Prince William Times 08/18/2022

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HIGH SCHOOL FIELD HOCKEY: A preview of some Prince William County teams. SPORTS, Pages 14-15

August 18, 2022 | Vol. 21, No. 33 | 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.

Manassas neighborhood battles noise from data centers By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Some say it sounds like a low roar combined with tinny, high-pitched whir. Others say it’s like sitting beside a fan that never stops spinning. However they describe it, residents of Great Oak, a subdivision of 291 homes outside Manassas, say they’ve had enough of the annoying and constant buzz emanating from four Amazon Web Service data centers recently constructed between Prince William Parkway and Godwin Drive. Lori Haskell and her husband moved to

Great Oak from New Hampshire three years ago without any idea that they’d soon be living beside data centers. Their first clue came in 2020 when loud explosions that seemingly came out of nowhere repeatedly shook the ground beneath their home, leaving cracks in their foundation, patio and even in an interior wall. “My husband called me one day at work and said, ‘I don’t know what’s happening, but the house just shook,’” she recalled. “And this went on and on and on.” See NOISE, page 6

PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD

Dale Browne, president of the Great Oak homeowners’ association, has been pleading with Amazon Web Services and Prince William County officials to do something about the annoying buzz emanating from these data centers built next to his neighborhood near Manassas.

Schools hire ‘temporary teachers’ to fill vacancies

Prince William schools drop most COVID-19 protocols for the new school year

By Cher Muzyk

Times Staff Writer

In an effort to help fill hundreds of vacant teacher positions before the start of the new school year, Prince William County schools aims to hire about 70 new teachers who are not yet licensed but have at least a bachelor’s degree and the equivalent of one year of experience working with children. The new program, dubbed “Teaching Professionals on Temporary Assignment,” was announced in early August. It’s intended to help the school division staff classrooms with “teaching professionals” who are working toward obtaining their teaching certification from the Virginia Department of Education. More than 90 potential recruits joined an Aug. 5 Zoom information session about the program led by Michelle Colbert, assistant director of human resources for the Prince William County Schools. See TEACHERS, page 4

By Cher Muzyk

Times Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD

Fun at the Prince William County Fair

Ava Pierce, 4, of Manassas, feeds the goats at the petting zoo at the Prince William County Fair. The fair continues through Saturday, Aug. 20. For details, visit pwcfair.com.

Senior Olympians gear up for this year’s games. Senior Living, page 11

Prince William County schools will begin the new year like it’s 2019. The school division will no longer post COVID-19 case numbers on its website; gone too will be mask requirements, social distancing and contact tracing. Volunteers and visitors will be welcomed back into classrooms and lunchrooms, and the once-ubiquitous emails from school principals announcing that “PWCS has been informed of at least one individual at school who has COVID-19” will no longer fill inboxes. The school water fountains will be turned back on. The sea change is an effort to return to pre-pandemic operations, according to Diana Gulotta, a school division spokeswoman, and new guidance posted on the school division’s website. See SCHOOLS, page 2

Talking books for kids in both English, Spanish at the Libaries, page 8

88 DULLES, VA

It’s all about people . . . and always will be. www.vnb.com


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