Stafford School Board candidate Carol Huebner Medawar wore a campaign shirt at a recent school-sponsored bingo night.Â
- She was attending the late August event with her child who attends Stafford High School.
- Medawar is running for the George Washington District seat on the Stafford County School Board.Â
- The seat is currently held by Dewayne McOsker who isnât seeking reelection.Â
The school division prohibits campaigning on school grounds, and now the incident has sparked Board discussion about what qualifies as campaigning.
- "The complaint was reviewed by an attorney, and she said that does not violate the policy," Superintendent Scott Kizner said at the school board meeting on Oct. 8.
But that didnât stop the School Board from tasking its Governance Committee to review the school divisionâs policy on campaigning inside school buildings.Â
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Located in North Stafford and once a Christian school, itâs the newest county school facility.
- The center houses a variety of programs for children from birth to age five. This includes Head Start,
- Virginia Preschool Initiative, Early Childhood Special Education, and Early Head Start.
- Northam joined school officials Monday afternoon for an official ribbon cutting.
- The school has been open since the start of the school year in mid-August.
âI was blown away by the work that theyâve done to get this up and running this year,â Northam said.
âStafford County has been dedicated to improving the inequity in early education for a long time, and this new school is a shining star in that effort,â said Director of Early Childhood Programs Kathryn Massie.
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After a six-hour marathon meeting, the Stafford County School Board passed employee and student non-discrimination policies one year after a transgender student was barred from using a bathroom facility.
Questions remain, however, as to how these policies will be implemented, as they do not specifically address transgender bathroom usage.
An overflow crowd of nearly 400 filled the School Board Chambers to speak on the proposed non-discrimination policy and to hear elected School Board officials discuss the matter.
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After it was first heard in December 2018, it wasnât until May 28 that the Non-Discrimination Policy appeared on the Board Agenda as an information item. Then again at the next meeting, the policy appeared under information.
âI see delays after delays, and Iâm not really sure why itâs been on for information twice,â Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner said to Falmouth District Supervisor Sarah Chase on June 8 in documents obtained by the Potomac Local in a Freedom of Information Act Order.
âIf it is voted down, we can move on. I personally have not heard any supporters change their mind nor any opposed change their mind.â
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After Stafford County Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner's initial transgender student proposal in December 2018, the policy drew highly polarized and split opinions.
A total of 51% of emails sent to Board members regarding this issue advocated against the Gender Identity and Expression Policy while 41% of resident emails argued for the passage of such policy according to documents gathered by the Potomac Local in a Freedom of Information Act Order.
The Stafford County School Board maintained that the earliest it would vote on the transgender policy would be in January since it didnât want the discussion to get lost over Christmas break.
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Those promises came after the school division garnered national attention when a transgender student wasnât allowed to use either the boys or girls locker room during an active shooter safety drill.
At the School Board meeting on Oct. 9, 2018, a week after the transgender lockerroom incident occurred, Board members promised their constituents that they would address what happened.
- âWe will move forward with this issue,â said Dwayne McOsker, George Washington District Supervisor.
- âThe time to have these conversations isnât now, it wasnât last year, it was a long time ago,â said Jamie Decatur, Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor.
- âI believe we need to move forward with this,â said Holly Hazard, Hartwood District Supervisor.
- âIt is a matter of policy, and itâs time to come back,â said Patricia Healy, Rock Hill District Supervisor.
Superintendent Scott Kizner, too, promised to review the issue and work with the Stafford LGBT+ community and parent advisory committees to draft a new policy.
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STAFFORD -- The rural roads of Stafford are failing to support the countyâs continued urban development, and residents are speaking out.
Many in recent months have pressed elected members of the Stafford Board of Supervisors, demanding for action on a variety of transportation issues. All have expressed common frustrations about the time it takes the Virginia Department of Transportation to safety concerns.
Over a period of 45 days from mid-May to July, Board of Supervisors members received about 40 citizen complaints, according to in documents obtained by Potomac Local in a Freedom of Information Act order. Many focused on overgrown vegetation, potholes, drainage issues, speeding, signage needed, and other issues.
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STAFFORD -- A group of Stafford County high school students is pushing for change after their friend and fellow classmate Helen Wang died in a car crash on the day of her 17th birthday. She was hit and killed while trying to turn onto Kellogg Mill Road, a narrow two-lane road that winds through the heart of the county.Â
They call themselves Changing Staffordâs Roads [CSR]. Theyâre credited with convincing local leaders to take action, putting forward to voters a possible $50 million road bond referendum to improve conditions on some of the countyâs worst thoroughfares.
Itâs an about-face for Stafford County leaders who in February, during a Board of Supervisors retreat at Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, decided they werenât going to borrow any new money for road fixes.Â
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Nearly 2,500 work orders have been put into the Virginia Department of Transportation area headquarters in Stafford County since the start of the year. Of those work orders, only about 50% have been addressed and closed.Â
Resident complaints have funneled their way to the Board of Supervisors with groups like Changing Stafford Roads, a student-run organization formed after 17-year-old Helen Wang died attempting a blind turn on Kellogg Mill Road at Abel Lake, making noise about poor road conditions in Stafford.Â
The Board met with VDOT on July 2 to address road safety and maintenance issues.Â
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STAFFORD -- Fourteen years ago the Board of Supervisors set aside two percent of the Transient Occupancy Tax to help finance a Stafford County Museum and Cultural Center. While the tax was diverted to the General Fund in 2010, nearly one million dollars remain for the museum to use.Â
Now the Museum Foundation, which separated from the county government and became a 501C-(3) in 2010, has requested and received $250,000 of itâs reserved funds after Board approval.Â
âThat number is something we felt would allow us to engage multiple consultants at one time, but would also be enough that we wouldnât have to be running back to you every couple of months and asking for additional money,â said Scott Mayausky, president of the Stafford Museum and Cultural Center.
