Teachers paraded around the parking lot of the Prince William County Public Schools headquarters on Wednesday, October 7 with child-sized coffins mounted to their vehicles.

Two small coffins, one black and the other white, were on top of SUVs that were part of the “Mobilize to Survive” caravan, organized by the Prince William Education Association. The protesters drove around and honked their car horns while children and parents looked on, and county School Board members sat inside the building during a closed meeting.


In order to maintain social distancing, Prince William County will be celebrating national Walk to School Day differently this year.

While the Walk to School Day was observed on  Wednesday, October 7, with the majority of students learning virtually from home, Prince William County Schools will be celebrating during the full month of October.


Students in Prince William County Public Schools have been back to learning for about a month.

Special education students are learning in classrooms, while the remainder of the school division’s 92,000 students has been attending classes online since the first day of school on September 8.


The University of Mary Washington and Germanna Community College pressed Senator Mark Warner on Thursday for more federal funding to help students who don’t have access to the internet and computers to continue online learning.

The colleges are asking for more federal funding as Germanna, in particular, had a 12% increase in enrollment this semester and expressed a need for additional funds to provide students with computers. Both intuitions pivoted to online learning in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and expressed concern about students who want to attend their schools but cannot due to a lack of computer equipment.


A group of Prince William County School parents, teachers, and students have joined forces to push Prince William County School Board members to hear their request for in-person learning at the start of the second quarter of the academic year, which begins on November 4.

Organizers are asking parents and students who want the option to send their children back to school with at least the 50/50 hybrid model, to rally at the following events:


A Prince William Circuit Court judge today dismissed a lawsuit filed by former School Prince William County School Board Chairman At-large Ryan Sawyers, against the Prince William School Board that sought the disclosure of more than 20,000 direct messages sent to and from schools superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts, on his official school division Twitter account.

Following a hearing and her review of the direct messages, Prince William Circuit Judge Kimberly A. Irving held that the messages were “clearly exempted” from mandatory disclosure under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act because they were communications of the chief executive officer of the School Board, said school division spokeswoman Diana Gulotta.


Prince William County Public Schools are working toward launching a hybrid learning schedule for many students next month, even though many questions remain about the details.


Prince William leaders are considering using $2 million in federal coronavirus aid awarded to the county to help residents pay for daycare.

The money comes from the CARES Act and had been earmarked by the local government to be granted to small businesses in an effort to help them recover from the coronavirus pandemic. However, county employees and some residents have said they need help paying for childcare now that public schools are back in session.


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