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Virginia Prince William County School Board Neabsco School District

The Prince William County School Board makes the policies that govern the school division. There are eight members on the School Board, one from each magisterial district and one at-large member who serves as chairman. They serve a 4-year term with a salary limit set by the Virginia Code. The policies developed include instruction, administration, personnel, and students including matters of school boundary determination, pupil assignment plans, guidelines for student assessments, and annual school calendar, an instructional calendar, a 5-year plan for instruction, and location of schools.

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Latifa C. Garrison
Joseph H. George
Diane L. Raulston

Biographical Information

What would you propose in order to provide a curriculum best-suited for each student?

What changes would you support in the school funding system?

What are your chief concerns about state-mandated curriculum and assessment requirements?

What innovations would you propose to improve the education of our students?

How well do you believe the specialty programs in some high schools serve the school population? What changes would you support?

What changes and resources are needed to increase public pre-kindergarten programs?

How would you expand citizen involvement in the budget process and in other decision-making such as school boundaries?

What systemic changes are needed to increase the retention rate of new teachers to keep them in Prince William County schools?

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Address 14049 Bluefin Dr

Web Site http://josephgeorge4neabsco.com/

Email josephgeorge4neabsco@gmail.com

Age 49

education/Degrees Business Management Criminal Investigation Homicide Investigation

family Married 18 years Three daughters (21, 17, and 14) One son (26)

Curriculum cannot be “one size fits all” type of program. Our educators need to be able to have the flexibility to teach our students how they learn best. Constant collaboration with the student’s family and working together for their student’s benefit is one of the best ways that our students will progress.

Besides encouraging the PWC BOCS to increase the Revenue Sharing Agreement (or make it the minimum amount of funding, instead of the most), but encourage families to participate in each school’s Principal Advisory Council, as well as reach out to local businesses to assist in the funding of their neighborhood schools, which should be equitable based on locations.

Although it appears as if Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni is working to reduce state-mandated curriculum and assessment requirements, my main concerns are the emphasis of the SOLs and the stress generated by our students with the sole focus of “teaching to the test” and not truly learning what they need to know to be productive in society.

Not all of our students learn the same, so variation and adjustments made to a student’s needs is paramount. The concept is to ensure that each student knows they are cared about and supported as soon as they come through the door of their school. Building up and promoting the Grow Our Own Teachers Program (and others like them) so that our students know that education is a great profession, and one that they can thrive in (as long as PWCS continues to increase the funding of our educators).

Some specialty programs serve the school’s population more than others, but we need to expand the types of programs we have, as well as duplicate the programs on each end of the County, to ensure those opportunities are made available to more. Career Technical Education (CTE) Programs need to be emphasized as much, if not more, than College Fairs, so that more students are aware of their options, both in school and after.

Public Pre-K Programs need to be promoted and the benefits of students being involved in it need to be advertised. Students that participate in Pre-K have an advantage over those that have not had similar programs. Providing our students the best opportunities available start with them learning how school works, all the while playing with their new friends.

Having been involved in 3 of the last 4 boundary committees, more citizen involvement would be encouraged if they had more feedback as to what the expectations were and how they would go about fulfilling those requirements. Citizens should start at the school budgetary process, to ensure their schools are properly funded, but also reach out to their perspective Board of County Supervisor Representative to see how they could be involved in their Budget Committee.

The effort of increasing teachers’ pay to be more in line with the surrounding areas is a start, but having our educators understand that we support their efforts and provide them the flexibility to instruct our students the best way they know how to learn. Many educators have left PWCS based on bullying tactics used by their administration, and the School Division not properly handling the matter. I’ll make sure our educators know that I have the student’s best interest in mind.