FOOTBALL: Four Prince William County teams begin playoff journeys, SPORTS, PAGE 13
April 8, 2021 | Vol. 20, No. 14 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
See PrinceWilliamTimes.com for coronavirus updates
Local teachers, staff on track for a 5% pay raise
Lateef: ‘We’re going to try to do it, no matter what.’ By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Despite the pandemic, or maybe, in part, because of it, Prince William County teachers and staff are on track to receive their largest annual raise in more than a decade. The Prince William County School Board is committed to giving its teachers and staff a 5% raise next school year even if the county board of supervisors doesn’t fully fund the school division’s fiscal year 2022 budget, School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef said Tuesday. “We’re going to try to do it, no matter what,” Lateef said in
an interview after delivering the school board’s $1.6 billion budget to the county supervisors during their April 6 board meeting. The school board’s budget for next school year, approved by the school board last month, relies on the long-standing revenue-sharing agreement that directs 57.23% of the county’s general fund tax revenue to county schools. The budget is also based on the supervisors’ five-year spending plan as well as County Executive Chris Martino’s proposal to keep real-estate tax rates flat at $1.125 for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. See TEACHERS, page 9
TIMES STAFF PHOTO
The county used three tents in its mobile vaccination operation in the Dale City commuter lot.
County takes COVID-19 vaccines on the road By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef
PHOTO BY ALFREDO PANAMENO, SKY’S THE LIMIT MEDIA
FIRST BLOOMS: Burnside Farm’s famous fields of tulips are almost ready for visitors. The Nokesville flower farm, located at 1008 Kettle Run Road, will open in the coming days, according to Leslie Dawley, who owns the farm with her son, Mike. Visitors must pre-purchase tickets on Burnside Farm’s website, burnsidefarms.com, before arriving at the farm. Tickets are sold on a daily basis, weather permitting. Watch their Instagram page for updates. The farm planted more than 2 million bulbs and 400 varieties of tulips this year, Dawley said. INSIDE Business.............................................12 Classified............................................16 Lifestyle..............................................14 Obituaries...........................................15
Last week, it was First Mount Zion Baptist Church, in Dumfries, and Todos grocery store, in Woodbridge. This week, the COVID-19 vaccines came to the Dale City commuter lot. All were among the first three sites chosen in a local effort to bring COVID-19 vaccinations to areas of eastern Prince William County both hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and where residents might lack access to the life-saving shots due to barriers of technology, transportation or other issues. On Tuesday, April 6, about 300 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were administered from temporary tents set up in the Dale City commuter lot from 4 to 8 p.m. The event, arranged by the Prince William County Office of Emergency Management and the Prince William Health District, was designed to target the area’s working-class residents who might not be able to visit a vaccine clinic during the day, said Sean Johnson, a contractor working with the county. “We realized a lot of residents in this area are out working, so this allows us to reach them at a time that works best for them,” Johnson said. County officials worked with Prince William County Supervisor Victor Angry’s office to plan for the mobile vaccination event. Angry (D) represents the Neabsco District, which includes Dale City and parts of Woodbridge. The mobile clinic was organized in just a few days’ time after Virginia Department of Health officials made an extra 300 doses available for the effort. See VACCINES, page 2
Opinion...............................................11 Public Safety.........................................6 Puzzle Page........................................10 Real Estate..........................................14 Sports.................................................13
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