GIRLS LACROSSE: Woodbridge, Battlefield among the top teams so far. SPORTS, Pages 13-15
April 28, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 17 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Supervisors OK new $3.8 billion budget for 2023 sell prepared foods must Despite lower rates, tax bills will rise under charge a 4% sales tax. The measure is estimated to new spending plan By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY JOHN CALHOUN
Volunteers at Dar Al Noor mosque hand out free meals to people lined up in their vehicles outside Dar Al Noor mosque on Hoadly Road in Manassas.
Local mosque serving 700 to 800 free meals a night Ramadan tradition continues at Dar Al Noor By Cher Muzyk
By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
cones in the parking lot, allowing two rows of vehicles to converge into a single pickup line. A volunteer greeted each driver and asked how many meals they needed. When the cars moved forward, another volunteer offered a kind word and placed the meals into their trunks.
Two years after discussions on the topic first began, the Prince William County School Board is revisiting the idea of changing school starting times in an effort to help adolescents and teens get more sleep. Any possible changes won’t come until the 2023-24 school year, but parents could begin receiving surveys to gather input as soon as this week. Students at Prince William County’s 13 high schools currently begin school at about 7:30 a.m. Pursuing a later starting time for high schoolers has been a priority of the school board’s student representatives over the past two years and remains so this year, according to Daania Sharifi, a Gainesville High School student who serves as a student representative this year.
See MEALS, page 2
See SCHOOLS, page 7
A dozen prepackaged hot meals packed in the back of Joe Hakimi’s SUV to be delivered to a family of Afghan refugees staying in a Dumfries hotel.
Police warn of deadly counterfeit pills after 2 local teens die, page 9
“Cinderella” returns to the Hylton Performing Arts Center stage, page 10
88 DULLES, VA
It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com
See BUDGET, page 4
Schools to survey parents on later school start times
Times Staff Writer
The line of cars snaking around the parking lot outside Dar Al Noor mosque has become a familiar sight. Since Ramadan began on April 2, the mosque has given away 700 to 800 meals a day – an effort that requires the work of 20 to 30 volunteers cooking and packing food from the early morning until about 7 p.m. each night. On Friday, April 22, Dar Al Noor’s volunteer chefs prepared about 800 meals of butter chicken, chana masala and fluffy rice. It’s one of Joe Hakimi’s favorite meals. Hakimi serves on the Muslim Association of Virginia’s board of directors and is a regular meal volunteer. On that night, the line opened at 5:55 p.m. when a volunteer removed two orange
As expected, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors approved a new budget for fiscal year 2023 Tuesday night that reduces some local tax rates but will still result in higher tax bills for most vehicle and property owners. The new $3.8 billion spending plan also includes a first-ever county meals tax. Starting July 1, all restaurants and stores that
raise more than $24 million annually, $14 million of which will go to the school division under the county’s existing revenue-sharing agreement. The board heard from more than 30 speakers before approving the budget in a series of mostly party-line votes. The board’s five Democratic supervisors voted in favor of the new budget and tax rates, while the three Republican supervisors mostly cast opposing votes.