For Prince William County’s youngest school board candidate, Jaylen Custis, an appearance at a recent Moms for Liberty meeting had significant consequences.

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The newest elementary school in Prince William County needs a permanent name. The school division will hold a community meeting to discuss the name (register here.)

Since construction began last year, officials have referred to the new school as “Rosemount Lewis” because the school sits near a park with the same name. The school is at 11000 Crestwood Drive, near Manassas.

The school will open this fall with an estimated 555 students.

More in a press release:

Prince William County Public Schools will begin the process of naming “Rosemount Lewis” Elementary School, opening for the 2023-24 school year, through two virtual community input sessions hosted by the Naming Committee. The first session will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the virtual meetings and provide naming suggestions, justifications, and background information to aid in the name selection process for the new elementary school located in the Sudley area of Prince William County.

During the virtual meetings, following a brief presentation, the Naming Committee will receive name suggestions from the community. Those wishing to speak will need to register in advance. Each registered speaker will have up to three minutes to share their suggestion(s), along with any justification they feel is appropriate.

The Naming Committee is composed of School Board members Dr. Babur B. Lateef, (Chairman At-Large), Jennifer T. Wall (Vice Chairwoman, Gainesville District), and Adele E. Jackson (Brentsville District). The committee will consider geographic or historical identifiers, as well as names of living or deceased person(s) who have made local, state, or national service contributions. If a name of a person, selection preference shall be given to those individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of education, especially within Prince William County.

In addition, name suggestions can be made in writing by completing the name suggestion form by 12 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2.

Willie Deutsch ended his bid to reclaim the Coles District seat on the Prince William County School Board.

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Prince William County Public Schools approved a $1.5 billion Fiscal Year 2024 operating budget, which will take effect July 1, 2023.

The budget, dependent upon the Real Estate tax rate set by the Board of County Supervisors, is 7% larger than the previous year’s budget. Driving the higher numbers is an anticipated 1,800 more students than the previous year, 5% cost-of-living raises for teachers and substitutes, and new start-up costs for a new elementary school off Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge.

The increase represents about $100 million more for the school to spend in the coming year, while revenues from the state will increase by $30 million.

Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) is the second largest school division in the state, with more than 90,000 students.

More in a press release:

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The Prince William School Board Chair At-large race is now three-way.

Carrie Rist, 43 will seek the Prince William County School Board Chairman At-large seat.

Rist will seek the Prince William County GOP endorsement. She’s running against Babur Lateef, the incumbent with an endorsement from Democrats, and Julia Biggins.

By law, school board members do not campaign with party affiliation.

In a press release, Rist said she aims to draw a contrast with the current school board and will run on a pro-parent and pro-achievement platform.

“I am driven to give the parents, the families, and the students in Prince William County a voice to be heard and not dismissed,” Rist told a gathering of supporters on Monday night.

The candidate summarized her priorities with the acronym “TEAM”: “transparency,” “empowerment,” “accountability,” and her conviction that Prince William County’s students and parents deserve “more.”

Rist has lived in Prince William County since 2014, when her military family returned from overseas. She previously lived in Germany, Guam, and South Korea, where she taught at Sunchon Boys’ High School and earned her Juris Doctor at Handong International Law School, focusing on human rights advocacy.

“My first job was as a teacher,” Rist said in Monday night’s announcement speech. “I have a passion to teach and the utmost respect for teachers.”

In addition to working full-time and raising her family, Rist remains active in the community, volunteering at the school cafeteria and coaching boys’ soccer.

Rist has five children, ranging from 8 to 15 years old. In addition, two stepchildren, ages 23 and 26.

Prince William County School Board Chairman At-large Dr. Babur Lateef will seek a second term overseeing the school board as its At-large chairman, leading the state’s second-largest public school division while representing the entire county.

The pandemic consumed Lateef’s second term. The school division scrambled to help students and teachers adjust to online learning and then adjust to getting them back into school buildings as the pandemic waned.

The Democrat pushed the division to be the first public school division in the Washington, D.C. area to return children to the classroom, in phases, in December 2020. He later took heat from fellow Democrats for his push to return children to the classroom.

Once back in the classroom, children wearing facemasks became a hot-button issue, with parents and students lined up to protest at school board meetings. Eventually, the school division dropped its mask requirement before joining others in Northern Virginia in filing a lawsuit against Gov. Glenn Youngkin, which sought clarification from the state after Youngkin signed an executive order in January 2022 making masks in schools optional.

An Arlington County judge sided with the school divisions. The General Assembly struck down mask mandates only weeks later with a new law.

After the pandemic, the school division turned its attention to an effort to allow collective bargaining for teachers and other school employees. Lateef and the school board created a framework allowing collective bargaining in schools.

Last month, the Prince William Education Association, the county teachers union, won a bid to become the exclusive bargaining agent for school employees.

A consistent advocate for increasing the school division’s $4 billion budget, Lateef said only more funding from lawmakers in Richmond, not collective bargaining, will improve schools.

The most recent round of Virginia Standards of Learning student test scores show improvement for Prince William County Public Schools but the scores still lag behind 2019’s.

In 2021, Lateef was on the hiring panel that lured Dr. LaTanya McDade from Chicago Public Schools to lead the county school division, replacing Dr. Steven L. Walts, who led the division for 15 years.

Here’s his full reelection campaign announcement:

I am proud to announce that I will be seeking a second term as Chair At-Large of the Prince William County School Board. We have accomplished so much together and we are going to advance even further in the next four years.  ??Our students have many more opportunities to learn, shine, and succeed. ?Our teachers’ salaries have steadily and significantly increased.

Our parents are engaged at every level of their student’s education. ??And our community has seen our school division rise in the rankings (NICHE rankings from 26 to 17th best in the Commonwealth in my term), recognized as a great place to work (Forbes Magazine) and realizing a wonderful reputation.

We have done this because of, and with, all of you.  We have addressed student success, safety and security, space and infrastructure, sustainability, and salaries of our employees.??We have become a destination school district for all, but we are not done yet. Along with pandemic recovery we still have work to do in all categories, and I will not rest until every student and family has the opportunities and means to succeed. ??I will continue to fight to fully fund our schools and advocate for all of our students and families. I will fight to make sure we have strong leadership and a continued investment in our kids and teachers. I know our success is boundless when we work together, and when we all believe in all of our children.

As a proud parent of four PWCS students, a product of public schools from kindergarten through medical school, a physician, and a public servant, I understand the value of our school system and the awesome responsibility to care for it. I have governed with this in mind and I will continue to put our students and families at the forefront of all that we do.

Please join our campaign to ensure the children of Prince William County reach their destinations and realize their dreams.

Onward.

A familiar face at the Prince William County Government Center will seek a seat on the county school board.

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Prince William County is the next school division in our region to consider installing metal detectors. The state's second-largest school division aims to place Evolv Express Lanes or metal-detecting scanners at its high schools. If it does, the division will follow Manassas City Public Schools, which voted to install the same type of metal detector at Osbourn High School, the city's only high school. Evolv Express Lanes are commonly used at concerts and sports venues. Prince William County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. LaTanya McDade says there will be two more chances for parents to learn about the new system: at Freedom High School on Monday, February 27, and at Woodbridge High School on Tuesday, February 28. The school division will host a virtual Zoom presentation about the scanners on March 2, 2023. You can register for the presentation here. It's unclear how many and at which schools the scanners will be installed. More from McDade: