PATRIOT FOOTBALL: Top-ranked Mountain View nips Pioneers 14-13. SPORTS, PAGE 13
October 26, 2023 | Vol. 22, No. 43 | 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.
Slow progress on housing frustrates board Prince William has fallen short of its annual housing goals for more than a decade By Shannon Clark Times Staff Writer
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/ANYA SCZERZENIE
Students walk through two Evolv weapon detection scanners as they arrive at Unity Braxton Middle School in Manassas.
Schools roll out weapon scanners
Unity Braxton Middle students say they feel safer at school By Anya Sczerzenie Times Staff Writer
Umbrellas. Perfume bottles. Silverware. Spiral notebooks. Even an inhaler. Those were some of the items flagged by the Evolv weapons detection system in the first week of its rollout at Unity Braxton Middle School in Manassas. But school officials, teachers and students say that what matters most is what the machines didn’t see. “I think as we go, learning the system, we will find other random things that set it off, but the purpose of the system is to deter a more serious situation,” said Eduardo Garcia, a Unity Braxton teacher who volunteers to help students go through the Evolv detectors in the morning. “I think it’s going to do its job. As far as dangerous stuff that we’re trying to avoid and keep out of the schools, I think it will do well—and be a deterrent.” The detectors, which use artificial intelligence to recognize certain object shapes and materials such as metal, have been turned on for a week and have had what Principal Mary Jane Boynton calls a “smooth rollout,” with most students able to walk right through without stopping.
“I think the rollout has gone even better than my expectations,” Boynton said. “The students have been outstanding and have adapted to one additional step as they walk in the door every morning.” The school division has introduced the new Evolv weapons detectors at all 35 middle and high schools. The systems bacame operational on a staggered schedule over the last several weeks. So far, the only weapon the Evolv detectors found was a small pocketknife at Garfield High School last week. But the detectors have been working as a deterrent for other things. According to Boynton, incidences of vaping at Unity Braxton Middle School have dropped to zero since the detectors were introduced, which she attributes to students’ fear of having their vape pens confiscated The school board voted earlier this year to spend about $10.7 million to lease the Evolv detectors for four years. All students coming into middle and high schools in the morning must walk through them, and teachers too, if they arrive after the detectors are turned on. The exception at Unity Braxton is one teacher with a pacemaker who has to be searched with a metal detecting wand instead. See DETECTORS, page 2
Race for county sheriff is a rematch from 2019, page 3
Prince William County needs more housing, especially more affordable housing. But county officials need more tools to reach those goals, and some supervisors say progress isn’t coming fast enough. “We need to average about 3,000 new units in the county,” said Wade Hugh, deputy county executive for development services, during a recent board of supervisors work session on affordable housing. That’s the number of housing units the county needs to add each year through 2030 to meet the housing goals set by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. See HOUSING, page 7 Members of Brentsville District High School’s Class of 2023. PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD.
Nearly a third of Prince William high school students still learning English drop out By Anya Sczerzenie Times Staff Writer
About a third of Prince William County students who are still learning English in high school are dropping out, according to statistics presented to the school board Wednesday. See DROP OUT, page 2
Halloween happenings, page 11
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