Image of the proposed front exterior of 13th high school PRICE design.Updated, Jan. 1, 2017 at 10:05 a.m.:
According to the Prince William County Schools website, pwcs.edu, the special meeting may be cancelled.
"Board Chairman Ryan Sawyers says that there will not be a special meeting held on Wednesday, January 4, and that he and the Vice Chairman will contact the two Board Members who requested the special meeting and discuss a time and date for that meeting, if appropriately," the website reports.
Sawyers told another media outlet that Policy 131 does not allow for two members to call for a special meeting without a quorum, which Brentsville acting representative Shawn Brann and Gainesville member Alyson Satterwhite do not have.
Should the meeting go forward, Bristow Beat will provide further information.
Original Article:
School Board members Alyson Satterwhite (Gainesville) and Shawn Brann (Brentsville, temporary acting member) have called for a special meeting of the Prince William County School Board, Wednesday, January 4, for the purpose of discussion and action on the construction of the 13th high school using the PRICE design.
The special meeting is scheduled for immediately after the regular school board meeting beginning at 7* p.m. Residents are invited to attend.
Brann said the special meeting was necessary since Chairman Ryan Sawyers denied his request to include the action item to the Dec. 14 and Jan. 4 regular meeting agendas as per a recent amendment to policy 131.
The discussion will center around the supervisor’s resolution no. 16-860, offering $10.6 million to supplement funding of of the larger PRICE design model for the county’s 13th High School. That school will be built at the north intersection of Rollins Ford Road and Linton Hall Road in Bristow.
In addition to the $10.6 million to be used for the high school, the resolution pledges an additional $10.6 to be used for the construction of an eastern end elementary school, land for such a school, or a school renovation. The school board will also discuss and vote upon that part of the resolution at their special meeting.
The PRICE design had been discussed and voted upon three times before; once by the old school board and twice by the new. Each time it failed by a narrow margin.
The PRICE design was proposed as a compromise. It is less expensive than the Patriot model and can accommodate 500 more students. Based on cost per student, it is less expensive than the Battlefield model. The difference in overall construction cost between the two schools is an estimated $10.6 million according to PWCS.
Brann and Satterwhite have continued to advocate for the school previously championed by Brentsville School Board representative Gil Trenum. School board members Willie Deutsch (Coles) and Justin Wilk (Potomac) have also supported the design.
In a press release, Dec. 30, Brann and Satterwhite said they feel the funding indicates a significant step towards helping reduce overcrowding and reduce class sizes in county schools. They took issue with Chairman Sawyers for his opposition to accepting the pledged funds.
“It should be frustrating to all citizens of Prince William County and all parents in Prince William County Schools that our Chairman is putting partisanship over the needs of our school system,” said Brann. “The Board of Supervisors has given us an incredible opportunity – we owe them a decision on this resolution instead of continued delay tactics.”
Satterwhile argued the PRICE model is key to reducing class sizes and overcrowding in the county.
“To turn down or not discuss the $21.3 million from the BOCS would be to tell students around the county that we accept the status quo with overcrowded schools and classrooms. That is simply not acceptable. We must put kids first and continue to move forward in reducing class sizes and providing adequate classroom space for our students, that is our responsibility as a School Board," she said.
Opposition to the PRICE design had come from not only Sawyers but from most eastern board members. Vice Chairwoman Lillie Jessie of the Occoquan district said she wanted to prioritize eastern elementary schools.
The resolution was bipartisan. Supervisors Peter Candland (R-Gainesville) and Jeanine Lawson (R-Brentsville) worked with Woodbridge Supervisor Frank (D) to see that the eastern end of the county was included.
Sawyers has maintained that there was no money to vote upon as the supervisors merely passed a resolution to fund the school, but the school board has not actually received any funding. The supervisors want to ensure the funds were used for the purposes outlined in their resolution.
Virginia policy says the board of a jurisdiction cannot dictate how an elected school board allocate its funds. The school board has accepted such “grants” from the supervisors before; however, Sawyers argues that this resolution is outside of the normal budget cycle.
The 13th high school will relieve overcrowding at Battlefield, Patriot and Stonewall Jackson high schools. Together, the schools are 1,651 students over capacity and have 37 trailers among them according to Satterwhite, and enrollment is expected to climb prior to the 2021 opening of the new school.
Prince William County Schools is planning to alleviate overcrowding in eastern elementary schools. The biggest problem has been finding affordable land in the development area upon which to build the schools. The BOCS also said they would look into helping with the cost of land acquisition.
*The time of the meeting has been corrected in this draft of the article.
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