Justin Wilk, an education consultant, and former Prince William County teacher, is running for the Potomac District seat on the Prince William County School Board.
The incumbent, Betty Covington, has not declared her candidacy to run for re-election, but Wilk feels that there needs to be a change on the School Board.
“The current incumbent [Covington] has been involved with Prince William County Schools for over 50 years, and that is a true testament to her dedication to this school district. But as I’m going door-to-door and talking with voters – people want change. They want to see new faces on the Board,” said Wilk.
A graduate of the University of Virginia in education administration, Wilk worked for six years in Prince William County Public Schools. His wife is also a public school teacher at Forest Park High School.
For Wilk, there needs to be more transparency and accountability in the decisions made by the School Board.
“The School Board has not been fully transparent with the community…in order to restore that trust deficit, we need people that are on the Board that are going to work in a collaborative process and prove that money is being spent in the best interest of the students in Prince William County. This means making sure that the money is going back into the classrooms,” said Wilk.
According to Wilk, for the School Board to become more fiscally sound, they need to make choices, including consolidation of departments and employee decisions and take a look at the budget to see where changes could be made.
One way that Wilk proposed to address spending and the needs of the school system was for members to forgo their School Board salaries for a year – using that money to hire more guidance counselors in high schools in the County.
“In order to increase educational spending, the school board must lead by example, and prove to the citizens or Prince William County that our focus is reducing class sizes and hiring more school-based positions,” Wilk said.
In his campaign, Wilk intends to speak about expanding offerings for special needs programs, establishing vocational and college readiness programs and competitively paying teachers and school staff.
“Why aren’t we providing the support, and why aren’t providing the competitive salaries to keep teachers in Prince William County schools,” asked Wilk. Teacher pay is currently a topic being discussed as an issue in Prince William County.
If elected, Wilk would like to establish a vocational program for students in the County that may not want to attend college.
“It’s wrong that we want to portray vocational skills as something that is not desirable. We should have a full vocational program in Prince William County,” Wilk commented.
Wilk lives in the Potomac District with his wife and son. They are expecting another child in July.
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