Welcome (or welcome back) to a Potomac Local News series, “Meet the Principal.”

We started this series at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year with the nearly two dozen new principals in Prince William County Schools, but let’s turn our attention to the new and existing Manassas City Public Schools principals. Potomac Local has asked each principal the same questions in bold, and their respective answers will be found below.


Gainesville Community Choir (GCC) will perform a collaborative concert this winter entitled “From Darkness to Light” featuring Dan Forrest’s LUX: the Dawn from On High and other songs for the season with Fairfax Choral Society. Performances will take place at Grace United Methodist Church in Manassas on Friday, December 6, and Annandale United Methodist Church on Saturday, December 7, both concerts starting at 7:30 p.m. This highly anticipated concert will feature over 200 musicians, making it the largest group of singers ever amassed by the Gainesville-based group.

Since its formation in 2013, GCC has always been committed to its mission to enrich, educate, and entertain through intentional community-building and developing and supporting musical excellence. Gainesville Community Choir was honored to receive the Seefeldt Award for Outstanding Arts Organization in 2023. In addition to that distinction, conductor and co-founder Jacob Lash recently received the 2024 Seefeldt Award for Outstanding Arts Educator. GCC’s Board of Directors believes that both vocal technique and expression are essential to achieving this mission. Rehearsals incorporate lessons in vocal technique and music literacy, and the choir strives to thoughtfully impact the hearts and souls of audiences and the surrounding communities through their performances.


Public officials and real estate executives broke ground on the new Virginia Railway Express (VRE) station house at Potomac Shores on Saturday.

Many community members met to both celebrate the completion of the $24 million, 350-spot parking garage and the beginning of the 20,000-square-foot station house project. Along with the station house will be two levels of retail space: restaurant space with indoor and outdoor dining and any number of retailers, such as ice cream or coffee shops.


Stafford residents, led by former Hartwood District Supervisor Joe Brito, are rallying ahead of tonight’s Board of Supervisors meeting to advocate for transforming the closed Cannon Ridge Golf Course into a regional historical riverfront park and for transportation impact fees on developers. Brito served as the Hartwood District’s Supervisor from 2006 to 2009.

Tonight’s Board of Supervisors meeting will discuss the Transportation Master Plan (TMP), and proposed Transportation Impact Fees for developers. The board will discuss amending the Capital Improvement Plan to add the TMP as an appendix. The TMP includes projects already in process, like road repairs and safety fixes; short-term projects designed to improve safety and flow, like bike paths and pedestrian walkways; and long-term plans like a new river crossing route. The plan includes just over $1 billion in road projects.


Press Release:

Join us for a wonderful holiday tradition in Occoquan on the evening of Saturday, November 23, 2024. This is our popular tree lighting and shop late event that will for the third year in a row include our Holiday Firelight activities.


On Nov. 15, UVA Health announced its medical centers in Haymarket and Manassas received “A” safety grades — the highest possible grade — for the fall by the Leapfrog Group.

The group, an independent national watchdog organization, assigns a letter grade from A to F to hospitals across the United States based on more than 30 measures, including errors, accidents, injuries, infections and systems in place to prevent harm.


Since Taylor’s departure, Chris R. Fulmer, the Acting Superintendent, will return to his role as Deputy Superintendent. Fulmer, a CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner, has served SCPS for 12 years and has been pivotal in overseeing operations and collaborating with community stakeholders.

Smith, formerly Chief of Staff and Acting Superintendent for Loudoun County Public Schools, brings over 20 years of experience in educational leadership. He took over for Superintendent Scott A. Ziegler, who was fired following high public agitation and low staff morale over the school district’s handling of two sexual assaults of students by a fellow student. “I’m deeply honored with the trust you’ve placed in me, and I’m thrilled to serve as your superintendent,” Smith said during his acceptance speech.


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