Manassas City Schools Say, 'No' To Educating Manassas Park Students

The Manassas City school division won’t be educating any of the students who have the option to transfer from Manassas Park Elementary this year because the school fell short of meeting federal education requirements for the second year in a row.

Manassas Park Elementary School did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the same subject for two consecutive years, according to data released this month by the Virginia Department of Education.  

 Because Manassas Park Elementary is a Title I School that didn’t meet AYP, the school is now identified as an, “In Improvement” school, Dr. Virginia Bowerman, literacy and programs director for Manassas Park City Schools said during Monday’s school board meeting.

 A Title I School receives federal funding to help children in high-poverty areas who are behind academically or, at risk of falling behind, according to the state department of education. Title I funding is based on the number of low-income children in a school which is generally those eligible for free or reduced-lunch programs.

Because of this, the school division must offer students the option to transfer to a school within the division that isn’t identified as an In Improvement School.  This option is also known as, Public School Choice.

Because Manassas Park doesn’t have another elementary school, the school division has to pay for students to attend school in a neighboring school division. It has to put aside a certain percentage of its Title I funds to pay for transportation to other schools.

 “This means that we have to ask other school divisions if they will be willing to accept our students,” Bowerman said Monday.

 Administrators have written to Dr. Gail Pope, superintendent of the city of Manassas public schools and Dr. Steven L. Walts, the superintendent of Prince William County schools, to request permission to enroll Manassas Park Elementary School students in their school divisions, she said.

 “We’ve already heard from Dr. Pope and she said no, we would not be able to enroll our students there,” Bowerman said. “We are waiting to hear from Prince William County … for the most part, I would think that Dr. Walts would say no, we can not send our students there.”

When asked by school board member Tricia Rhodes if Dr. Pope’s response was surprising, Bowerman said no.

 “They are in the same boat. When we looked at their schools, there are only two elementary schools in Manassas City that made AYP, so they perhaps have to offer (public) school choice in their own division," Bowerman said.   "Of the schools in Prince William County that are next to us …  two out of those three schools are also (in improvement) We can’t send our students to those schools that are also not meeting AYP goals."

 From her understanding, there are very, very few school divisions in Virginia that allow students from other divisions to enroll in their schools, Bowerman said.

This could be because of capacity and other issues, she added.

 The school division may be granted a waiver by the Virginia Department of Education, Bowerman said.

Under the waiver, a school may offer Supplemental Educational Services during the first year of in improvement instead of or, in addition to, the transfer option.

 Supplemental Educational Services is when the school division permits vendors to come in and offer after-school learning services to students.  The vendors get paid for offering extra services after school, Bowerman said.

 Manassas Park City Schools officials have chosen not to do Supplemental Education Services for several reasons, Bowerman said. The most important being the school division will hire its own teachers to run its own after-school program for students who need additional support. The school division offered after-school programs last year, too, she said. The teachers already know the students and know what they need, Bowerman told the board Monday.  

 Additionally there are no studies supporting the use of Supplemental Education Services to aid in student achievement, Bowerman said.

 Because of Manassas Park Elementary School’s status, the division is required to send letters home to parents explaining the situation and outlining how officials have reached out to other school divisions and asked them to accept Manassas Park students.

 The letter also explains that there are parental involvement activities and other programs in place to help students during the school year, she said.

 If the school does not make AYP for a third year and the federal No Child Left Behind law stays as it is, then the school will have to offer the transfer option again and offer Supplemental Education Services, Bowerman said.