Schools - Page 133 of 217 - Potomac Local News

Original | Osbourn High School gets the beat, starts indoor drumline

Published January 31, 2020 at 3:30PM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:28PM

For the first time in its school’s history, Osbourn High School has created an indoor drumline. A group of 16 students in the Manassas high school, from grades 7 to 12, all bonded this year through a passion for percussion.

Drumline students have been spending most weekday evenings practicing, spending hours rehearsing to perfect a performance that will last just five minutes. Some of their weekends have been sacrificed to fundraise to cover the cost of purchasing equipment, drum sticks, mallets, props, and purchase uniforms, said band mom and spokeswoman Erica Washington.

Original | 1st annual gala to raise money for Stafford public schools

By Susie Webb

Published January 30, 2020 at 2:04PM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:30PM

University of Mary Washington [Photo: Univesity of Mary Washington Facebook page]

The Stafford Education Foundation will host its first annual gala to benefit county schools.

Organizers Cathy Yablonski, Stafford Hosptial Administrator, and Emily Beyers, a Stafford County school spokeswoman, briefed the county School Board on the event.

Original | Stafford schools’ 4th superintendent in 10 years announces resignation

By Christopher Hirons

Published January 28, 2020 at 11:40PM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:32PM

Kizner [Photo: Susie Webb]

Stafford County Schools superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner announced that he will resign from his position just two-and-a-half years after taking the reins. He will step down about a year from now.

Kizner, 62, announced his decision with a statement he wrote prior to the School Board meeting on Tuesday night.

Exclusive | Prince William retains outside law firm after racism allegations at Woodbridge High School

By Olivia Aveni Briscoe

Published January 26, 2020 at 2:30PM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:34PM

Prince William Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Steven Walts.

There is now an investigation into what happened after a Woodbridge Senior High School football coach stepped down last fall.

NOVA Manassas opens new Fab Lab makers space

By Potomac Local News

Published January 21, 2020 at 1:41PM | Updated June 29, 2022 at 8:00AM

Photo by: Manassas City Councilman Ian Lovejoy

Locally-elected officials this month celebrated the opening of a new Fab Lab makers space at the Manassas Campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

We’re sharing some photos politicians posted of the grand opening event held on January 13. So far, all requests for comment via email and Twitter to the college’s president and public relations staff have gone unanswered.

Original | Search narrows for 6th high school plot, attendance ‘island’ eliminated

By Susie Webb

Published January 20, 2020 at 3:00AM | Updated February 2, 2020 at 9:32PM

The location of the planned sixth high school in the Hartwood District would mean about 1,800 high school students would be moved to new schools.

The sixth and newest high school in Stafford County will most likely be located in the Hartwood District.

The county School Board on January 14 approved a plan to limit a countywide search for a new plot of land on which the new school will be built to the southwest corner of the county.

Grading system changes to take effect Jan. 24; valedictorian ranking ends

By Potomac Local News

Published January 20, 2020 at 1:00AM

Prince William County reminds parents and students about changes to the school division’s grading policy that will do away with the tradition of honoring a class valedictorian.

Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta statement | There is not a new grading system, just clarification and improvement to our current practices. Some of the improvements include: making sure academic grades do not include behaviors and conduct, but rather are summary of performance on specific learning objectives or standards taught.

Stafford schools urged by legal counsel not to pass transgender protections

By Susie Webb

Published January 16, 2020 at 6:02PM

Stafford School Board in September 2019.

Newly unsealed documents show the Stafford County School Board’s legal counsel advised against passing protections for transgender students.

It did it anyway, after more than 400 people filled the Board Chambers and, after six hours of public testimony at a Sept. 10, 2019 meeting. The most polarizing additions to the school division’s existing policy that came with the decision now provided protections for “sexual orientation” of students, staff, and faculty, and addressed “gender identity” in the updated policy.

Stafford school officials feared lawsuits sparked by transgender policy, unsealed docs show

By Susie Webb

Published January 15, 2020 at 6:02PM | Updated January 16, 2020 at 11:52AM

In a 4-3 vote, the Stafford School Board voted to waive their attorney-client privilege and make the attorney’s opinion on the on its hotly debated transgender non-discrimination policy open to the public.

Until now, that opinion has been sealed from public view.

Stafford High School to coordinate voter registration drive

By Potomac Local News

Published January 13, 2020 at 10:36AM

Stafford High School

Press release | The senior class officers and Student Council Association (SCA) at Stafford High School (SHS) are coordinating a voter registration drive at 9:20 a.m. on Tuesday, January 21, 2020. Part motivational speech, part educational assembly, the event will inform SHS seniors on voter registration procedures, obtaining a photo identification, and the absentee ballot process before providing approximately 50 Chromebooks in the auditorium for students to register to vote.

“It’s important that the youth in this country honor their civic duty and vote because we are the future leaders of the world,” said Davis Smith, SHS Senior Class President. “We should do what we can to shape the future in whatever way possible.”