Public servants are more important than ever in the current coronavirus pandemic, yet, the Prince William County Police Department is losing its guiding member: Chief Barry Barnard.
Barnard, who has served Prince William County police for 44 years, with four of those years as chief, announced his retirement on May 13. He is the fourth chief of police to lead the department since its creation 50 years ago.
Barnard replaced outgoing chief Stephan Hudson who retired in June 2016. His final day as chief will be July 1, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the police force. Then, the department contained merely 42 people, now it contains hundreds of employees, including 673 officers.
His replacement has not yet been selected, but Deputy Chief Jarad Phelps will serve in the position until a new chief is found, according to a press release from the Prince William County Government.
Barnard, a Miami native who came to Virginia after receiving a degree in criminology from Florida State University, began his policing career in Alexandria. He then ventured to Prince William County for its opportunities, beginning what would be forty-four years of community service in 1976.
“[I became a police officer] to make a positive difference in the community,” said Barnard.
He was named Assistant Chief of Police in 2000 and then appointed Deputy Chief of Police in 2009 under former Chief Charlie T. Deane. Before formally becoming chief, Barnard led the department as acting chief of police in 2012 and 2016 after the retirements of former chiefs Deane and Hudson, respectively.
Once becoming chief, Barnard worked to increase diversity in the police department. Under his guidance, the department increased efforts to recruit from historically black colleges and universities.
During a community forum he hosted in 2016, Barnard acknowledged that ‘having a police department that mirrors the community is important’ as it improves cultural understanding.
His tenure, along with the tenures of many other police chiefs around the country, was confronted with a tougher challenge than increasing diversity: the tragic deaths of police officers. During his first year as chief, officer Ashley Guindon was shot and killed during her first day on the job after being called to a domestic situation in Dale City.
“Losing officers has a tremendous impact of course on the officer’s family, department, and community. It is a very sober time for any police department,” said Barnard.
Now at the end of his policing career, Barnard reflected on his time with the department. He described the thing he will miss most.
“[I will miss] the people and our mission: working to help and make some sort of contribution, using teamwork to keep the community safe, managing resources, working with people, and just meeting the challenges,” said Barnard.
Barnard has no plan to leave Prince William on his last day as chief, instead, he plans to spend time with his family.
“I want to thank PWC and the community for the opportunities that have been provided to me and my family. We are very grateful to live here and work at the department for many years. I give my heartfelt thanks to anyone who has supported the police department,” said Barnard.
Hundreds lined up to be tested for the coronavirus.
Residents on Tuesday flooded a testing site located on the grounds of Stonewall Jackson High School outside Manassas. It reached capacity at 11 a.m., just an hour after the site opened.
It was the same story the day before at the Hylton Memorial Chapel in Dale City. That testing site reached capacity by 2:20 p.m. Officials had originally planned to close it by at 6 o’clock that evening.
The county government organized the events to provide free testing to anyone in the community who wanted one. Normally, patients must have an appointment and show symptoms of the coronavirus before they can be tested for the disease.
As the testing sites filled up with people, many vented on social media.
“Turned away from Hylton yesterday. Midday. In line today at Stonewall well before 10am opening. Waited only to get a sticker to come back at 2pm (forced to exit by PWC Police) but no info on a special line for appointment stickers. Will we get tested?” read a tweet directed at the Prince William County Government and commented under one of their posts.
County officials helped to explain the situation.
“They are not out of tests. They are at capacity in terms of people and timing,” said Sherrie Johnson, the Director of Communications for the Prince William County Government, in reference to the testing at the Hylton Memorial Chapel.
Each site was equipped with 1,500 tests from the Virginia Department of Health and 150 people were being tested an hour, according to Johnson. The number of tests made available pales in comparison to the U.S. Census-estimated population of Prince William County: 470,355 residents.
More testing events have been planned by the county to accommodate those who were unable to get tested. There will be free tests offered May 20 through 22 at GMU Map Clinic, at 99 Tremont St, Manassas Park, at the Manassas City Public Safety Location, at 9600 Block Grant Avenue in Manassas, and Kilby Elementary School, at 1800 Horner Road in Woodbridge.
Both drive-through and walk-up testing will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is reserved for the first 75 individuals per location. No appointments will be needed to receive a test.
Unlike the previous free testing event, these events are reserved for those who are under-insured/uninsured and symptomatic, according to the Prince William Health District.
“We recognize and understand that there is a lot of frustration and confusion regarding COVID-19 testing. Unfortunately, there is a limited supply of testing supplies available throughout the region and the country,” reads a statement on the Prince William County Government website.
For questions regarding testing, call the Prince William Health District Call Center at (703) 872-7759.
Additional free testing is being offered for those with symptoms by the City of Manassas and the Virginia Department of Health from May 20-22. The testing is being conducted at 9608 Grant Ave, drive-thru or walk-up, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tests will be conducted rain or shine.
The Prince William County Government is offering free coronavirus tests for all members of the community on Monday, May 18, and Tuesday, May 19.
The tests will be conducted at the Hylton Memorial Chapel, 14640 Potomac Mills Road, Woodbridge on May 18 and at Stonewall Jackson Senior High School, 8820 Rixlew Lane, Manassas on May 19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The tests will be conducted via drive-thru and walk-up, according to a press release from the Prince William County Government.
“The two-day testing is made possible through the efforts of Prince William County government, Prince William Health District, Virginia Department of Health and Mako Medical Laboratories,” stated the aforementioned press release.
The free testing comes in light of an incorrect statement made by Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey, who falsely announced that anyone could receive a free test for the new coronavirus from a Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center testing event on Saturday, May 16. The event only provided testing to pre-selected individuals, with a focus on essential workers, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases.
Those who attend the free testing event on Monday and Tuesday will be directed into one of the multiple lanes (drive-thru or walk-up), asked to give information about themselves (name, birthdate, address, phone number, and current symptoms), and then given the test.
Those getting a test will be notified of their results by the Virginia Department of Health before the end of the week.
The Prince William County Government requests that those awaiting a test result follow CDC guidelines to prevent the virus from spreading to additional people in the community, according to a press release.
According to the CDC, people with symptoms of the new coronavirus are a priority in being tested. Symptoms of the virus include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, loss of taste and/or smell, vomiting or diarrhea, and/or sore throat.
While the rest of the commonwealth may be easing restrictions, localities north of the Chopawamsic Creek, to include Prince William County, will remain under a stay-at-home order.
That means non-essential businesses like churches, spas, barbershops, and entertainment venues like bowling alleys will remain closed. In Stafford County and points south, Virginia residents will begin the first phase of the governor's plan to reopen the economy, called "safer at home."
Today, Gov. Northam announced that his plan to reopen the state would not be implemented in most parts of Northern Virginia for two additional weeks due to the high rates of the new coronavirus cases in the region. The announcement comes after Northam on Friday, May 8, announced that he would allow all establishments across the state to reopen Friday, May 15 -- one week later than had been initially announced.
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Students may be out of school for the rest of the academic year, but their GPAs are still going up.
The Prince William County School Board unanimously approved a motion during their May 6 meeting to direct Superintendent Dr. Steven L. Walts to make adjustments to student transcripts to reflect the new course weighting procedures for fall 2020.
“We’re looking for ways to increase our students’ competitiveness with neighboring jurisdictions, especially as students go on to colleges and other advanced programs. We think it will really help our students compare fairly and equitably with their regional peers,” said Gainesville District School Board representative Jennifer T. Wall.
This course weighting change will aid Prince William County Schools students in being more competitive on college and scholarship applications with students from neighboring counties.
According to Fairfax County Public Schools, 89% of their students in 2018-2019 planned to attend a two or four-year institution after high school. Prince William County Schools, on the other hand, only had 78.7% of students doing the same in 2018-2019, according to the Prince William County Public Schools High School Division Summary.
“There were a number of courses that we had that weren’t weighted at 4.5 or 5 like our neighbors, Loudoun and Fairfax. So we made that adjustment in the fall, but we never made the adjustment to the grade-point average for the students who took those courses in the past,” said Chairman Babur Lateef.
The new course weighting will affect students in grades 7 through 11 who have taken certain Pre-AP and advanced classes. The weighting of those classes will be shifted up by either a half, or 1 point, which would give a student with a 4.0 in a class, for example, a 4.5 or 5.0, raising their overall grade-point average.
This grade weighting shift will affect thousands of students, according to Chairman Lateef.
The affected classes are:
- Pre-AP English 9 (+.5)
- Pre-AP English 10(+.5)
- IGCSE English 9(+.5)
- IGCSE English 10(+.5)
- ADV-MYP English 9(+.5)
- ADV-MYP English 10(+.5)
- SOL English 11 Comp DE(+1.0)
- English 12 Lit DE(+1.0)
- Survey of World Lit DE(+1.0)
- Advanced Band(+.5)
- CFPA Colgan Chamber Ensemble(+.5)
- CFPA Philharmonic Orchestra(+.5)
- CFPA Wind Symphony(+.5)
- CFPA Ensemble(+.5)
- CFPA Dance Artist IV(+.5)
- Directing Screen & Stage(+.5)
- Orchestra Ensemble(+.5)
- Vocal Ensemble(+.5)
- Adv MYP Art 1(+.5)
- Adv MYP Orchestra(+.5)
- Adv MYP Choir(+.5)
- Adv MYP Band(+.5)
- Theatre IV(+.5)
- IGSCE Music Studies(+.5)
- Pre-AP World History/Geography 1(+.5)
- Adv MYP World History/Geo 2(+.5)
- IGCSE History(+.5)
- Pre-AICE World History/Geo 1(+.5)
- IGCSE Global Perspectives(+.5)
- ADV World History/Geography 2(+.5)
- Pre-AP Algebra I(+.5)
- ADV MYP Algebra I(+.5)
- IGCSE Algebra I(+.5)
- Pre-AP Geometry(+.5)
- ADV MYP Geometry(+.5)
- IGCSE Geometry(+.5)
- ADV Algebra II/Trig(+.5)
- ADV MYP Algebra II(+.5)
- IGCSE Algebra II/Trig (+.5)
- ADV Comp Mathematics(+.5)
- ADV Comp Studies(+.5)
- Adv Computer Mathematics(+.5)
- Adv Computer Studies(+.5)
- Adv Programming(+.5)
- Adv Comp Info Sys(+.5)
- IGCSE Biology(+.5)
- Adv MYP Biology(+.5)
- Pre-AP Chemistry(+.5)
- Adv MYP Biology(+.5)
- IGCSE Chemistry(+.5)
- IGCSE Physics(+.5)
- Adv MYP French 2(+.5)
- Advanced French 3(+.5)
- Adv MYP French 2(+.5)
- Advanced French 3(+.5)
- Advanced German 3(+.5)
- Advanced German 4(+.5)
- IGCSE Italian 3(+.5)
- Advanced Latin 3(+.5)
- Advanced Russian 3(+.5)
- Advanced Russian 4(+.5)
- Adv MYP Spanish 2(+.5)
- Adv MYP Spanish 3(+.5)
- Advanced Spanish 3(+.5)
- Advanced Spanish 4(+.5)
- IB AB Initio Spanish II(+.5)
- Advanced Accounting(+.5)
- Advanced Fashion Marketing(+.5)
- Advanced Marketing(+.5)
- Advanced Sports, Ent, Rec Marketing(+.5)
- Adv IT Web Tech DE(+1.0)
Gov. Ralph Northam announced on May 2 that Virginia was approved by FEMA to receive three Battelle Critical Care Decontamination Systems which can collectively sanitize 240,000 PPE each day.
The systems are at no cost to Virginia for the first six months of use, and their decontamination services are free to hospitals and healthcare workers.
The systems are being installed in the Marching Virginians Center on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, a warehouse in the Hampton Roads Sanitation District, and the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds near Richmond.
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The Prince William Board of County Supervisors unanimously approved a request to add approximately 84 acres of land into an agricultural and forestal district during their board meeting on April 28.
Located near the Nokesville School, the first parcel, located at 13063 Hickerson Lane, is 80 acres. It will be used for fields, forestry, crops, and livestock. The second four-acre parcel is located at 13209 Farmview Road, known as the Madera Farm. It will be used as a “wooded lot to be forested,” according to county documents.
The Agricultural and Forestal Districts are established to “provide a means for a mutual undertaking by landowners and localities to protect and enhance agricultural and forestal land as a viable segment of the Commonwealth’s economy and as an economic and environmental resource of major importance,” according to the Code of Virginia.
This addition occurred while the Prince William County Agricultural and Forestal District was under its periodic review during which owners of the land parcels that make up the district can request to be removed from it.
Many have requested to be removed from the agricultural zone, according to long-range planner Connie Dalton, which has weakened the already weak district where farmland is disappearing.
“Unfortunately, based upon the review and what we’ve been told, Agricultural and Forestal District 91-1 may be the only one that’s left. Loudoun county has 79,000 acres in their Agricultural and Forestal District, they have 23 of them, we have maybe one at the end of this review session,” said Jason Hickman, an attorney representing the owner of the two parcels of land.
The added 84 acres, however, may help revitalize the district, according to Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson.
“These applications will actually strengthen that particular district,” said Lawson.
Lawson gave a directive for Prince William staff to come up with creative incentives for inviting more landowners into the Agricultural and Forestal Districts.
Starting today, Gov. Ralph Northam is relaxing what were his strict orders that prevented Virginians to have nonessential surgery during the spread of the coronavirus.
"Today, I'm announcing that elective surgery and dental procedures can resume when the public order expires at midnight on [May 1] with guidelines in place to ensure safety for healthcare workers and patients and to maintain an adequate supply of PPE," Northam said at a press conference on Wednesday, April 29.
Northam banned elective medical procedures on March 25 under as part of his response to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, hospitals across the state have widely been empty, and have had to furlough staff due to lack of business.
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Both the May General and Special Elections, as well as the June Primary elections, have been postponed by an executive order from Gov. Ralph Northam.
The original May 5 and June 9 elections will now be held on May 19 and June 23, respectively.
In Prince Willaim County, races in Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico are affected. In Fredericksburg, races for city council and school board are delayed.
Northam’s order comes in light of concerns regarding large crowds gathering at polling stations in the wake of the coronavirus.
The postponement does not allow for new individuals who were ineligible to vote in the May 5 election to do so in the May 19 election, nor does it allow for new candidates to participate in the postponed elections.
These new dates are not necessarily permanent and are subject to change, according to Prince William County Senior Deputy Registrar Matthew Wilson.
“At this point we are at the whim of the Governor and General Assembly,” Wilson said.
Even though the elections were postponed, Northam still encourages Virginians to vote by absentee ballot, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office.
To receive an absentee ballot for the May 19 election, a request must be sent to the voter’s local registrar’s office by May 12 at 5 p.m. Voters can also request a ballot be sent to them online.
“Voters completing a paper application may use reason 2A, ‘my disability or illness,’ to complete their form. Voters completing an online application to request an absentee ballot will need to follow the prompts and select ‘I have a reason or condition that prevents me from going to the polls on Election Day,'” stated the press release.
Absentee ballots for the May 19 local elections sent through the mail must be received by the voter’s local general registrar by May 19 at 7 p.m.
These are the elections in NOVA that have been affected by the postponement:
May 19 Election
Fredericksburg City Council
- Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Mayor, Incumbent
- Anne G. Little, Mayor
- Jon A. Gerlach
- Matthew J. Kelly, Incumbent
- Kerry P. Divine, Incumbent
Fredericksburg School Board Election
- Jannan W. Holmes
- Jarvis E. Bailey
Haymarket Town Council
- David M. Leake., Mayor, Incumbent
- Kenneth M. Luersen, Mayor
- Thomas Carson Utz
- Connor William Leake, Incumbent
- Steven Roy Shannon, Incumbent
- Chris Samuel Morris, Incumbent
- Robert Timothy Day
- Madhusudan Panthi, Incumbent
- TracyLynn Pater
- Robert Marchant Schneider
- Joseph Ralph Pasanello
- Robert Burton Weir
Occoquan Town Council
- Earnie W. Porta Jr., Mayor, Incumbent
- Eliot Ross Perkins, Incumbent
- Cindy J. Fithian, Incumbent
- Jennifer Michelle Loges
- Laurie Elizabeth Holloway, Incumbent
- Krystyna Michelle Bienia
Quantico Town Council
- Kevin Patrick Brown, Mayor, Incumbent
- Sammoto Yomosa Dabney
- Otis Conrad Baker, Incumbent
- Alice Catherine Toner
- Earlene Joan Clinton, Incumbent
- Robin Renne Langham, Incumbent
- Ashley Rena Langham
- Russell V. Kuhns, Incumbent
- Virginia L. Macfarlan
- Jason Robert Stoltz
June 23 Election
Manassas City Council Primary Election
City Council At-large
- Pamela J. Sebesky, Incumbent
- Mark D. Wolfe, Incumbent
- Tom C. Osina
- Helen Anne Zurita
Statewide Republican Primary
U.S. Senate
- Daniel M. Gade
- Thomas A. Speciale II
- Alissa A. Baldwin
Prince William County Democratic Primary
U.S. House of Representatives
- Qasim Rashid (VA-1, Prince William, Stafford)
- Lavangelene A. “Vanigie” Williams (VA-1, Prince William, Stafford)
- Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly (VA-11, Fairfax, Prince William)
- Zainab M. Mohsini (VA-11, Fairfax, Prince William)
Northern Virginia Community College is offering free online courses to high school students in certain Northern Virginia schools through their new JumpStart Program.
This program allows up to 3,500 students to take and gain transferable college credit from two of the following classes: History and Appreciation of Art I, Introduction to Communication, College Composition I (open only to recent high school graduates), History of World Civilization II, Cloud Computing: Infrastructure and Services, and Quantitative Reasoning.
All of the classes, which will be taught by NOVA and dual-enrollment instructors, give students three college credits. The courses will last from June 1 to July 15.
