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.
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The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William, with the partnership of the Prince William County Government, the City of Manassas, and the City of Manassas Park, has created The Prince William County Area Disaster Fund: a relief effort to alleviate the effects of the coronavirus on Prince William County.
The project is funded through donations from residents and organizations. The ability to donate to the fund was only made available last week, and it has since raised over $10,000, with more donations pouring in by the day.
“We are so encouraged by just everyone’s willingness to share. We’ve had people say ‘I’m donating my entire stimulus check,’” said Chelsi Conaway, the executive director of The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William.
The money donated will be allocated to community groups in need of funding to aid issues resulting from the new coronavirus. Traditional community groups, such as nonprofit organizations or food banks, are not the only ones who are eligible for funds, Homeowners Associations and fraternal organizations who are aiding in the relief effort are eligible too.
“The Alliance will administer the money received to interested community groups that can show collaboration, efficiency and impact in their plans to serve Prince William County residents in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic,” says a statement on the The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William’s website.
The amount of money a community group will receive, of which will be a grant, will depend on the amount of money they need for their efforts and the number of donations the fund receives. In order to get the money, community groups will need to fill out an application, which has not yet been made available, that will gather information about the organization and determine if their intended project aligns with the goals of the fund.
The applications will be open for a four-week period and then closed for a few days to allow the grand review committee, which will also be made up of community groups, to look over them.
A limit to how many community groups will receive the money has not yet been determined, as it is all based on the number of donations the fund will receive.
If you are interested in donating to the fund, you can do so by visiting their website, texting the word ‘IMPACT’ to 36413, or by mailing a check made payable to “The Alliance” with “Prince William Area Disaster Fund” in the memo line. The checks should be mailed to The Human Services Alliance of Greater Prince William, 9073 Center St, Manassas, Va., 20110.
“We really are all in this together, and when we unite and channel our energy and our funds and our resources in one direction it can have a greater impact,” said Conaway.
