Students at Manassas City Public Schools are returning to the classroom for the first time since March.

Special Education students returned to the classroom on November 4. In December, the city School Board is set to vote on when to return the remainder of the school division’s nearly 8,000 students to the classroom, up to three days per week.


Thanks to a new program, Germanna Community College can provide up to $1.1 million or up to $3,000 in free tuition and training per student to local people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

Virginia allocates $30 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act dollars to help Virginians whose employment has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic crisis pursue workforce training in a high-demand field.


Student-athletes at Osbourn High School will return to the field on December 7.

That’s the start of winter sports, as outlined by the Virginia High School Leauge and Gov. Ralph Northam, who is permitting student-athletes to return to the game for the first time since schools first closed due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.


The Prince William County School Board adopted the 2021-22 school calendar at its meeting on November 4.

The approved calendar will include two full weeks for winter break and incorporates additional holidays that reflect the diversity of the PWCS community. The first day of school will be Monday, August 23, 2021, and the last day of school will be Wednesday, June 15, 2022.


Nearly 80 special education students will return to in-person learning in Manassas.

The city School Board approved a plan to send back 76 “school-dependent learners,” and about 43 teachers on November 4. It will make the first time that anyone students or teachers have been back to class since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March.


After 15 years, Dr. Steven L. Walts’ time as Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent is drawing to a close. That’s more evident now more than ever as the county School Board tonight will hold its first meeting to discuss replacing Walts, who plans to leave July 1, 2021.

At the moment, Walts is working out the details of sending students back to in-person learning in school buildings in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. After pressure from the School Board, kindergarten students will return to in-person learning in a hybrid model on November 10, with half of the school division’s kindergartners coming on alternating days. Second and third-grade students will return to school buildings in January, and the remainder of the students phased back in early February.


Stafford school officials are reviewing how much time they have before notifying a parent their child was restrained at school.

The county board will entertain changes to its student restraint and seclusion policy. Under the proposal, a school must report a restraint of a child to a parent “as soon as practical…shall make a reasonable effort that direct contact is made with the parent…”


All Prince William County students who choose the school division’s proposed “hybrid plan” could return to schools for in-person learning by the start of the third quarter, which begins Feb. 2, under a plan the school board approved early Thursday despite criticisms from some members who said it lacks a sense of urgency about getting students back in school.


Dr. Babur Lateef says Prince William County Public Schools are ready to send teachers back to work and students back to class.

As Chairman of the School Board, he says the school division can easily send students at all grade levels back to class in a hybrid 50/50 model, with half of the students learning from home and the other half attending classes in person. 


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