Schools

Manassas City School Board member Sara Brescia “Next year MCPS will be piloting a public preschool program for 3-year-olds out of Round Elementary (but open to students in all geographies), which is targeted towards students who otherwise would not have access to private preschool. The pilot program will not require any additional staff as there is already resource capacity available from our existing 4-year-old program.”

“Preschool is an important piece of the student achievement puzzle to get students introduced to academic concepts and behavioral expectations and can quicken the pace of English language acquisition for ESOL students. However, while there is a body of research showing the benefits of preschool, there is also some disturbing evidence that at least some public preschool programs are counter-productive.”

Manassas City School Board member Sara Brescia: “I have been working with the Superintendent and the administration to increase recess and playtime in our earlier grades to go beyond the current 20 minutes per day (the state minimum).”

“I am happy to report that next school year the minimum for unstructured playtime for each school will be expanded by an additional ten minutes to a total of 30 minutes. This is a move in the right direction, and I want to thank the administration for working with me on this change.”