Those who meet the standards and graduate from the Army’s challenging Ranger School earn the right to wear the prestigious Ranger tab.
On August 21, 2015, two female Soldiers made history. Captain Kristen Griest and First Lieutenant Shaye Haver became the first women to earn the honor and joined a long line of outstanding Soldiers.
As families prepare their kids to head back to school one thought is in the back of everyone’s mind: safety. Prince William County schools are a reflection of Prince William County communities.
Potomac School Board Rep Betty Covington and I recently attended a safe schools presentation at Forest Park High School. One thing is clear: safe schools start with safe communities.
One of the most important positions that County voters will decide on November 3rd is Chairman of the County School Board. Our school system is the largest entity in the County, educating some 87,000 students and employing 10,800 teachers, bus drivers and support staff.
The School Board became an elected body 20 years ago, in the aftermath of an era when Board members were appointed by the respective Magisterial District Supervisors. The change was approved by the Virginia General Assembly in order to distance education from political agendas. As we know, politicians are accountable for the functioning of County government. Education of our children is in the province of parents, families, teachers and elected officials whose principal job is to guide the School Administration. Unfortunately, political parties continue to attempt to dominate the process by endorsing School Board candidates. This tends to make School Board members accountable to politicians and their agendas. And for the past several years, one of the first places they cut is education. How does the Chairman of the School Board support education when beholden, for example, to County political leaders? And worse, what criteria does the political party use when it endorses School Board candidates?
When I moved to Dale City in 1978, I was a nine year old rising 4 th grader.
Enterprise Elementary School opened its doors for the first time that year, and I was in Ms. Stoneburner’s class. After two years at Enterprise, a school my children would later attend and where I would eventually serve as PTA President and Treasurer, I went to Godwin Middle School and graduated from Osbourn Park in 1987. During those years, I received a great education from some incredible teachers. And I chose to raise and educate my children here in Prince William County.
I went home Wednesday night and finished working on the fence in our backyard.
We installed a new gate to a side yard. Our two goats will enjoy this new large space, and I’ll enjoy the fact that they will eat all the unwanted foliage there.
During my tenure in the Virginia General Assembly I have met a lot of very qualified and capable judges, and I quickly realized that when judges make it to the General Assembly, they are more than able to handle the job and generally very qualified. Our confirmation is usually procedural in nature. So when the debate over this Virginia Supreme Court nomination began, I initially stayed quiet because as a general rule either way we would end up with a very qualified and competent jurist.
This time it worries me that the tone and rhetoric about this appointment has entered into political mudslinging that questions the character and career of a man that has worked very hard to get to where he is, and not to mention is more than deserving of this appointment.
Sometimes it’s the little thing that can make a big difference in a community.
My wife and I moved into our new home in Prince William County last year. We reside on Token Forest Drive, and along with several of our neighbors; we were very concerned about the excessive speeding and dangerous conditions in front of our homes.
Whether you live, work or are just passing through Northern Virginia, the 30-mile stretch of Route 1 that connects the Capital Beltway to Aquia Harbor is one of the nation’s most congested transportation arteries.
Portions of Route-1 carry an average of 231,000 vehicles per day and, even with improvements, vehicular traffic will only increase in the coming years.
Trust in government at all levels has been falling for years. And it isn’t particularly surprising. We hear almost daily about politicians on the take, breaking the public trust for their own personal or political gain. Unfortunately, we let it continue year after year not only by reelecting those guilty of such practices, but also by not demanding more transparency and accountability from our elected officials. But that doesn’t have to be the case in Prince William County.
In 2008, I was selected to serve as the lone, atlarge citizen of the County’s Board Audit Committee, a group charged with ensuring that staff are efficient and effective in complying with laws, policies and procedures. The board itself eliminated the citizen position from the audit committee before I had the opportunity to actually serve. This lack of government transparency is unacceptable. To date, the board consists only of the County Supervisors themselves with no input or participation from members of the community. This needs to change. If we as citizens are not invited to be part of processes such as this, and get the bad news along with the good, we lose the power to keep our public servants honest and focused on finding real solutions to the problems we face. As Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors, I will make it a top priority on my first day in office to restore citizen membership to the audit committee so that the public has direct access to compliance and efficiency audits.
In November of this year, we will be going to the polls to select our representatives to the House of Delegates. In the 31st District, the choice is between Scott Lingamfelter and Sara Townsend. If you feel our school system is incredibly well funded and your representatives in Richmond have consistently been investing in education to create a better future for your children you may wish to re-elect Scott Lingamfelter; however, if you are an educated voter, fully aware of the Delegate Lingamfelter’s voting record, you will cast your ballot for Sara Townsend.
The basis of a solid economy is a well-educated populace. After teaching in public and private schools for nearly 20 years, I finally had to leave the profession last year because of the constraints put on public schools by our House of Delegates. Despite mandated requirements put in place by our elected representatives, funding has been slashed at the state level thanks to representatives like Delegate Lingamfelter.
