BOYS BASKETBALL: Patriot falls to South Lakes in Class 6 championship. SPORTS, PAGE 9
March 14, 2024 | Vol. 23, No. 11 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $2.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Feds: 8 local schools need improvement By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Education has identified eight local schools “in need of support” to raise test scores and improve attendance among students with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, according to state officials. The identified schools include two City of Manassas schools, one Manassas Park school and five Prince William County schools. The federal law is designed to bring attention to groups of students that have historically faced discrimination and other barriers to success when they fall behind so schools can act. The groups most commonly identified in these schools as needing support were students with See SCHOOLS, page 5
Boosting diversity in horse sports PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD
Riding instructor Jade Krafsig works with student Ava Berczek, of Warrenton, at White Oak Stables.
Fauquier stable owner aims to make equestrianism more inclusive By Beth Rasin
Special to the Fauquier Times
When Jade Krafsig was growing up in Fairfax, she desperately wanted to take riding lessons but, from the start, it wasn’t easy for her family. “(My mother) always told me, ‘I won’t pay more than I make an hour for you to sit on a horse for an hour.’ She was a single mom, and it was really difficult for her to do lessons,” said Krafsig, 37, who took her early riding lessons in Beale-
ton. “It always stuck with me how difficult it was for people to take riding lessons.” A computer whiz, she made money selling online horse games she created and, by age 14, she was paying her own way and competing at local horse shows. One thing Krafsig, who is Black, noticed — very few other competitors looked like her. That’s still true. “From my own experience, there are very few minority riders in the area,” Krafsig
COURTESY
Mykal Coles, Alicia Coles, Jasmine Jones and their many children are pictured in a portrait taken a few years ago.
Family of 20 seeks help after fire By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
said. “I’m usually the only one competing — and the kids I bring.” Black competitors in equestrian sports are exceedingly rare. The U.S. Equestrian Federation, the national governing body of English horse sports, reports fewer than 1% of its nearly 250,000 members are Black. In the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association, a subgroup for the hunter and jumper disciplines, it’s 0.22% of 35,798 members.
After a fire over the weekend left his family of 20 without a place to live, Mykal Coles is reaching out to the community for help to find a new home and to replace furniture, clothing, toys and other possessions damaged in the blaze. Coles, 49, said his two wives and their 17 children have been staying in two extended-stay hotel rooms since Friday night, when a fire sparked by a candle left their Dale City rental home unsafe to occupy and destroyed nearly all of their things. Coles said he is legally married to Alicia Coles, 43. He also has a long-term relationship with Jasmine Jones, 35. Between them, the women have 17 children with him, Mykal Coles said.
See DIVERSITY, page 4
See FIRE, page 5
Plans fall through for former Tim’s Rivershore, page 3
Newsletter ‘The Jam’ coming soon, page 6
88 DULLES, VA