Police investigate year’s first homicide – Page 3
March 21, 2018 | Serving Haymarket, Gainesville and Western Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 12 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢
‘Almost unheard of’
Twenty vie for interim school board chairman seat By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Prince William County school officials released the names and resumes Monday of 20 candidates vying for a rare opportunity to serve at the helm of the board overseeing the second-largest school division in Virginia. They include three former school board members, an FBI accountant, an eye surgeon, a retired judge, a custom-cake baker, a music teacher, a retired school psychologist, a hardware-store owner, an attorney, three former military officers, the “recess mom” and an 18-year-old high school senior who is homeschooled.
Despite their diverse backgrounds, all say they have a stake in Prince William County schools. But the number of candidates vying for the seat – 20 – is “almost unheard of,” said Don Richardson, a Haymarket IT specialist who spent 10 years as the Gainesville District representative on the school board, from 2001 to 2011, and has also applied to return as its interim chairman. During Richardson’s tenure, vacancies drew about six candidates at most, he said. Still, Richardson called it “good news” that so many Prince William County residents want to serve the school division. By law, the school board must
appoint an interim chairman within 45 days of the March 7 resignation of former At-Large Chairman Ryan Sawyers. The board will hold a public hearing April 4 to allow candidates to address the school board and the public. The event will be held at 7 p.m. at the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center, 14715 Bristow Road, Manassas. The school board will vote to fill the vacancy during their regular meeting on Wednesday, April 18. The interim chairman will serve eight months, until the end of 2018, when he or she will be replaced by the winner of a special election, More than 300 students participated in a March 14 walkout at Patriot High School, where students left their classrooms and gathered at the football field. Student Gavin Brown reads the names of some of the victims of the Feb. 14 shooting in Parkland, Florida. Read more on Page 3. PHOTO BY NATALIE RAUCH
scheduled to coincide with the Nov. 6 general election, to fill the remaining year of Sawyers’ four-year term. The school board chairmanship will be up for re-election again in November 2019. Here’s a bit about each applicant: Lucy Beauchamp, of Manassas, served a total of 16 years on the Prince William County School Board, including 14 as chair. Since leaving the school board in 2007, she has served on the board of Prince William County schools’ Career and Technical Education Foundation, serving as its president for last five years. See CHAIRMAN, Page 4
TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE Emilene Parham and the Battlefield Bobcats girls soccer dynasty are previewed on Page 14 PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD
School board adds $3.5 million for school security, social workers, counselors By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
The Prince William County School Board will spend more than $2 million in the coming months to better secure school buildings and hire more social workers and guidance counselors to help struggling students, decisions made hours after hundreds of students walked out of
schools March 14 as part of a nationwide protest against gun violence. School board members made no mention of the walkout protests during their five-hour budget “markup session,” but there’s little doubt community concerns about school safety had some effect as the board voted to add a total of $3.5 million in new spending to the $1.19 billion budget Superintendent Steven Walts INSIDE Calendar....................................ONLINE Classifieds...........................................16 News....................................................2 Obituaries...........................................11
proposed last month. School Board member Justin Wilk (Potomac) said he became convinced of the need for more school counselors and social workers during a recent student town hall meeting at Forest Park High School, held in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings. Students there talked of the need for more mental-health support and bet-
Opinion.................................................8 Puzzle Page........................................13 Real Estate............................................6 Sports.................................................14
ter school security. “I knew we needed to make safety and mental health a priority,” Wilk said in an interview after the vote. Wilk (Potomac) and Alyson Satterwhite (Gainesville) made motions to bolster the ranks of the school counselors and social workers who work with the county’s 90,000 students. See SCHOOL BOARD, Page 5
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