January 16, 2018 | Vol. 18, No. 3 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Dilemma: Cut trailers or move students?
School board vote on redistricting plan set for Jan. 16 By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
What’s more important: Eliminating portable classroom trailers or limiting boundary shifts for elementary school students and their families? That’s the dilemma the Prince
William School Board will face this week when it makes a final decision Wednesday, Jan. 16, on new boundaries for 16 eastern county elementary schools. The changes in school attendance areas are being made to relieve some of the worst elementary school overcrowding in the county. The schools
involved in the boundary shifts currently use 61 classroom trailers to provide more space. The new elementary school now under construction on Prince William Parkway will be the main source of relief for that overcrowding. More classrooms have also been added through recent additions to
Lake Ridge, Antietam, Springwoods and Minnieville elementary schools. In all, the new school construction in eastern Prince William will add 95 classrooms at a cost of about $200 million, Superintendent Steven Walts told the school board during a Jan. 10 work session. See SCHOOL BOARD, page 4
School enrollment growth slows Changes could make room for projects aimed at cutting trailers By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
The usually fast-growing Prince William school division caught a break in 2018: County schools logged the smallest number of new students since 1984. As a result, officials are now mulling changes to the schools’ future building plans to add two more elementary schools as well as several middle school additions aimed at nearly eliminating portable classroom trailers by 2028. Enrollment across the county’s 95 schools grew by only 342 students this year, or about 0.4 percent, compared to the 2017-18 school year. That’s 852 students fewer than the school division’s projections. The school division also welcomed its smallest kindergarten class since 2013 – at 6,254 students. By comparison, county schools enrolled 6,435 new kindergarten students in 2017. The reduction contributed to the second consecutive drop in overall enrollment at the elementary school level, David Cline, Prince William County schools’ now-retired associate superintendent of finance and support services told school board members during a Jan. 9 work session on proposed changes to the school division’s capital-improvement plan. The county’s middle and high schools are still
SNOW DAY SUNRISE: Prince William County woke up to between 7 and 9 inches of snow Monday morning as a result of a winter storm that began Saturday afternoon and didn’t let up until Sunday night. The federal government, county offices and schools were all closed on Monday, Jan. 14, to allow residents to dig out. Photo by Delia Engstrom. gaining students, however, albeit at a slightly lower rate. Enrollment at Prince William’s 16 middle schools was up 1.4 percent this year, while the county’s 12 high schools saw enrollment rise 1.3 percent, according to school division documents.
INSIDE Calendar.............................................14 Classified............................................17 Lifestyle..............................................11 Obituaries...........................................16
The lower numbers have prompted school division officials to reduce enrollment projections over the next 10 years. The school division now See ENROLLMENT, page 4
Opinion.................................................7 Puzzle Page..........................................6 Real Estate..........................................15 Sports...................................................9
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Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | January 16, 2019
Memorial fund set up in memory of Haymarket teen Staff Reports A memorial fund has been set up to raise money for local nonprofits that support suicide prevention in memory of Karissa “Kris” Banker, a Haymarket teen who was found dead near his family’s Haymarket home Friday, Jan. 11. Banker, 16, is believed to have taken his own life. The Prince William County Police Department issued a missing and endangered juvenile alert after Banker was reported missing by his family on Thursday, Jan. 10.
Police confirmed that Banker’s body was located near the home the next day. No foul play is suspected, but the department can release no further details Karissa “Kris” Banker because of Banker’s age, said Officer Nathan Probus, spokesperson for the Prince William County Police Department. Michael Fiveash, a neighbor and
friend of the family, set up the GoFundMe page over the weekend as a way for friends and the community to support the Banker family in their grief. Fiveash received permission from Banker’s parents to share the GoFundMe link with the Prince William Times. It can be found at: https://www.gofundme.com/kris-banker-memorial-fund. Fiveash describes Banker as “beautiful, kind and generous.” “We pray Kris has found eternal peace, and God can somehow comfort those who loved him without reservation or judgment,” Fiveash
wrote. “We pray that Kris’ younger sister and brother heal from their loss and remember him as the kind, loving and supportive person all siblings need in their life.” Fiveash said the family hopes the donations will go toward helping local teens who suffer from mental illness. “We pray for all children who suffer from mental health as well as for further advances in its treatment and medicine,” he wrote. “The only request from the family is for parents to take this moment, hug your children and tell them they are loved!”
Dumfries’ Harold and Cathy’s reopens after crash Harold and Cathy’s Dumfries Café reopened for breakfast Friday, Jan. 11, a little more than a week after a customer accidentally crashed her car into its glass-and-brick exterior on Jan. 3. The customer, whose name has not been released, eats at Harold and Cathy's every Thursday. She had just finished lunch before the accident occurred. She told police she inadvertently put her vehicle in drive instead of reverse, according to the restaurant's assistant manager. After the accident, the popular
Dumfries diner received an outpouring of support and offers of help from its many regulars. Harold and Cathy's has served breakfast and lunch in from its spot along U.S. 1 for nearly three decades. The brick wall damaged in the accident has been fixed, but the windows have yet to be replaced, said Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood. That will happen soon. The restaurant was given a temporary occupancy permit. Wood said he planned to have breakfast there Friday morning.
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Photo by Delia Engstrom
Harold and Cathy’s Cafe, in Dumfries, was boarded up after an SUV crashed into its outer wall on Thursday, Jan. 3. The restaurant reopened Jan. 11.
Fire destroys Meadow Farms building in Woodbridge A fire that destroyed the retail and storage building at Meadows Farm nursery on U.S. 1 in Woodbridge remains under investigation. Units were called to the business, located on the 14000 block of Jefferson Davis Highway, about 11 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, according to the Prince William Fire and Rescue Association. They arrived to find “heavy fire con-
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Courtesy photo
Prince William County Fire and Rescue Crews battle a blaze that destroyed Meadows Farm Nursery in Woodbridge Thursday, Jan. 10.
ditions,” and a second alarm was dispatched, according to a news release. Firefighters used aerial master streams of water to control and extinguish the blaze. The retail store/ storage building was totally destroyed. No injuries were reported.
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Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | January 16, 2019
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Woodbridge state delegate proposes paid family leave bill By Daniel Berti
Capital News Service
RICHMOND -- Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation that would provide Virginia workers up to three months of paid family and medical leave every year. The bills would create a paid leave program, effective Jan. 1, 2022, for workers who are new parents, family of active duty military personnel, have serious medical conditions, or care for family members with serious medical conditions. Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-2nd, of Woodbridge, sponsor of House Bill 2120, made her case for paid family and medical leave in Virginia at a press conference Monday. “Spending time with a dying relative, giving birth to a child, caring for a sick parent, these should not be privileges reserved just for wealthy Virginians,” Carroll Foy said. “Hard-working, middle-class Virginians deserve to spend time with their families like everyone else does.” Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-33rd, of Herndon, a sponsor of an identical bill in the Senate, spoke about the economic benefits of paid leave for businesses. “Paid leave programs have been shown to benefit businesses, making it more likely that employees will re-
Courtesy photo
Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-2nd, of Woodbridge, with one of her twin sons in 2017. turn to work, ready to work, rather than struggling financially,” Boysko said. Under the paid leave program workers would be eligible to receive up to 70 percent of their average weekly wage, without exceeding $850 per week. Self-employed workers would also be provided the option of participating in the program. The maximum combined amount of paid leave per year for qualifying workers would be 12 weeks.
In order to qualify for paid leave benefits, an employee would need to meet the administrative requirements in the bill, the requirements laid out in the state’s benefit eligibility conditions, and submit an application to the Virginia Employment Commission. Funding for the proposed program would be provided by a family and medical leave insurance fund established by the Commission and financed through payroll taxes.
With Vogel’s help, ERA clears state Senate By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
On the Virginia General Assembly's opening day, state Sen. Jill Vogel, of Fauquier County, was one of only two Republicans to cast a vote in favor of advancing the Equal Rights Amendment to the floor of the state Senate, where supporters were optimistic it would pass Tuesday, Jan. 15. But whether the measure will make through the Virginia House of Delegates is less certain and depends, in part, on another Fauquier County state lawmaker: Del. Mark Cole, who said in December he does not support it. Cole, R-88th, is chairman of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, where the ERA resolution, SJ 284, could land if it is approved by the state’s upper chamber. Vogel chairs the state Senate P&E committee, where the ERA passed Jan. 9, on an 8-to-6 vote. All six Democrats on the Senate committee voted in favor of the measure along with two Republicans: Vogel and Sen. Bill DeSteph Jr., of the Virginia Beach-area 8th District. The ERA is making a big splash in the General Assembly this year because of a push to make Virginia the 38th and final state needed to ratify the amendment, which would enshrine women’s equality in the U.S. Constitution. Democrats are largely in favor of that goal, while many Republicans have argued the amendment is no longer need-
ed or have expressed reservations about possible unintended consequences. Vogel, R-27th, said she’s been a loyal supporter Virginia’s past attempts to ratify the ERA but says she considers it a largely “symbolic vote.” “Technically, the time to ratify it has passed, and of the states that have ratified, some have rescinded that ratification,” Vogel said in a telephone message. “So the vote is really no longer about what it purports to be about, which is amending the U.S. Constitution.” Still, Vogel said she believes it would be inconsistent for her to vote against the ERA, considering she’s both a woman and a Virginia trailblazer. In 2012, Vogel was the first legislator in the history of the commonwealth to give birth while in office. Three weeks after her daughter Olivia was born in April of that year, Vogel was back in Richmond to vote on the state budget. “For me to sit there and cast a vote that takes a different position, at least in this case, seems to be really inconsistent and not the example I would set for the people who really only understand this as a symbolic vote,” she added. The push to ratify the ERA is clearly more than just symbolic to its many supporters, hundreds of whom turned out to Richmond for a rally before the session’s opening day. State lawmakers were celebrating both the General Assembly’s opening day and the 400th anniversary of House of Delegates, which first met as
the House of Burgesses in 1619. That’s part of the appeal of introducing the ERA this year, said Kati Hornung, campaign coordinator for Virginia Ratify ERA. “The idea is for Virginia to make history by passing the ERA during this historic year,” she said. The ERA was first introduced in 1923. In 1972, the amendment passed through Congress and was ratified by 35 states by 1982, the deadline federal lawmakers set for states to consider the amendment. In recent years, there has been a revived push toward ratification. In 2017, Nevada became the 36th state to ratify the ERA, followed by Illinois the next year. Because the deadline has expired, some say the ERA can’t be ratified. But other experts disagree. The 27th Amendment, which regulates congressional salaries, was ratified more than 200 years after its 1789 introduction, though it was never given a time limit, unlike the ERA. “There are very smart and reasonable people on both sides who disagree over whether Congress has the constitutional authority in the first place to put a time limit on the ratification of a constitutional amendment,” said Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-10th, who is a chief co-sponsor of the resolution. Georgia Geen and Alexandra Zernik of the Capital News Service contributed to this report.
Sen. Barbara Favola, D-31st, of Arlington, is sponsoring a related bill that would provide a parental leave tax credit to small businesses that would begin in 2021. SB 1376 aims to create an income tax credit for a portion of the salary or wages paid by small businesses to full-time employees while on leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The bill requires small businesses to provide full-time employees with at least eight weeks of paid parental leave. In June, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed an executive order offering eight weeks of leave at full pay to state employees for the birth or adoption of a child. Del. Roxann Robinson, R-Chesterfield, introduced HB 2234 last week to increase the amount of paid parental leave for state employees to 12 weeks. During the press conference, advocates for paid family leave spoke about the importance of the proposed legislation for working families in Virginia. Foy shared a personal account of the hardship she experienced in the absence of paid leave. “I’m standing here as a middle-class, working mother, and I implore all Virginians to support this,” Foy said. “It’s not only an economic issue. It is a human rights issue.”
Ask the Arborist
Todd Hagadone Jr. I.S.A. Certified Arborist
Inspection for Damage Prevention
Heavy, wet snows, wind, ice and rain. That’s winter. It’s not uncommon to see a lot of limbs down on properties after serious winter storms. Cleanup takes care of the debris, but an arborist should make a careful inspection of the trees and shrubs on your property to ensure that the damage they have sustained during the harsh weather will not cause problems later. Heavy snows may have injured the trunks and branches of trees. Splits may occur in multi-stemmed plants that may need cabling and bracing or pruning to eliminate the weakened branches. Leaning trees, trees that are subject to high wind loading (top heavy) or trees on sloping ground are susceptible to root failure. The buttress roots should be inspected carefully. It’s worthwhile to protect your investment in your landscape with inspections to avoid expensive tree and shrub replacements later on. A program of managed health care for trees and shrubs involves regular inspections throughout the year by a professional arborist – to identify and correct conditions before they reach the “crisis” stage. If you have any questions from this article or would like to schedule a property inspection, please contact me at cherrell@bartlett.com, 703-397-8410 or 1-877-BARTLET.
www.bartlett.com