Statement to School Board

Last night I made the following comments in a meeting of the Loudoun County School Board:

First, let me thank you all for your good work – I do appreciate your service.

My name is Jim Barnes. From 1989 through 2010, I served as the public information officer for the Loudoun County government. In fact, I was the county’s first public information officer.

After leaving that job, I worked as a journalist covering local news across Northern Virginia for about a decade.

As you might imagine, I have sat through hundreds of public meetings, but I have never gotten up to speak as a private citizen – until now.

For many of the years I was working for the county, Wayde Byard was my counterpart for Loudoun County Public Schools. So I can appreciate what a hard job he has, and how good he’s been at it.

And when I was working as a journalist, covering Loudoun schools, he was always honest and straightforward with me, and helped steer me in the right direction.

I have always found Mr. Byard to be a hard-working public servant and a person of integrity.

Now he is facing a serious charge, and I understand that he has been placed on leave without pay. I don’t know the facts behind the charge, or even what he is alleged to have said that led to his indictment.

I trust that those facts will become known in his trial. But that won’t take place until June 20.

Six months is a long time to go without a paycheck. Six months! Please consider how that would affect your household budget. And he may not have even done anything wrong. He deserves the presumption of innocence.

It seems only fair that Mr. Byard’s pay be restored until he has his day in court. I respectfully ask that you consider doing so.

Again, thank you!

School Board accepts budget reduction

When the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors adopted a budget for fiscal 2018 on April 4, it handed the school board the task of trimming its expenditures by $5.5 million.

On Monday, the school board completed the budget reconciliation process by approving a list of reductions recommended by Schools Superintendent Eric Williams. That list avoided cuts to the school board’s key initiatives, such as expanding full-day kindergarten, boosting employee salaries and buying new school buses.

More

The Washington Post, April 30, 2017

Records document a century of segregation

Carolyn Nicholson and her grandson, Adonis Taylor, 10, of Ashburn, look at some of the records displayed at the open house.

An open house at the Loudoun County Courthouse on Feb. 11 highlighted the century of segregation in Virginia that followed the Civil War and the abolishing of slavery.

The Clerk of the Circuit Court’s Office displayed records that document the separate and unequal treatment of African Americans in the county during that time. Documents reveal how segregation pervaded all areas of life, including the education, public services and land transactions.

Read more

The Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2017

Turf battle over athletic fields

Turf battles between the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and the county school board are nothing new, but now the boards are tussling over the turf itself, as they debate whether artificial and natural turf athletic fields at high schools should be tested for potentially harmful chemicals.

The supervisors have expressed interest in testing three synthetic turf fields, but the school board has insisted that an equal number of natural turf fields also be examined so as to make a comparison. Supervisors have responded that testing the natural fields is unnecessary and that the additional requirement was concocted by the school board to kill the initiative altogether.

Read more…

Washington Post, October 2, 2016

Loudoun supervisors adopt budget

Torn between the competing goals of fully funding the school board’s budget request and avoiding a tax increase, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors settled on a compromise spending plan Tuesday for fiscal 2017.

Three Republican supervisors joined three Democrats to approve a $2.46 billion budget that slightly raises the real property tax rate but falls about $16.9 million short of the school board’s request. The school board is now considering options for closing the gap.

Read more…

Washington Post, April 10, 2016

 

School board asks for $1.07 billion

In a meeting with the Board of Supervisors on Monday, the Loudoun County School Board presented its case for full funding of a $1.07 billion budget it is seeking for fiscal 2017.

Schools Superintendent Eric Williams outlined a plan that would add hundreds of teachers and other school-based staff members to keep pace with enrollment growth, give employees a pay increase and more than double the number of students in full-day kindergarten.

Read more…

Washington Post, February 28, 2016

Walk for Teen Suicide Awareness

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Hundreds of walkers took part in a six-mile trek along Spriggs Road in the mid-county area last weekend to raise awareness about teen suicide.

Prince William County school officials estimated that more than 400 people participated in the walk, a round trip between Forest Park and Hylton high schools. Although most of the walkers were high school students, participants included young children, adults — some pushing strollers — and even a few dogs.

Students in Advanced Placement government classes at Forest Park organized the event as their final project, which their teacher, Shannon Geraghty, allowed them to do in place of a final exam.

Read full story…

Washington Post, May 31, 2015

School controversy defused

After receiving heavy pushback from mid-county residents, Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts backed down from a proposal to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its location in Woodbridge to a site known as the Ferlazzo property, at Spriggs and Minnieville roads.

Instead, the school system will proceed with its original plan to build a facility that will serve local residents at the Ferlazzo site, Walts said…

Read full story…

Washington Post, April 26, 2015

School site controversy

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is using the power of persuasion and its control of purse strings to try to defuse a controversy that has erupted in recent weeks over plans for an elementary school that is scheduled to be built in the mid-county area.

The school board is considering a staff recommendation to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its current location in Woodbridge to a site at the intersection of Spriggs and Minnieville roads. That site, on land previously owned by the Ferlazzo family, had been planned for an elementary school for children who live in the mid-county area, scheduled to open in 2016.

Read full story…

Washington Post, April 19, 2015