Manassas education chief rallying cry: We’re going to ‘conquer’ Prince William schools

MANASSAS — On Thursday, in front of a group of business leaders and government officials, Manassas Public Schools’ new superintendent put a neighboring jurisdiction on notice.

“We’re going to compete with every school in Prince William County,” said city schools superintendent Kevin D. Newman.

That means posting Virginia Standards of Learning scores in the front offices of all nine city schools, so everyone can see them and engaging more parents to become active in their children’s schools.

“Once we conquer Prince William, we’re going to conquer Region 4, and then we’re going to take over the state to be the best school division in Virginia,” he added.

Newman’s comments at the annual State of the Schools Breakfast held at the Center for the Arts at the Candy Factory come as the school division is celebrating accreditation at all of its schools.

The new schools chief replaces former superintendent Katherine Magouyrk, whom he credited for setting him up for success in his new role and paving the way for new programs like a makers space at Osbourn High School that fits in with the school divisions’ career and technical education program.

On the technology front, the school division is now using 528 interactive projectors in the classroom for instruction, and students and staff are using some 3,000 Gmail accounts, sharing more than 32,000 files between them.

The division is also investing $7 million in new energy upgrades at its school sites, something Newman says will be paid for with the money the division saves on energy costs once the new improvements are in place.

As Newman took his new role on July 2, he immediately finds himself in the middle of a battle between the city’s School Board and City Council on how to fund the schools. School officials argue a rebuild of the 60-year-old Jennie Dean Elementary School is needed, but some on the city council oppose the tax hikes need to fund the new $30 million school.

The proposed increase could hike homeowners’ taxes by as much as 13 percent by 2020, a staggering increase compared to recent funding plans that hiked taxes by about 3 percent a year.

To win hearts and minds, Newman encouraged more business owners to become involved in local education and to “stand strong with Manassas City Public Schools,” a motto adopted by the city schools’ education foundation, a non-profit charged to raise supplemental funding for the school division.

Newman also challenged members of the community to stop dogging city schools, and to put a stop to others who do the same.

“The last name for everyone in this room is “Manassas,” and you protect that family name,” he said. “If you hear it, stop it, the same way you would if someone was talking about your family.” 

Complaints about everything from fights in the city’s middle schools, wayward bus drivers, and truant students have all come up in recent months, he told Potomac Local. He says he’s working on addressing those problems.

The enrollment numbers between Prince William County and Manassas public schools vary widely with 90,500 students and 7,700, respectively.

Virginia Department of Education data shows Prince William County Public Schools have a 79 percent efficiency in reading, 76 percent efficiency in math, 82 percent in science, and 87 percent in social studies.

In Manassas, the same data show a reading proficiency at 67 percent, math at 68 percent, science at 72 percent, and social studies at 75 percent.