Schools

Candland Proposes Increasing School Funding Transfer Again in Effort to Reduce Class Size, Raise Teacher Salaries

By Potomac Local News
Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland talks school funding at a recent town hall event in Haymarket. [Leigh Giza / For Potomac Local News]

HAYMARKET, Va. – A local leader says he wants more money for Prince William County’s public schools.

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland held a town hall Thursday night at Alvey Elementary School in Haymarket to speak to area residents about what he said is the need to “act right away” to provide more funds to the county school board to cut class sizes, which are now at their maximum capacity, he said. The number of students in classrooms is larger than those of schools in neighboring Loudoun and Fairfax counties, according to a Washington Area Board of Education report.

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Input from Concerned Parents, Residents Sought on New School Boundaries

By Potomac Local News

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — School officials tonight want to hear from residents whose children will attend the new Nokesville kindergarten through 8th grade school in Nokesville when it opens in September 2014.

Currently, students who live in the area of where the school is being built – on the Aden Road – would go to nearby Brentsville District High School.

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Family Member: Build School Around Grave Sites

By Uriah Kiser
About 11 grave sites were found at the site of the soon-to-be-built 12th high school in Prince William County. [Photo: Prince William County Public Schools]

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — Carolyn G. Lynn has spent countless hours researching the lives of past residents of Prince William County.

She publishes a blog, Prince William County Genealogy, and comes from a long line of Lynns – her family whose members that have called Prince William home since the at least the early 1800s.

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Prince William Committee Demands Educational Reform to Standardized Testing

By Allison Landry
A U.S. Marine for more than 20 years, Alan Roach teaches government at Potomac Middle School in Woodbridge. [Photo: Uriah Kiser / Potomac Local News]

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. – From national headlines to state discussion, standardized testing has been a hot topic among educators, parents and the general public as a whole. Are standardized tests, or the SOLs as they’re known in Virginia, the right option to track the performance of our students, teachers and schools? Are there better alternatives? Or is the current education system responsible for “overtesting” students and putting extra pressure on teachers?

On Wednesday night, the Prince William Committee of 100 held a dinner and forum to address the use of SOLs and consideration of other standards for Prince William County Schools and Virginia as a whole. One of the most notable alternatives that was discussed was the Common Core, an educational initiative across the nation that sets the bar for math and English at the K-12 levels. Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus Provost Dr. Sam Hill moderated the event. He says that the basis of a thriving community comes down to the quality of education.

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Comments Sought on Schools Smaller 2015 Budget

By Stephanie Tipple
Mountain View High School in Stafford.

STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. — The Stafford County School Board met with parents and community members on Oct. 29 to address their concerns about the FY2015 school budget, and ask parents for their feedback.

“This is your opportunity to talk about what you feel is the important things within our budget,” said Stephanie Johnson, Board member in the Aquia district.

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