By Kristen Barnes
This year, Stafford and the Fredericksburg region have a unique opportunity to fill an open seat in the newly created 7th U.S. Congressional District.
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By Ben Baldwin
The economic illiteracy of this Board is astounding. Based on this budget, you need a lesson, so here goes:
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By Yesli Vega
Coles District Supervisor
Prince William County
In March of 2020 the stock market plummeted nearly 8,000 points and by April unemployment hit 15%. That same month, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors responded by increasing the average residential tax bill by almost $200 per family.
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Dr. Lucretia Brown was the first high-profile hire by Dr. LaTanya McDade, who took over as Prince William schools superintendent after Dr. Stephen Walts retired a year ago. Before coming to our area, Brown was the Deputy Superintendent of Equity, Accountability, and School Improvement for Allentown School District in Pennsylvania.
Now at Virginia's second-largest school district, she's made few public appearances and has yet to address the county School Board. In light of the recent focus on critically responsive teaching, a statewide gubernatorial election that put Critical Race Theory under a microscope, and a string of School Board meetings with parents demanding a more significant role in their children's public-school education, it's fair to say many of us are curious about her, and what she plans to do in her new role.
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Coles District Representative
Prince William County Racial & Social Justice Commission
A fellow commissioner asked me following the aborted March 31 meeting of the Racial and Social Justice Commission (RSJC) the following question: "What do you [Mac Haddow] want to allow the Commission to make progress?"
I understand the frustration because I share it - albeit for vastly different reasons.
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Gainesville
Data centers present a unique and exciting opportunity to enhance the lives of every single citizen of Prince William County by growing our commercial tax base, improving our schools, fixing our roadways and infrastructure, and increasing funding for first responders.
I have children in our school system, I drive our roads every day, I support local law enforcement and fire and rescue, I pay property taxes, and all of these endeavors are costing more and more money every year. We all know that we cannot just sit back while our student/teacher ratio keeps climbing. Our roads get more crowded, and our first responders continue to be stretched thin.
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Firstly, the 25% increase in reported larcenies could be influenced by a lack of means to satisfy basic needs. The continuation of the coronavirus pandemic must lead to job loss, which could be a potential explanation for the rise.
Additionally, an individual's lack of motivation to pursue other means of income, influence by peers or familial ties, or earlier life choices, like felonies, limiting workplace opportunities are other potential causes for the rise.
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By Rosmary Goudyrev
Stafford, Va.
The Stafford County Public School’s current redistricting plans to move the Park Ridge community out of Park Ridge Elementary is a direct consequence of the poorly planned new development of Embrey Mill. A development that is not even done adding to the load of our districts.
Why should the longstanding, established community of Park Ridge (the obvious namesake of the school) be punished?
What appears to be an easy solution (grabbing the closest slice ‘Park Ridge’ and shoving it into another district) will end up causing a huge embarrassment to the county and the board members. This is because the proposed plan is a logistical nightmare, the effects of which will pale in comparison to the nightmare we experienced earlier this school year.
Lest we forget, the nightmares caused by the bus shortages and lack of planning. How can we believe that the need to shuttle kids who live across the street from Park Ridge Elementary all the way across town is going to yield no issues?
There will be more buses on the road, more driver shortages, more horrendous traffic that will affect the entire county. More stories of entire bus loads of children being unaccounted for as terrified parents wait for hours at the bus stops (this happened at the start of the year). We were patient. We believed SCPS would resolve the issues. But the current plan is going to make these scenarios likely yet again.
Can the board please acknowledge that moving children further from their neighborhood schools is a disastrous idea? Embrey Mill residents made it known years ago that they don’t even want to attend Park Ridge. They want to attend the school closest to them. As is logical!
I implore each School Board member to please imagine living across the street from a school but having to put your kids on a bus to attend a school that, with morning traffic, might take twenty minutes to get to. This is what your plan is proposing.
Our children having to wake up earlier and stay on buses longer. Why are you proposing to have our children suffer and pay for the lack of planning of poorly planned new developments?
By Michael Halstead, Hartwood
During the 2021 Stafford County School Board election, a sitting board member released personal information regarding a minor child, violating the minor's privacy and putting the minor's safety at risk.
