care institute in the country.

We provide this amazing place for our kids to be during the day with equally dedicated teachers and administration so that our parents can work and provide for them. We've taken that away. We made it so our parents were struggling, our kids were suffering (needlessly). Self-esteem is down in kids, consistency is down, motivation is down, grades are down. The only thing that's up is drug use and abuse, bullying, and divisiveness.

Where do you stand on mask mandates for children? 

I am opposed to masks and mask mandates. Aside from the slippery slope of what the word mandate means in a free society, we live in a world where every decision made has the power to bring an unintended consequence that can be dangerous, have a long-lasting impact, and be catastrophic for some.

We heard some of those unintended consequences at the July 27 Stafford County School Board meeting by parents who shared how the previous mask mandates impacted their children.

From the beginning, the overuse of masks as a solution has created a division among people and turned common sense into nonsense. The prolonged use of masks to prevent illness has been misrepresented and only served to perpetuate fear for a virus that has a 99.9 percent recovery rate - without treatment.

I'll say that again, a 99.9 percent recovery rate without treatment.

There are implications to mask-wearing we don't even know about yet, and parents are tired. Their children, my children, are suffering mentally and physically.

Scientists estimate that 380 trillion viruses live inside or on your body, that's 10 times the number of bacteria, now while most are there to coexist with your body, some are poised and ready to cause illness at any time. These viruses are there to support your immune system to learn and grow. When you mask our kids, you shut down their immune systems and you make that system lazy.

So, when you unmask our kids there is a greater chance these viruses, and bacteria become opportunistic and while your immune system is busy waking itself up again, there are many things that can hurt, do harm, or worse, to our kids. That's unacceptable by any standard in 2021. Our kids need someone to protect them from the real viruses, misinformation/half information, and political agendas.

Halstead will run against Mark Broklawski for the Hartwood seat, both will be on the ballot on November 2.

Early voting for this election begins Friday, September 17, and ends on Saturday, October 30. Early, absentee in-person voters may cast their ballots during this time between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on the second floor of the county government center, located at 1300 Courthouse Road in Stafford.

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Stafford creating teleworking policy for government employees, takes cues from neighbors

By Rick Horner

The Stafford County Government is formulating a teleworking policy for its employees.

Although the practice of teleworking is not new for the county, this past year saw an increase in demand for remote-work options in the wake of social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic.

The county shuttered its government building twice in the past 12 months, limiting the public's access to the local government hall, moving most government business and public meetings online. Neighboring Prince William County, on the other hand, largely kept the doors of its government center open while since the start of the pandemic.

Now the Board of Supervisors is looking into making a telework policy permanent for some employees.

County staffers told the Board of Supervisors that many workplaces in the private sector and government are allowing people to work remotely. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that the benefits of teleworking included flexibility to employees, job satisfaction, and keeping the county competitive in the job market by increasing recruitment and aiding in retaining staff, staffers told the Board.  

Many departments would benefit from telework, including the Commissioner of the Revenue's office, which assesses private property values, the county's top-tier administration offices, including County Administrator Fred Pressley, and the county's Public Works staff.

Several Virginia counties, including Prince William, Hanover, Loudoun, Chesterfield, and Henrico counties, all have telework policies that determine the maximum number of days that would be allowed to telework. Many allow for unlimited days for teleworking, while Hanover only allows two days a week. Chesterfield only allows telework in cases of inclement weather.

Spotsylvania is the only neighboring county that does not have a policy in place for teleworking.

In addition to how many days employees could work from home, the county will also work on a checklist that teleworkers would have to follow at home to comply with the policy.

Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings asked why such a checklist would even be necessary? For insurance purposes, the county staffers replied.

No funding would be necessary to implement such a policy since federal CARES Act funds had already been used to set up a telework infrastructure during the pandemic.

The Board plans to revisit the matter at the September 7 meeting, where they'll be presented with a set policy outline.

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Schools

Chase runs unopposed as only candidate seeking to retain seat on Stafford School Board

By Rick Horner
Chase

Of the four School Board members whose terms expire at the end of the year, Falmouth District representative Dr. Sarah Chase is the only one running to retain her seat.

She's also the only candidate whose running unopposed.

During her four years on the Stafford County School Board, Chase, a psychology professor who teaches at St. Mary's University in Maryland, experienced the coronavirus pandemic's issues, the departure of the district's school superintendent, and political redistricting in the county.

"It took a long time for me to decide to run again, but it's an important responsibility and we need different people on the board who have done their due diligence and their research in making these decisions," said Chase.

Chase said that her experience not only as a member of the Board but as someone who volunteered in the schools before her term would help with the transition that the school board will go through with three new members coming onto the board and a new superintendent to be hired in the next few months to replace the outgoing Dr. Scott Kizner, whose leaving in September.

"We're going into a situation where we have two members of the Board who only have two years of experience and one who has twenty years of experience and we're getting a new superintendent. I want to stay on and help whoever becomes the new superintendent to acclimate to the school system," says Chase.

Chase is also proud of some of the board's success during her term, such as purchasing the old Fredericksburg Christian School off Garrisonville Road in North Stafford, which became the Northstar Early Childhood Education Center. The center, according to Chase, provided necessary space for the developmental needs of the students.

Chase also touts the opening of Moncure Elementary, stating that they got it open on time as a success. Chase is also staying on when students are coming back to school after having to adapt to the issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. While some teachers and students with special needs or in need of internet access did stay in the buildings, most were relegated to virtual learning throughout the 2020 school year.

Students began to trickle back into the school soon after some elementary school students returned in October, while some high school students could return in February 2021. Many worked on hybrid programs during that time, spending half the time in class and the other half online.

"It wasn't ideal, I'm not going to pretend that everything worked out great. But for a difficult situation, it worked as well as we could make it work," says Chase of the school's adaptations to the pandemic.

Another issue for some Stafford residents is requiring students, teachers, and staff to wear masks as they returned to school on Aug. 9. Gov. Ralph Northam says a new law requires all school divisions across the state to require masks, although the author of the law disagrees. The forced mask mandate for everyone inside school buildings will stand until September 21, when the board will revisit the issue and decide whether or not to continue with the mask mandates. 

Chase is especially concerned about potential exposure to the virus as students go on vacation with their families during the four-day weekend for Labor Day, which falls on Monday, September 6.

Chase hopes to retain her seat on the school board and focus on the challenges that Stafford County is currently facing. The County's growth and need for more schools to accommodate that growth concern the board is planning for. The board is currently looking for a site for the county's sixth high school and is working on a new elementary school plan.

The board continues to face teacher retention, which has long been a challenge for Stafford due to Spotsylvania having a competitive salary and Prince William County offering a much higher salary to teachers. Dr. Chase hopes to narrow that particular gap and would have liked to have done it sooner, but as with all things affected by the pandemic, things changed.

"We had planned to make an increase in teacher's pay during the year of COVID, but then it hit and we weren't able to implement it. We did start it this year and we're hoping that in the next four years we can get that salary increase for teachers and licensed staff taken care of," said Chase. 

Early voting begins on Saturday, September 18. Election Day is Tuesday, November 2. 

In addition to the Falmouth seat, the School Board seats for the Aquia, Garrisonville, and Hartwood districts are also open.

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Features

Fredericksburg, Woodbridge fans to be treated to Free Comic Book Day

By Rick Horner

Gateway Comics and Toys will participate in Free Comic Book Day, a worldwide event, on Saturday, August 14.

This year will mark the 20th time the event has occurred and involve more than 2,000 participating comic shops in 60 countries.

Gateway plans to host special guests at both their Fredericksburg and Woodbridge locations to celebrate the occasion.

Those who visit the Fredericksburg store at 2368 Plank Road will see the local business Reclaim Arcade joining the festivities. Reclaim Arcade offers the experience of retro arcade gaming similar to those popular in the 1980s and 90s. Reclaim Arcade also owns Reclaim Video, which offers a similar nostalgic experience but with VHS tapes.

Other guests will include Fredericksburg-based Freddy Donuts, as well as an appearance by local comic creator Charles McElvy. McElvy is known for his creation Spider Squirrel which is published through his own label Xion Press.

Among the guests for Gateway's Woodbridge location, at 3112 P.S. Business Center Drive, just off Smoketown Road, will be writer/artist Jonathan Luna, known for his series Alex and Ada, published through Image Comics. Luna will be joined by local comic book writer and artist Lauren Keely whose book 20XX was also published through Image Comics.

Also appearing will be cosplayer Laney Jade, pop culture podcast host of The Great Geek Refuge Mike Lunsford, and Dave's Dogs providing food for the event.

Free Comic Book Day was originally founded by Joe Field, the founder of Flying Colors Comics, which is based in Concord, California, to introduce comics to new readers while giving thanks to current fans.




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Features

Sidewalk artists called to participate in Via Colori Stafford

By Rick Horner

To all artists who use the sidewalk as their medium of choice, Stafford County wants you.

The Stafford County Economic Development and Tourism Board, the count's Museum and Cultural Center, and the North Stafford and Stafford Rotary clubs are currently looking for artists to participate in the county's first sidewalk art event known as Via Colori Stafford.

The groups are recruiting artists to participate in a Via Colori piece, where they will create a patchwork of different pastel murals to be drawn on the sidewalks. The art form is a modern version of a centuries-old tradition that can be traced back to 16th century Italy when artists would paint religious icons in the courtyards of cathedrals.

Artists will be given a square to paint in the commuter lot located off of Exit 140 in Stafford, where the public is invited to attend and watch the artists create their works.

Each square artist will be sponsored by a business, organization, or family with the proceeds, after expenses, to benefit the museum and various services in the region. The event is expected to have 100 artists from various arts organizations. So far, 40 have signed up for the event.

Stafford Economic and Tourism recently held an event in anticipation of Via Colori Stafford called Via Tutori for the artists that had already signed up, which gave them a primer on the art style by those experienced in the medium.

Via Colori Stafford will occur at the commuter lot off of Exit 140 in Stafford on Sept. 25 and 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information is available online.









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Originals

Maureen Siegmund running for Garrisonville School Board seat

By Rick Horner
Siegmund

Maureen Siegmund is running to become the representative for the Garrisonville District on the Stafford County School Board.

Siegmund says she's right for the job as the Director of External Relations for Active Policy Solutions, a government affairs firm that provides government relations and advocacy support to clients specializing in sports, health, wellness, education, youth development, and civil rights policy.

Siegmund says that this, along with her work with the Board's Gifted Advisory Committee, where she has served as both chair and vice-chair, gives her extensive insight into the issues Stafford County is facing in its schools and the experience to read, understand, and consider the impacts of policy.

Siegmund and her husband Steve have called Stafford County home since 2005, after spending many weekends exploring the area as tourists. They lived in South Stafford until 2016 and then moved to Austin Ridge in the Garrisonville District.

  • The couple has four children attending the 2021-2022 school year with an eighth-grader at Rodney Thompson Middle School, fifth and third graders at Anthony Burns Elementary School, and a toddler still at home.

Potomac Local News spoke with Siegmund about her goal to become a member of the school board and other issues related to Stafford County Schools.

What inspired you to run for the School Board?

I have been serving on a School Board advisory committee for five years. I've learned a lot and met many incredible people. However, I noticed that there were no School Board members with young children serving, and I think that perspective is something missing from the board's deliberations.

I realized that they often discussed policy implementation with how it would impact high schools. Still, the impact at the elementary and even the middle school level would be very different and sometimes not considered.

When I learned that my school board representative (Pamela Yeung) would not seek re-election, I decided to run to be that voice and offer that perspective. Through my involvement on the School Board's Gifted Advisory Committee, elementary and middle school PTOs, running a K-12 girls youth development troop, involvement in our church activities, Stafford Parks & Rec sports teams, Stafford Soccer, Izaak Walton League, and the Rouse Center, I have the opportunity to interact with families from across our county and look forward to incorporating that feedback into my contributions to the School Board.

PLN: What do you think Stafford School has done that's encouraging and what could be improved?

Siegmund: We entered Stafford County Public Schools after a private school could not meet our childrens' needs.

Coming into the system with one 'transfer' student and a new kindergartener, both requiring additional services, meant many meetings. We were met with patience and an abundance of answers.

We now have three children in the schools. Some require gifted services. Some have IEPs. SCPS's ability to differentiate each child's education to meet them where they are has been incredible, and having children that experience the spectrum of SPCS services provides me with an amazing perspective of both the excellence of what we offer as well as some areas that need improvement.

Where I think they could improve is opening the doors for parent feedback and questions. It's not that they discourage it, but I think most parents feel like there isn't even the option to ask questions.

When I started serving on the Committee, my friends started asking me lots of questions about how/why things were done. I'd encourage them to call the appropriate person to ask, and there was often this look of shock that they could.

Parents/Teachers/Administration are all on the same team. We all want the exact same thing: the best possible education for Stafford County children. The lines of communication need to be WIDE open. I also think the county could do a better job at pushing out information for parents who, like me, sometimes don't know about the full spectrum of what our school has to offer. It's hard to ask questions about or to participate in what can be life-changing opportunities if no one knows it's available.

PLN: Last year, students missed a lot of school time due to the pandemic. Do you think it was necessary to shut down the schools?

Siegmund: Yes, in March 2020, it was necessary to shut down the schools. I also understand that at the time that and other decisions were taken out of the hands of local school boards and prescribed at the state level.

With what we now know, I think providing parents the option of in-person or virtual school should be the policy moving forward. I think parents most often have the best perspective from which to make those kinds of choices for their kids.

Additionally, I think it is imperative that the School Board work closely with the Board of Supervisors, state delegates, and state senators to ensure they have the best possible information about our students' needs.

PLN: There are discussions about students wearing masks once they return to school. What are your thoughts on that?

Siegmund: I believe anyone who wants to wear a mask absolutely should. In most, if not all, ways, this county prides itself on seeking to accommodate students and their individual needs.

I support having a flexible policy that supports each student and their needs. Generally speaking, I believe that "one-size-fits-all' policies can fail to effectively address the needs of students, and we can do better. Our students deserve it.

Siegmund will be on the ballot on Nov. 2, running against Wanda Blackwell for the Garrisonville district seat of the Stafford County School Board.

  • While School Board elections are considered to be non-partisan, Delegate Joshua Cole (D-28, Stafford, Fredericksburg) stood in support of Blackwell at her campaign kick-off in North Stafford in July.
  • Early voting begins September 18 at the county government center at 1300 Courthouse Road.

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Va. explores Metro to Woodbridge on heels of billions invested into VRE, HOT lanes expansions

By Rick Horner
Metro's “Rush Plus” service allows riders on Blue line trains from the Franconia-Springfield station the option of boarding a train that will take them across the Yellow line bridge crossing the Potomac River.

New survey findings show that the majority of respondents, at least 31%, favored extending Metro south of Springfield.

One of the options being discussed in the feasibility study is the possibility of extending the Metro's Yellow Line from Huntington station Alexandria south along Route 1 to Woodbridge, Potomac Mills, and Quantico.

  • The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation has revealed the findings of a survey conducted to find ways to improve transportation in our region.
  • The survey was conducted between April 19 to May 18 and asked 1,352 residents from Prince William and the southern portion of Fairfax counties what methods would improve transit.

DRPT sought to understand local and regional use of public transit in both the pre-and and post-pandemic eras. Public transportation serving Prince William County saw very low ridership due to pandemic restrictions, which had a detrimental effect on the revenue streams of public transit organizations such as Omniride and the Virginia Railway Express.

  • The survey also sought to understand commuter's travel behaviors and how different transit alternatives could best serve the needs of residents within the corridor.

It also looked at the feasibility of extending Metro's Blue Line, extending it south from its terminus at Franconia-Springfield station to Quantico. While a Yellow-line extension would serve more neighborhoods in Fairfax County and serve Fort Belvoir, it's likely to be more costly. 

A Blue-line extension could run along the dedicated right of way along Interstate 95, resembling the Orange line which was built on Interstate 66 between West Falls Chruch and Arlington.

The second most popular choice among 25 percent of respondents was an expansion of services by VRE. While VRE has had limited its service to weekday mornings and afternoons, it's getting ready for a massive expansion.

  • In December 2019, Gov. Ralph Northam announced a $3.7 billion landmark deal to expand passenger rail and VRE.
  • It came with funding to replace the Long Bridge, which links Arlington and Washington, D.C. and has long been the east coast's most notorious rail bottlenecks, causing travel delays commuters on VRE and Amtrak.
  • Passenger trains must wait for freight trains to pass before proceeding across the bridge.
  • The new infrastructure will be built, including a third, dedicated set of railroad tracks between Fredericksburg and Washington, D.C. for passenger trains.

With an estimated completion date of about 10 years,  VRE service would increase by 70%, with new trains added on weeknights and weekends so that late-night revelers could stay later in the city, and weekend sightseers could trade their cars for the train.

  • At the time, former Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Chairman Marty Nohe said VRE would become something more akin to New York City's Long Island Railroad, which serves the suburbs beyond the reach of the city's subway system.

Survey respondents said they would use expanded transit options to commute to work, leisure, and shopping.

  • While many in the same survey said that they expected to keep working from home post-pandemic, the ability to travel to Fort Belvoir, Quantico, and Woodbridge within the corridor and areas such as Washington D.C. outside the corridor were appealing for those reasons.

Where would new stations along an extended Metro line be built? While Triangle has been considered, there were also concerns of lack of ridership, potential costs, and economic development potential that made DRPT uneasy.

  • They're also considering simply extending a line to just Woodbridge or Quantico.

Another potential option explored in the survey was Rapid Bus Transit, which would run the same route as an extended Metro line. DRPT 's findings suggested that this method would be more cost-efficient and has the potential for more ridership and for more economic development among areas where stations could be set up, such as Fort Belvoir, Southbridge, North Woodbridge, Potomac Mills, and Triangle

  • Such a line could travel down the U.S. Route 1, which has been widened from four to six lanes in multiple locations in Prince William County in the past 10 years.
  • These expansions have made it easier to implement BRT service in the corridor, said, officials. 

While no cost figures were presented in the survey report, they are expected to be presented in the DRPT's final report expected on December 1.

  • A nearly 12-mile extension of the Metro Silver line began in 2014  from Ashburn in Loudoun County to Washington-Dulles International Airport. The project was reported by Governing Magazine in a 2012 story to have cost Metro $6.8 billion, making it the largest expansion project by route mileage since Metro's opening in 1976.
  • A rail extension to Quantico or Woodbridge is likely to cost at least double.

Of course, all of this talk of expanding transit options comes as Virginia, beginning in the mid-2000s, has already sunk billions into High Occupancy Toll lanes on all of its major highways in Northern Virginia. 

  • The lanes allow drivers to pay a toll for a faster, more reliable trip and allows those in vehicles three or more to ride free.

DRPT will host another public meeting in September to continue to update their progress of the study.

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