Greek Orgs Tackle Education in Prince William

Slower growth would give schools time to catch up, panel says

This past weekend, the Virginia Leadership Institute hosted a forum at the Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge campus to examine the state of education policy in Prince William County.

The October 18 forum, "Divinely Standing For Scholarship: The State of Education Policy In Prince William," panel included vocational and community leaders in education who represent the nine historically Black Greek Letter Organizations.

The panelists focused on school overcrowding, the recent drop in full accreditation for some county schools, the achievement gap among ethnic communities, minority parent involvement, and testing measurements. The members of the Prince William County chapter of the Virginia Leadership Institute planned, coordinated and hosted the Forum.

Among the many solutions discussed, the panel supported a slower County development strategy that allowed the school system to catch up with population growth, a more robust initiative to hire teachers that reflect the cultural diversity of the student body, a plan to build greater awareness about available local scholarships, and a better method to inform parents of expected academic standards for incoming kindergarten students.

The panel also stressed the need to use creative methods to engage parents who might work long hours or several jobs throughout the week, such as phone conference-calls and weekend meetings.

“Today’s forum provided a great dialogue on the state of education policy in Prince William County,” said Virginia Leadership Institute founder and CEO Krysta Jones. “The nine represented fraternity and sorority organizations are doing great work in the community; this forum further demonstrated their commitment to work together, with local government, to improve an already solid education system.”

“Prince William County is a great place to live and raise children, however, there are some challenges that our school system faces,” said forum moderator and Member of the Virginia State Board of Social Services D.J. Jordan. “Rapid growth and development has put a tremendous strain on our schools, and overcrowded classrooms are making it difficult for our teachers to try to improve achievement gaps.”

Jordan continued, “Because of our reputation as one of the top ten wealthiest counties in America, it is easy to forget about the family challenges of the 37 percent of our students who are economically disadvantaged. Education provides a pathway out of poverty, so we must make sure that every child has an opportunity for a quality education here in Prince William County.”

The nine historically Black fraternity and sorority organizations are often referred to as “The Divine Nine”.

On the panel, NVCC Manassas campus Dean of Students Mark Kidd represented Phi Beta Sigma; local teacher and Army veteran Steve Blakely represented Omega Psi Phi; federal government worker and Kappa Alpha Psi

Fraternity Guide Right Mentoring Program Vice Chairman Robe’rt Palmer represented Kappa Alpha Psi; local teacher and owner of The Educated Babysitter, LLC in Alexandria Tracy Smith Houston represented Sigma Gamma Rho; local special education teacher Brenda Bowden represented Zeta Phi Beta; consultant and author Melvin Brown II represented Alpha Phi Alpha; Occoquan School Board Member Lillie Jessie represented Delta Sigma Theta; NVCC Woodbridge campus professor Cedric Howard represented Iota Phi Theta; and local elementary school principal Marlene Coleman represented Alpha Kappa Alpha.

In addition to School Board Member Jessie, Woodbridge School Board Member Loree Williams and Gainesville School Board Member Alyson Satterwhite were in attendance.

The Virginia Leadership Institute (VLI) aims to empower the African-American community to engage local and state government through training, mentoring, and networking opportunities. To learn more about VLI, visit virginialead.org

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