Manassas City Public Schools face increased scrutiny over falling student performance and a contentious grading policy as the November election approaches. During a recent town hall hosted by Potomac Local News, candidates for the city’s school board and concerned residents discussed the troubling decline in Standards of Learning (SOL) scores and how the division’s grading practices may exacerbate the issue.
In the past year, SOL scores for Manassas students have significantly dropped, leaving the school division well below state averages. Two of the city’s schools, Osbourn High School and Metz Middle School, remain partially accredited under pandemic-era standards and struggle to meet performance benchmarks. Caitlyn Meisner, our Manassas Local Editor, covering the school board for Potomac Local News, has followed the downward trend closely since late 2023.
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One of the most pressing concerns discussed during the town hall was increased student behavioral problems, which have created significant classroom disruptions. School board candidate Javanese Hailey, a former teacher at Metz Middle School, shared her experience with a lack of accountability in the school.
"When I worked at Metz in 2019, there was just an absolute lack of accountability. The kids were allowed to do whatever they wanted, and there were no consequences," Hailey said. "I had seventh graders who were on third-grade level academically, and that, coupled with behavioral issues, created chaos. It felt like something was going to break down at any moment."
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Happy Friday, Manassas!
Welcome to another City Council preview, this time for the Oct. 28 regular meeting. This week’s meeting will be held at the City Hall Council Chambers at 9027 Center St.
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Robinson made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning production of "Hairspray" as Seaweed. Since then, he's been in various Broadway productions, including "Disney’s The Little Mermaid," "Hair," "Ragtime," "The Lion King," "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical," "The Book of Mormon" and "Les Misérables."
During his three days with the choir, Robinson taught a three-hour masterclass, discussed his journey to Broadway, provided students with industry insights and took questions from students. A ninth-grade student, Maliya Trammell, performed "Rise Up," and Robinson provided acting tips through song.
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We just wrapped up an important discussion on the state of Manassas City Public Schools in our latest podcast episode, featuring insights from local education leaders and school board candidates. This special forum covered pressing issues facing our schools and presented diverse perspectives on how we can collectively move forward.
In this episode, you’ll hear from Robyn Williams, an eight-year school board member now running for City Council, and Caitlyn Meisner, our dedicated local editor covering Manassas City Public Schools since 2023. Several candidates endorsed by the city’s Republican committee, running for four open school board seats, also joined the discussion, including Allie Forkell, Javanese Hailey, Dayna Jackson-Miles, and Maidy Whitesell.
All school board candidates and sitting school board members were invited to participate.
Key Discussion Points and Timestamp Highlights:
1. SOL Scores and Decline in School Performance – [6:20-8:45]
Caitlyn Meisner discusses how Standards of Learning (SOL) scores have continued to fall behind state averages and what this means for the school division’s future.
2. School Infrastructure and Jennie Dean Elementary Project – [9:00-10:30]
A deep dive into the new Jennie Dean Elementary construction and discussions on infrastructure improvements vs. academic performance focus.
3. Challenges in the Classroom – [14:00-17:00]
Candidates and educators discuss post-COVID classroom challenges, such as teacher accountability, behavioral issues, and language barriers in the Manassas school system.
4. Grading Policy Controversy – [26:00-28:30]
Insight into the grading policy debate over giving students multiple retake opportunities and allowing them extended time for assignments. What’s the impact on student preparedness for college and the workforce?
5. CTE Program as a Bright Spot – [50:30-53:45]
Learn how the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program is helping students gain real-world skills and why expanding this program could be key to the city’s future success.
We encourage everyone to listen in and jump to the segments that interest you the most. Whether you’re concerned about school accreditation, academic decline, or exciting new initiatives like the CTE program, this podcast is for you.
How You Can Get Involved:
- Listen and share this insightful discussion with friends, family, and neighbors.
- Send us your feedback: What issues would you like us to cover in future forums?
- Get informed before Election Day on November 5 to ensure your vote supports the future of our schools.
Following months of heated discussion about Grace E. Metz Middle School's declining Standard of Learning (SOL) scores and school culture, new Principal Juliet Finnegan vows to lead the school toward improvement. Finnegan, who took over in July 2024, replaces Gary Morris, who left earlier this year after just two years. Her appointment comes amid ongoing debates about tackling the school's challenges.
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In a report released last month by the Virginia Department of Education, the average pass rates have declined in history, math and reading; improved in science and stayed the same in writing. The most significant decrease was in history, which decreased from 62% in the 2022-2023 school year to 58% in 2023-24. The most significant increase was in science, which increased to 48% in 2023-24.
And, MCPS significantly lags behind Virginia state averages. In almost every subject, MCPS is behind more than 20% in comparison to state averages.
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At the Aug. 27 regular meeting, the Manassas City School Board unanimously adopted a draft budget schedule for fiscal year 2026, which would start on July 1, 2025.
The first budget work session will take place on Oct. 1 in the Manassas City Public School's central office and they will discuss MCPS' capital improvement plan. The expected adoption date is to be determined, but the Board will present the budget to City Council in a joint meeting on April 2, 2025, at the Public Safety Facility (9608 Grant Ave.).
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A Manassas City School Board Candidate Forum will occur on August 19, 2024, at Bristoe Station Park. The event will begin with a Meet & Greet session at 6:30 p.m., followed by the forum at 7 p.m. The forum is open to parents, teachers, students, and community members.
The event will be held at 9118 Wharton Court and live-streamed. All Manassas School Board candidates, including Zella Jones, Suzanne Seaberg, Allie Forkell, Dayna Miles, Maidy Whitesell, Diana Brown, Javanese Hailey, and Christina Brooks, have been invited.
Democrats endorse Seaberg (incumbent), Jones, and Brown. Republicans endorse Forkell, Miles, Whitsell, and Hailey. Brooks (incumbent) is running as an independent.
For more information, contact the organizers via email at [email protected].
Last week, the school board chose not to feature regular attendance reports during regular school board meetings. Republican-endorsed members argued for transparency, while board members endorsed by Democrats voted no.
They expressed hesitation with monthly attendance reports for many reasons, and Board Member Jill Spall said releasing this information to the public may be harmful because it could bring negative labels to schools.
See more of our Manassas schools coverage.
Manassas City Public School Board members did not approve a resolution to require monthly attendance reports be made public in a 4-2 vote Tuesday.
The issue of attendance at MCPS was born from a meeting on Oct. 10, 2023, where Chevese Thomas, executive director of student services, gave a 36-slide presentation on attendance. Board Member Sara Brescia expressed concerns and presented this resolution to the Board in February, but the discussion was postponed to this meeting, the first of the 2024-2025 school year.
Board members throughout the meeting expressed hesitation with monthly attendance reports for many reasons, and Board Member Jill Spall said releasing this information to the public may be harmful because it could bring negative labels to schools.
“We live in pockets of low-income areas where many students miss school due to family responsibilities or health issues, and a public attendance report might highlight the high absenteeism rate without explaining these or other underlying causes,” Spall said. “As a result, one of our schools could be unfairly labeled as underperforming, leading to decreased community support and funding, which in turn makes it even harder for the school to address the root causes of the absenteeism.”
Spall said she believes transparency and accountability are important, but it needs to be balanced with the potential negative impacts on teachers and students.
Vice Chair Lisa Stevens questioned Brescia as to how these public, monthly reports would improve student attendance in practice. Brescia responded with an analogy to The Challenger disaster in January 1986, where the space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into its flight and killed all seven crew members aboard.
“We all know now that the launch should never have happened, but how did it come to pass? How did a team of experts make such a catastrophic decision?” Brescia said. “As it turns out, there were people in the organization who knew it was dangerous to launch that day. Canceling the launch, that would have been very public, and it would have been very embarrassing, and so that crucial information stopped with [the engineers].”
Brescia continued, stating the importance of having these conversations about attendance in public because that’s part of the job of an elected official.
“Even though this is tough, it is necessary to have this public conversation and to not be afraid of that,” she said. “So I think we should take this opportunity to have the fierce conversation about attendance. Attendance is mission-critical data. It informs everything else we do.”
Newman was quick to step in and state his office does not withhold attendance data from the Board.
“I share with the Board every month during the department meeting where attendance is,” Newman said. “I don’t want anyone to think that the analogy is speaking to anyone in my office or myself holding any information back to save face. That attendance data is presented to this board every month with a comparison to where each school was [in] the previous year based on that month’s data.”
Stevens also took issue with Brescia’s analogy, emphasizing the efforts of the attendance team and central office staff to decrease absenteeism rates. She mentioned she was interested in quarterly reports and would discuss them.
“We do get updates periodically on the efforts our attendance teams are making to ensure that our kids are going to school and some of the challenges and burdens they experience,” Stevens said. “But I don’t want anybody to believe that they’re not doing the best they can every day.”
Board Member Christina Brooks said she was concerned with the burden the monthly reports would place on central office staff; she said their focus should be on reducing absenteeism rates rather than the reports.
Chair Suzanne Seaberg repeated comments she made about the topic back in February and reiterated her position that day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the superintendent, not the Board.
“We ultimately hold Dr. Newman responsible for day-to-day operations. This request goes beyond that, and it makes it public for others to comment and reflect on perhaps negatively,” Seaberg said. “Making this information public could cause ill will among students and staff in our schools and the community at-large.”
Before the Board took a vote, Brescia brought up Stevens’ willingness to discuss quarterly reports. Brescia said she was happy with quarterly reports because she wants to move away from the annual report model.
The motion ultimately failed, with Brescia and Board Member Robyn Williams voting in favor of the resolution and the rest of the Board — not including Board Member Carl Hollingsworth, who was not present — voting against it.
Diana Brown, a candidate for the School Board, said proposing a vote “solely for publishing absenteeism numbers” appeared to be a “superficial, politically motivated move.”
“This vote, though framed as a measure for transparency, is at best an ineffective proposal. If the board genuinely wishes to address absenteeism, it must adopt a more nuanced and supportive approach that goes beyond merely reporting numbers,” she said. “I urge the Board to consider proposals that focus on comprehensive and contextually informed interventions to truly make a difference.”
Maidy Whitesell, another School Board candidate, said she would’ve supported the resolution if she was on the current Board.
“For me, transparency is an essential aspect of good leadership. I believe that the public should know how our attendance is trending,” she said. “Information should not be hidden from us as parents and members of the community. The current annual report is not adequate to keep all stakeholders updated throughout the year on whether the strategies that the schools are implementing are effective.”
Javanese Hailey, a candidate for the Board, said she too would’ve voted in favor of the resolution.
“Our only two secondary schools, Metz and Osbourn, are not fully accredited by the state. For both of those schools, chronic absenteeism is a school quality indicator that contributes to this Accredited with Conditions status,” Hailey said. “Transparency and accountability are important, and monthly attendance reports would provide measures of progress.”
