Those promises came after the school division garnered national attention when a transgender student wasn’t allowed to use either the boys or girls locker room during an active shooter safety drill.
At the School Board meeting on Oct. 9, 2018, a week after the transgender lockerroom incident occurred, Board members promised their constituents that they would address what happened.
Since 2012, it’s been the intention that after a new Anne E. Moncure Elementary School was built and opened (it did last month) the old school and the property on which it sits would be conveyed from the school division to the county government.
Now it has, but that deal was inked in an era when retail and commercial development around the now-abandoned school on Route 610 was booming. Today, when questions swirl over whether or not a new movie theater will ever be built at The Garrison, that boom time seems so long ago.
Those evacuations took place once on the mornings of Thursday, August 22 and Friday, August 23, when county officials stopped a kindergarten orientation with students in the building, and during a teacher orientation session, respectively, show emails obtained by Potomac Local.
“I am concerned that school staff continued to place teachers and students in harm’s way. People’s lives were being endangered by ignoring the life safety issues identified by the county building officials and county fire officials,” penned Prince William County Executive Christopher Martino in a letter to school officials. He went on to call the actions of the school division “egregious.”
County officials are fuming after children, teachers, and staff of the new John D. Jenkins Elementary School entered the building before Prince William County inspectors issued a full occupancy permit, and despite concerns about a fire suppression system that may not work properly.
Kindergarten students were allowed inside the building for orientation at 10 a.m. Thursday, August 22. A the same time, County Building Official Eric Mays was concerned that the hangers used to secure pipes for the fire suppression system were not strong enough to “support the weight of the pipe, the water, plus an additional 250-pound load,” according to emails obtained by Potomac Local.
Lillie Jessie, the Occoquan District School representative on the Prince William County School Board, is fighting to keep an aviation mechanics program solely at Woodbridge Senior High School, in her district.
Last year, the county school division announced plans to add the after-school, extracurricular classes to Stonewall Jackson High School on the other end of the county, outside Manassas.
The newest elementary school in Prince William County is named for its longest-serving supervisor.
The new school at 4060 Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge bears the name John D. Jenkins Elementary. He represented Dale City as the Neabsco District Supervisor between 1982 and his death in February of this year.
Prince William County, which has the largest of the school divisions in the Potomac Local coverage area with 92,000 students, is headed back to school today.
Buses will pick up some 62,000 students and travel some 56,000 miles in the county. Those yellow, flashing lights to indicate school speed zone limits will also flash once again for the first time since June.
STAFFORD — (Press Release) Miss Virginia Camille Schrier will visit Edward E. Drew Middle School at 501 Cambridge Street in Falmouth to discuss an experiment and answer questions from students.
Camille Schrier, 24, is a 2018 graduate of Virginia Tech with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Systems Biology, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University.
MANASSAS — Dr. Bruce McDade will host business leaders and residents at a first-of-its-kind back-to-school brunch.
Entering his 10th year as Manassas Park Schools Superintendent, McDade says he wants to use the event tell the story of Manassas Park City Public Schools, which have been a bright spot in recent years as the city works to get out from under crushing debt it occurred with the financing of new public buildings like the city’s community center and police station.
STAFFORD – (Press Release) The Stafford County School Board approved the following appointments on Tuesday, August 13, 2019, during a School Board meeting.
John Anderson, Executive Director of Facilities and Maintenance
