Dear Editor,

We write to you as individual members of the Manassas City School Board regarding the recent article “Metz Middle scores decline…” and the significant online discussion that ensued.

As Board members and parents alike, we share the community’s concern and frustration regarding the disappointing SOL results at Metz Middle School.
The related online conversation about Metz has highlighted the number of English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) within our student body. Schools with a high share of English language learners obviously face challenges. That’s the reality.

However, we reject the notion that a high share of ESOL students inevitably condemns Metz to its current level of performance. To move forward, we must thoughtfully and accurately identify the problems facing our middle school, and we firmly believe that our students can achieve at a higher level.

We know this is possible by comparing Metz to other school systems with similar demographics. Neighboring Manassas Park Middle School, for example, had an 8th-grade math SOL exam pass rate over twice ours: 62% at Manassas Park Middle versus 29% at Metz.

We can also look within our own school system for evidence of our students’ potential:

• Round Elementary, a Manassas City elementary school, is a majority ESOL school. And yet, Round meets and even exceeds the state average SOL scores in every academic category. It currently has a 7 out of 10 rating on GreatSchools.org.
• More generally, our elementary schools succeed at getting our youngest students to acquire English literacy skills. As shown by the state’s spring PALS assessment, which tracks early literacy in grades K through 2, MCPS is within a few points of the state average. This is despite having a much higher share of ESOL students.
• While the pass rate for 7th-grade math at Metz was only 30%, in contrast, at Mayfield Intermediate- with students just one year younger- the pass rate for 6th-grade math was a much higher 67% (six points above the state average). Both schools have a similar share of ESOL students.

Metz Middle School’s current level of SOL performance is, therefore, not destiny, and we are committed to a reflective and constructive assessment of ways we can foster greater academic success.

While the reasons for troubles at Metz are complex and long in the making, it is our belief that the Manassas City School Board can do more to nurture high academic standards and spur student achievement. With this in mind, we must revisit the School Board’s currently adopted grading policy.

The School Board’s grading policy requires of Metz that:

• All assignments receive no less than 50% credit, even if never attempted or completed;
• All assignments are required to receive full credit up to the last day of the grading period, preventing teachers from enforcing deadlines; and
• All tests and quizzes are guaranteed an automatic retake for full credit.
  We acknowledge that there are plausible arguments for implementing any of these items individually. However, MCPS is the only public school system in the region that does all of these things together, and we believe they holistically lower student performance.

It is not surprising to us that, with rules like these, many middle schoolers–who are becoming teenagers and discovering their independence–conclude that they do not need to put forth much effort or even show up to class. This policy communicates to students that it is OK not to attempt all of their assignments since they can never get less than 50% credit, that procrastination is harmless since all assignments can be submitted at any point in the grading period, and that it is OK not to study for the first time taking a test since there is always a retake.

As every parent knows, children meet the level of expectations set for them. It is essential to foster an environment where every student is encouraged to fully apply themselves. This grading policy does the opposite of that, helping drive a student culture of low expectations.

We attempted to start the process of reforming the grading policy this past summer. However, the majority of the Board chose to leave the policy unchanged. Reflecting on the recent Metz test scores, this is now an opportune time to reconsider.

Metz Middle School faces challenges. While there is no singular solution, the path to improvement is paved with high expectations, consistent effort, and positive study habits. We steadfastly believe in our students’ ability to achieve excellence. While demographics provide context, they do not define outcomes.

Our kids and our community deserve a better-performing Metz.

Sara Brescia and Robyn Williams
Manassas City School Board Members

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It’s easy to spend money when it’s not your own.

At the last Prince William County Board of Supervisors meeting of 2023, I spoke to the board about the massive cost of feeding board supervisors during their meetings. I showed a video of county residents waiting in food pantry lines.

Talking to some of the organizers of these charities, they tell me they try to serve everyone, but there are many occasions when more people are looking for help than they can serve, and they regularly must close the pantry lines. The board appeared to listen intently to what I was saying. Still, to my dismay, outgoing Chair Ann Wheeler announced that the board would be going to Los Toltecas Bar and Grill in Woodbridge for dinner between the day and evening sessions.

Employees of the county’s social services department tell me that comparing the last full years of the Stewart and the Wheeler boards, the amount of first-time public assistance requests of Prince William County residents rose 48.5%.

Despite their ability to put food on their table, those seeking public assistance are still required to pay the county real estate and personal property taxes. Those tax rates are set by the supervisors who are eating for free using money paid by people who can’t put food on their tables. I

It’s a circle of craziness that is only made more surreal when you realize that unpaid tax debt can subject people to civil and criminal sanctions.

Public records of the Board of Supervisors’ expenditures from January through November 2023 show they spent $12,548.28 taxpayer money on food for 19 meetings. That averages to $82.55 per supervisor per meeting.

As you can tell by the price tag, they are not eating burgers or pizza. They eat from restaurants like Carrabba’s, Los Toltecas, Bonefish Grill, Firebirds, Texas Roadhouse, and the Cheesecake Factory.

Adding to the cost, the Wheeler Board required county staff to have lunch waiting in the board chambers despite not starting work until well after lunch at 2 p.m. To add insult to taxpayer injury, sometimes the board decided to go out to eat, even though the county had already purchased food for them, making taxpayers pick up the tab twice.

Why does the public pick up the tab for their meals in the first place? Last spring, the board gave itself a sweeping pay raise – 70% in the case of the chair’s salary.

There are so many meal options from delivery to door dash where each supervisor can choose to order their food for themselves.

County Executive Christopher Shorter and county attorney Michelle Robl, two of the top 3 highest-paid county employees, are also having their meals provided for them by taxpayers during these meetings.

Shorter hasn’t been here a year and just got 6% and 3% raises. His annual salary is more than $380,000, and he also gets a luxury car allowance and deferred compensation of an additional $20,o000 a year.

This makes his salary more than 10 times the salary of the average Virginian. He still eats for free on Tuesdays.

If it’s too much of a bother to order food separately, why not reimburse the county for the food they’ve purchased?

Hopefully, the incoming At-large chair, Deshundra Jefferson, will put a “Pantry closed” sign over the supervisors’ excessive meal spending because the people can no longer afford a ruling class; that’s why we ousted Ann Wheeler.

Alan Gloss
Coles District

I’m Nelson Head, owner of Dixie Bones

The Prince William County Supervisors are up for re-election this year.

As part of the campaign, the challengers and I have visited more than a hundred restaurants throughout the county. There they learned firsthand what happened when the meals tax forced restaurants to add a collective $35 million of new charges to their checks. Not surprisingly, their customers found the food suddenly too expensive, and they stopped coming in.

They heard from servers how their tips fell by half. They saw empty dining rooms, skeleton crews, and managers and owners disheartened by the struggle to survive. They listened to customers angry over having to pay yet another tax and this one for simply eating out.

These challengers know they must end the Meals Tax if our restaurants are to survive.

In the other case, only odious, meanspirited persons would attack the livelihood of small, popular restaurants and their employees and then reward themselves with a 70% pay raise. But that is exactly what incumbent supervisors did.

Well, at least these guys can still afford to eat in a restaurant if they dare to show their face.

These incumbents expect us to believe that they gave the meals tax money to schools when anyone can plainly see the $30 million of tax money sitting idle and unused in a surplus account in the county’s coffers.

This crop of self-serving supervisors, masquerading as Democrats protecting the little guy, is way, way past their sell-by dates.

We can fix this.

Please go to endmealstax.com to meet the new supervisors who will clean up this mess.

Voting is already underway. So please go to the polls and vote for candidates who will Save Our Restaurants.

Nelson Head
Founder, Dixie Bones BBQ
Woodbridge

September 22 is the start of early voting. To prepare yourself, you need to know where the candidates stand on the issues. Some candidates seeking your trust don’t think it’s any of your business.

A Bristow homeowner’s group asked all incumbents and candidates for your Board of County Supervisors to state their positions on five contentious land use cases: Prince William Digital Gateway, Devlin Technology Park, John Marshall Commons Technology Park, Potomac Technology Park and Bristow Campus.

Predictably, five incumbent supervisors declined to respond. They were Ann Wheeler, Kenny Boddye, Margaret Franklin, Andrea Bailey and Victor Angry. These are the same five supervisors who voted against a resolution to prevent “lame duck” land use votes. Do I detect a trend here?

Notably, they didn’t say they supported these projects either.

You can draw your own conclusions about the reasons for their evasion, but at a minimum it indicates an arrogance of presumed exemption from accountability. Why would you vote for anyone with such an obvious disregard for the electorate they are supposed to serve? If you can’t get an answer from someone vying for your vote, how responsive do you think they’ll be should you be foolish enough to elect them? You may have already learned this about the five holdouts.

A recent Inside NOVA editorial lambasted Chair Ann Wheeler for her decision to consider contentious cases during the “lame duck” period. Now her ducklings won’t even tell you where they stand.

Use your imagination, then use your vote.

Bill Wright
Gainesville

I have watched as Democrats on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, the School Board, and the Racial and Social Justice Commission addressed so-called “systemic racism” as an issue in Prince William County and our schools.

Since then, we have seen our education system destroyed and money wasted on an Equity Department that does nothing but pit our children against each other based on the color of their skin.

We have watched the school board do everything within their power to take parents out of our children’s education while they push gender ideology and anti-racist rhetoric in the classroom.

We were told over and over again that CRT was not being taught in our schools or used as a basis for the changes that were unnecessarily made to our education system. We also had to stand by and watch as they wrongly accused white people of being racist and oppressors and all minorities as oppressed and victims in need of lower standards to achieve success.

Maria Burgos, PWC Director of Equity, was obviously so embedded in the CRT push she inadvertently admitted that Marxism was being used in our education system.

Now, the entire narrative is falling apart as a recent article exposes the lies surrounding the premise of “systemic racism.”

“The Florida State University professor, Eric Stewart, whose work was foundational to perpetuating the false narrative that there was a widespread “systemic racism” issue infecting American Society, has been fired “on account of ‘extreme negligence’ in his research.” As well as “incompetence” and producing “false results” in his nearly 20 years of work.”

The massive policy changes that occurred around the country, based on the research done by one man, were picked up like a hundred dollar bill in the street by every Democrat across the country and used against the populace to garner control of our schools, our county, our state and our country.

One man’s lies were so easily given credence, without further research or questions, that he was able to fool an entire country of left-leaning media, educators, so-called leaders, and even the president of the United States into supporting, teaching, and spreading a Marxist framework that has metastasized like a cancer in our schools, our military, and our government.

It sounds like those who fell for this rhetoric need to be sent to the same re-education camps Equity Departments across the country have been pushing on anyone who dared to question the status quo.

I have said this before, and I will say this again. Our problem is not systemic racism…it is systemic ignorance and corruption.

My question, now that we know the truth, is what will the left-leaning media, educators, so-called leaders, and the president going to do about it?

Leigh Bravo
Gainesville

Potomac Local News aims to share opinions on issues of local importance from a diverse range of residents across all our communities. If you’ve recently spoken at a Board of County Supervisors meeting, send us a typed copy of your remarks for publication to [email protected].

Ann Wheeler’s anxiousness to schedule a vote on the controversial Prince William Digital Gateway rezoning before the Planning Office has even completed its review is hardly surprising. She has been in the tank for this project from the outset, and her blatant subservience to corporate masters was largely responsible for her electoral defeat.

Now shift the focus to her accomplices, who have thus far evaded the same level of accountability.

The transformation of Prince William County into northern New Jersey cannot be completed without the willing assistance of Wheeler’s four obedient sidekicks: Kenny Boddye, Margaret Franklin, Andrea Bailey and Victor Angry. Is there an independent thought among them? What will they do without their den mother?

And what about our new County Executive Chistopher Shorter? Was he hired to serve the people or enable our lame duck chair’s undemocratic tactics? He’s got just a few months to show us before he answers to a new Board that may have a very different view of his expected role.

As for our volatile Planning Office, you’d need a scorecard to tell who’s running what on any given day. That’s less their fault than the leadership they’ve been saddled with, but it is long overdue for a planner with backbone to emerge and assert some degree of professional integrity. They are clearly being rolled over.

Will we trade the tenuous promise of tax reductions for a county no longer worth living in? Those with means will flee, but those tied here by jobs, families and limited resources will be stuck living in the Wheelerites’ new industrial wasteland.

Bill Wright
Gainesville

Potomac Local News aims to share opinions on issues of local importance from a diverse range of residents across all our communities. If you’ve recently spoken at a Board of County Supervisors meeting, send us a typed copy of your remarks for publication to [email protected].

I am writing in response to Rob Hartwell’s opinion letter on August 15 regarding the supposedly vandalized signs of Jeannie LaCroix in Woodbridge. Mr. Hartwell – using language thick with innuendo and unsaid accusations – implied that it was more than a coincidence that these signs were apparently vandalized on private property just when Ms. LaCroix’s election opponent had begun placing signs herself.

Reading his pearl-clutching letter, I couldn’t help but think of the quote from an infamous propagandist: “Accuse the other of that you are guilty.” After all, this is coming from a representative of a political party which has utilized every dirty trick in the book to obtain and hold on to electoral power, even going so far as to personally attack election officials and the very seat of our democracy itself – and has the glass house audacity to accuse by innuendo a political opponent of resorting to vandalism of signs.

His evidence? Her opponent – gasp – has placed signs in the median instead of private property. Well, Mr. Hartwell – since these were on private property and we live in a time of video doorbells and floodlight cameras, I say release this footage of these so-called perpetrators of these vandalisms instead of relying on worthless meaningless accusations.

But then again, doing so might reveal far more about Ms. LaCroix’s campaign than Mr. Hartwell would be comfortable with. And yes, I do agree that the timing is coincidental – perhaps some political operatives took a page from the GOP playbook and destroyed their own signs for attention. After all, destroying your own sign is much easier than breaking into voting machines.

Regardless, I’m sure Mr. Hartwell enjoyed the free headlines from these so-called crimes – coincidence or not.

Anthony Roberts
Woodbridge

Potomac Local News aims to share opinions on issues of local importance from a diverse range of residents across all our communities. If you’ve recently spoken at a Board of County Supervisors meeting, send us a typed copy of your remarks for publication to [email protected].