Schools

Fredericksburg adopts changes to cash proffers for new homes, businesses

By Rick Horner
The City of Fredericksburg City Hall building.
[caption id="attachment_142451" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The City of Fredericksburg City Hall building.[/caption]

The Fredericksburg City Council approved a study to help evaluate new projects developed by the city's Planning Commission.

A Capital Impacts Study developed by TischlerBise, a fiscal, economic, and planning consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md., will provide a basis to evaluate cash proffers and conditions for schools and emergency services.

According to the Realtors Association of Richmond website, cash proffers are voluntary home fees on home construction paid by the building firm in the development process and only apply to developments requiring rezoning.

Such fees are used to address impacts created by new developments. Virginia is the only state in the United States that uses this method.

The study uses the place of residence of current students to predict the unit type which would be occupied by students in new housing developments for school impacts.

Using real estate records provided by Fredericksburg, the study also identified the number of bedrooms for each residence's single-family attached and detached units. Those records didn't provide data on the number of bedrooms for multifamily units.

The study used 911 call data to determine the impact on the city's emergency services.

Information provided by Fredericksburg gave examples of how much of a cash proffer could be obtained through this metric. One example was the 60-acre, 375 multifamily unit Neon development project on Gordon Shelton Boulevard. Under the new metric, Fredericksburg could have gained cash proffers of $5.5 million.

The study also measured the impact of those developments on city services. One example found that a three-bedroom single-family home could impact $12,014. The estimate would be $11,239 for public schools and $721 for Fire and Emergency Medical service impacts.

Neon is a development presented to the city's Technical Review Committee by the Silver Company, which is also planning to have its first Neon development in Charlotte, N.C.

The study did go through revisions during its process through the city's Planning Commission. According to city documents, one particular issue was brought up by Charlie Payne, a local land use attorney of the law firm Hirschler-Fleischer. Payne's observations led to the removal of references that would have allowed the study to be used to create conditions for special-use permits, which Payne concluded would have a chilling effect on development in Fredericksburg.

The Virginia code does not explicitly enable cash proffers associated with special-use permit applications, so that language was removed in favor of focusing on the context of rezoning with associated proffers.

The study was originally commissioned by Fredericksburg to TischlerBise but was suspended in 2016. The study resumed in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly passed a proffer bill in 2016, which strictly limited any proffer negotiations between localities and developers. Lawmakers revised the bill in 2019 to allow for such talks.

At-Large Councilmember Jon Gerlach would ultimately vote to approve the study because the policy would be reviewed and updated annually. Gerlach voiced his concern that an approach based on this study would potentially harm no-bedroom homes such as studio and junior apartments.

"In the next update, I would like to look at how we could encourage smaller studio, junior, zero bedroom apartments," said Gerlach. "This seems to discourage really small dwellings in multifamily, mixed-use dwellings. I'd like to dig into that at the next iteration."

Ward 3 Councilmember Tim Duffy also approved the study to demonstrate what Fredericksburg would do in these rezoning situations.

"What I really like about this impact study is that it lays out for everybody to see our version of what impacts of development are," said Duffy. "As people come with projects, they can come and look at that, and they can tell us if we're right or wrong, and there can be a negotiation over what impacts are and what proffers could be."

The city council unanimously adopted the study and sent it back down to the Planning Commission, where it will be used to create guidelines for the city's policy regarding cash proffers for rezoning development projects.

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Fredericksburg will give school employee bonuses

By Rick Horner

The Fredericksburg City Council has approved a budget amendment to fund bonuses to retain teachers in public schools.

The amendment to the city's Fiscal Year 2022 budget approves reimbursements received by the Fredericksburg City Public School system, which will come from Medicaid, state taxes, and the Virginia Department of Education.

Each eligible permanent employee received a bonus from a collective pot of $700,000, and those who work a five-day-a-week schedule will receive $1,000. Those who work on a schedule of fewer than five days a week will receive $500.

The retention bonuses were distributed in June to all permanent employees of the Fredericksburg City Public School system who signed contracts to work for the 2022-2023 school year. Information provided by city staff defines a permanent employee as one who works either a regular five-day schedule or less than five days a week and receives a semi-monthly paycheck.

The city's report on the item shows that only $550,000 in retention bonuses have been awarded due to resignations at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

The funding came from three sources: $266,000 from Medicaid reimbursements for school health services, $160,000 from reimbursements from the Virginia Department of Education's Students with Intensive Needs program, and $274,000 from additional state sales taxes.

The request for this amendment came from the city's school system after its school board amended its budget to allow for the bonuses at its June 6 meeting.

Fredericksburg incurred no costs by approving this budget amendment.

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Stage star Norm Lewis to perform, host masterclass for area high schoolers

By Potomac Local News

Lewis is an Emmy, Tony, GRAMMY, and SAG Award nominee  Accompanied by a trio of musicians on the intimate Merchant Hall stage, Lewis’ performance will include stories and songs that highlight his accomplished career on stage and screen, giving Hylton Center audiences a chance to experience “just about everything a leading man with a mighty voice should be,” The New York Times worte.

In addition to a performance featuring songs from his career, Lewis will host a masterclass at the Hylton Center the following day with high school students from Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park on September 19.

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Tomorrow: Final town hall on Stafford schools CIP

By Potomac Local News

The fourth and final in a series of town hall meetings on the Stafford County Public Schools Capital Improvement needs is tomorrow, Thursday, September 8 at 7 p.m.

School Board members Patricia Healy (Rockhill) and Maureen Siegmund (Garrisonville) will host the discussion at North Stafford High School, 839 Garrisonville Road in North Stafford.

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Stafford School Board members to hold final town hall on CIP

By Potomac Local News

The fourth and final in a series of town hall meetings on the Stafford County Public Schools Capital Improvement needs is Thursday, September 8 at 7 p.m.

School Board members Patricia Healy (Rockhill) and Maureen Siegmund (Garrisonville) will host the discussion at North Stafford High School, 839 Garrisonville Road in North Stafford.

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Youngkin visits Colonial Forge High School, signs order to attract more teachers

By Uriah Kiser
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs an executive directive to make it easier to attract teachers to public schools during ceremony at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford County on September 1, 2022 [Uriah Kiser/PLN]

Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an Executive Directive today at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford County, cutting administrative red tape for schools trying to fill a glut of vacant teaching positions.

Youngkin’s order will make it easier to get teachers in classrooms, allowing them to work with obtaining their licenses while upholding educational standards. The order also makes it easier for retired teachers who want to return to the classroom, educators who recently moved to Virginia, and those switching careers to begin teaching to ease the state’s teacher shortage.

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Virginia colleges, universities sit on billions while Biden shifts student loan repayments to taxpayers

By Rick Horner

The Biden Administration has announced a three-part plan to help certain federal student loan borrowers transition back to regular payments as pandemic-era freezes end.

The plan would apply to working and middle-class loan borrowers and could cover up to $20,000. Borrowers had their repayments frozen during the Coronavirus pandemic, and deadlines for the freeze had been moved several times during the pandemic under both the Biden and Donald Trump Administrations.

Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, and the U.S. Department of Education have released an outline of the three-part debt relief plan:

  • A final extension on the student loan repayment freeze will extend to December 31, 2022. Payments will resume beginning January 2023
  • The U.S. Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation for Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers eligible for this relief must have individual income less than $125,000 or $250,000 for households. Borrowers who are employed by nonprofits, the military, or federal/state/tribal/local governments may be able to have all student loans forgiven in a limited window through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. That window will expire on October 31, 2022.
  • A rule proposed by the administration would create a new income-driven repayment plan to reduce future monthly payments for lower and middle-income borrowers. Aspects of this plan would include forgiving loan balances after 10 years, covering borrower's unpaid monthly interest, lowering the payments from 10% to 5% of monthly discretionary income on undergraduate loans, and raising the income amount that is considered non-discretionary which would protect it from repayment.

Interested parties must sign-up for the department's newsletter when the process has begun and have until December 31 to apply.

While student loan forgiveness has been an issue of natural interest for some time, colleges and universities countrywide have sat on endowments worth millions of dollars or more.

The following is a list of colleges and universities and the current amount of their endowments as recorded on DataUSA:

  • University of Virginia- $14.5 billion
  • Virginia Commonwealth University- $2.72 billion
  • Virginia Tech- $1.69 billion
  • College of William and Mary- $1.3 billion
  • George Mason University- $189.2 million
  • University of Mary Washington- $58.8 million
  • Northern Virginia Community College- $9.01 million
  • Germanna Community College- $3.5 million
  • James Madison University- $117 million

In response to this announcement, Republican Candidate Hung Cao, who is running for Virginia's 10th Congressional seat, made a statement regarding the plan claiming that it would contribute to worsening inflation, encourage colleges to increase tuition costs, and set dangerous precedents for presidential power.

"Biden's loan bailout does nothing to make college more affordable. And it robs Peter to pay Paul. Why should people who already paid their student loans to pay for others?" stated Cao in his press release.

Potomac Local News received no response from Wexton or incumbent Abigail Spanbeger (D-Va. 7) and office for comment but received no reply. Spanberger, who is running against Republican Yesli Vega, shifted the conversation from student loan forgiveness to pressing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) for an emergency response plan for Interstate 95.

Need to know election info: 

  • First day of in-person early voting at your local registrar's office: Friday, September 23, 2022
  • The deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration is October 17, 2022.
  •  The deadline to apply for a ballot to be mailed to you is October 28, 2022. Your local voter registration office must receive your request by 5 p.m.
  • Voter registration offices open for early voting: Saturday, October 29, 2022.
  • The last day of in-person early voting at your local voter registration office: is Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 5 p.m.

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Biden forgives student loans: “Hardworking Americans who could not or chose not to attend college will now foot the bill”

By Potomac Local News
President Joseph R. Biden [Photo: Whitehouse.gov]

(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his administration would “forgive” $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 per year. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the plan could cost taxpayers more than $200 billion.

The total income cap is expected to be higher for married couples, likely around double the $125,000 mark, though that has not been confirmed.

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Chromebooks, student discipline concern parents at schools town hall meeting

By Rick Horner
Stafford County School Board
[caption id="attachment_174633" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Stafford County School Board[/caption]

Updated 6:15 p.m. -- The Stafford County Public School Board plans to hold its second town hall meeting where it plans to talk about how students use Chromebooks at home.

The School Board decided back in March 2022 to reduce its monthly meetings to once a month to hold town hall meetings to engage with more parents of Stafford County students.

The next town hall meeting, which is scheduled to be held on September 28, plans to address issues related to the use of Chromebooks by students. The school division widely adopted the devices when students and teachers were forced to quarantine themselves due to the Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

Stafford County Public Schools followed the lead of other school systems across the country and used the Chromebooks for virtual learning. However, as students have been let back into classes, the devices continued to be used by students to the chagrin of some parents.

Several parents have complained to the school system regarding using the devices at home. Moms 4 Liberty, a conservative advocacy group, sent a letter to the school board outlining their concerns with using Chromebooks, ranging from allowing students to use social media at home to health and wellness concerns, including potential effects on children's minds and potential online bullying.

Virtual learning has also been attributed to learning loss, affecting many students due to not receiving one-on-one instruction from their teachers.

The school division blocked students' access to TikTok, a popular social media website linked to China. It also encouraged students to police their internet activity while at school and at home.

At the School Board inaugural town hall meeting on June 28, Hartwood District Board member Alyssa Halstead told Potomac Local News that the issue of Chromebooks would be one of the issues that would be addressed at an upcoming meeting. The board's second town hall meeting had been originally scheduled for late July but was canceled and moved to August 23.

Today's town hall meeting was also canceled and replaced with a special meeting of the School Board, to take place at headquarters, 31 Stafford Avenue.

Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur will discuss school security with the School Board. The meeting will take place behind closed doors. The School Board will also discuss a contract for custodial services behind closed doors today to protect the division's bargaining position and negotiating strategy, according to a meeting agenda posted on the school division's website.

At the town hall meeting in June, parents and teachers in attendance complained that students have taken what they viewed as a more disrespectful tone since returning to the classroom after the pandemic.

Those individuals also made their concerns known of feelings of powerlessness due to an inability to discipline such students without themselves getting into trouble with administrators.

According to information provided by Sandra Osborn, the school system's spokeswoman, the total number of student discipline incidents in 2019 was 9,950. Out of that total, 1760 incidents resulted in the long or short-term suspension of the student or expulsion from the school system. Another 336 incidents were referred to law enforcement as a result.

According to Osborn, that each incident could involve more than one student, but the information provided didn't make such distinctions.

Numbers for 2020 are significantly lower due to the effect the coronavirus pandemic had on school closures. The total number of student discipline incidents for that year was 233. Stafford Public Schools recorded 17 incidents that were referred to law enforcement and another 97 that resulted in either short or long-term suspension or expulsion.

The next town hall meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 28, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Brooke Point High School Auditorium at 1700 Courthouse Road in Stafford.

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Lateef deletes Tweet chastising health, gov’t officials for closing schools

By Potomac Local News
Lateef

Now you see it. Now you don’t.

Prince William County School Board Chairman At-large Dr. Babur Lateef deleted a post to a Twitter account he uses to communicate with constituents. In the Tweet, he encouraged people to “never forget” and to “never forgive” politicians, press, and public health officials for, in his words, providing misinformation that led to an extended closure of public schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

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