Prince William School Board candidates aim to turn the page on Sawyers, talk funding, security

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Heavy rain didn’t stop parents, teachers, and students from attending a Prince William County School Board Chair Candidates Debate on Thursday.

Gainesville District School Board member Alyson Satterwhite sat next to the appointed Interim School Board Chairman At-large Dr. Babur Lateef inside Howsmon Hall at the Northern Virginia Community College Manassas Campus.  

Both were grilled with 16 wide-ranging questions on topics in front of a crowd of about 100 people. The forum was moderated by Potomac Local Publisher Uriah Kiser.

In his opening statement, Lateef, an ophthalmologist and Prince William County resident since 2002, spoke about his family. He and his wife, also a doctor, have four children who are all in county schools.

Satterwhite, a former military spouse, is also a mother of four who all graduated from Prince William County schools. She’s served on the School Board since 2012, was its vice-chair in 2015, and served on the Northern Virginia Special Education Regional Program board of directors.

The Prince William schools At-large chairman seat opened this election cycle unexpectedly when former Chairman Ryan Sawyers suddenly resigned. Sawyers led the school board for a year and a half and garnered headlines after he picked legal fights with the schools’ superintendent Steven Walts and his staff, focused on LGBTQ issues, and successfully changing the name of Mills E. Godwin Middle School to George M. Hampton Middle School in Dale City.

Satterwhite painted Lateef as a Sawyers supporter calling out his $1,850 combined contributions to Sawyers’s School Board run in 2015, and his later congressional campaign which was suspended at the same time he resigned from the School Board in March.

The first question for the candidates had to do with school safety and security especially in the wake of recent school shootings around the country.

“Safety and security are one of the main aspects of my campaign platform,” said Lateef.  “I like many of you when I see that alert come across my phone, I think is that my kid’s school. I share that anxiety.” Lateef said.

In the wake of recent school shootings, Lateef said he doesn’t support arming teachers.

“Absolutely not,” Lateef said.

Satterwhite said that it’s the responsibility of the School Boards’ to make sure our kids are safe. She emphasized the need to have a national conversation on mental health, and this year championed more funds to hire more social workers and a human trafficking expert in the school division

“We need to definitely address mental health,” Satterwhite said.

Potomac Local Publisher Uriah Kiser, who moderated the forum, also asked the candidates about teacher salaries and retention.

“We have had a school board that has been soft and irresponsible in their ability to advocate for the school children and teachers,” said Lateef.

“Our school board needs to make teacher pay raises a priority,” said Satterwhite.

On the need for more school funding to get students out of portable classrooms and back into buildings.

“My second grader is sitting in a trailer this year,” said Lateef, who noted he had to buy an umbrella and raincoat for his child to get in and out of the classroom, in addition to the regular school supplies.

Prince William County Public Schools is unique from most other Virginia school divisions because it gets a majority share of its budget transferred automatically to it from the Board of County Supervisors. With this revenue-sharing agreement, about 57 percent of the entire county budget is transferred to the school division, which operates with more than a $1 billion annual budget.

“If we want to be a destination community, we need to demand better from our county board,” Lateef said.

Lateef went on to say that if the Board of County Supervisors can’t provide more, we need to replace all of them in the coming election in 2019.

“The revenue sharing agreement should be the floor, not the ceiling,” he said. “At the funding levels we are currently providing for our students, nothing is getting funded as it should be.”

On a question about what priority should specialty programs have in the budget, Satterwhite touted the success of the county’s current offerings and its focus on career and technical education. Students can earn associate degrees in HVAC at the same time as they go through high school.

When asked about any potential changes to a policy the School Board passed under Sawyers in 2017 providing protections to LGBTQ students, Satterwhite said, “This is not a school division that discriminates against kids.”

Lateef said, “A non-discrimination policy is a no-brainer…I will support that every minute of the day.”

An audience member who accused the school division of not adequately engaging the community when the School Board decided to change the name of Godwin Middle School asked how either candidate would prevent a repeat of a hasty process.

“…We had a former chairman who had a personal agenda,” said Satterwhite.

She went on to say that unintended consequences were not thought through under that chairman and cited Sawyers’ push to also rename Stonewall Jackson High Senior School weeks before school started in summer 2017.

“There was no thought for security, for opening up school,” Satterwhite said.  “I listen to my people. I am here to be your voice.”

Lateef said the School Board needs to pay closer attention to the rulebook when it comes to policies like name changes.

“We have to follow the rules,” Lateef said.

He’s spent his summer reviewing many School Board policies and noted the laxity of the rules creates problems.

On a question asking how well the school system is providing for ESL students, Satterwhite said that Prince William led the nation, and the Justice Department was thrilled with what they accomplished; but Lateef said that the county hasn’t done enough.

On homeschool student participation, Satterwhite said: “I definitely support homeschool students being able to participate.” Lateef also said he supports including everyone.

In Lateef’s closing statement, he reiterated that, as a parent of kids in the county school system, when county parents are worried, he is worried too.

Satterwhite closed by saying she wants to make sure every student, every parent, every teacher has their concerns heard.

The audience was engaged during the debate.

Pat Hill, one of two current UniServ Directors whose daughter graduated from Hylton High School in Woodbridge in 2006 as school president, said her most significant issues are funding, teacher retention, and employees being connected and having a voice.

Maggie Hansford, a speech pathologist at T. Clay Wood Elementary School in Haymarket and a mom, said her most significant issue with the schools are “overcrowding and underfunding.”

Gail Forry, a county resident since 1986 with two children who attended county schools, said the board needs to allocate funds further down into schools because they “seem a little top heavy.” She said Virginia Standards of Learning tests need to be revamped and there is too much “teaching to the test.”

Members of the Prince William Committee of 100 and the League of Women Voters formulated the questions used for the debate, in addition to the few audience-submitted questions.  

Voters will head to the polls November 6, and the at-large chairman seat is the only school board position on the ballot.

The candidates are scheduled to participate in a second debate, sponsored by Prince William Education Association, scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. on Monday, October 1, at the McCoart Building, 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge.

A third debate, sponsored by the League of Women Voters-Prince William Area, will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 9, at Dar Al-Noor Islamic Community Center, 5404 Hoadly Road near Dale City.