Prince William County - Schools? (Manassas, Woodbridge: house, best school, college)

[sundevil85]

Originally Posted by snowlvr

I substitute nearly everyday in select elementary schools in the Woodbridge area. Elizabeth Vaughan is a good school, Marumsco Hills is a good school, Ashland is a good school, Belmont is also a good school. Not familiar with too many more. As for Middle schools and High schools....not so sure. Prince William Co. has 89 elementary schools and a vast majority of them are considered "fully accredited", meaning their SOL pass rate is higher than 70% (I believe it's 70) so therefore, they can't be too bad. My children love their school and I have no issues at all; they are both above grade level in most areas, therefore, someone must be doing something right....

It may be worth mentioning that PWCS uses substitutes, who have only attained a high school diploma or GED. Their pay is worse than Arizona--, which usually ranks last in PP expenditures.

[KathyR]

FYI, Prince William Cty schools are changing their requirements this coming fall....subs will have to have a college degree.

[sundevil85]

And what will the pay be? It has already been determined. City of Manassas will be paying bus drivers 16.89 to start. I was making 131.05 per day in Tucson 8 years ago.

[KathyR]

The sub pay this year in PWC is $90 per day. That was a $2 a day increase over previous year and I've heard that's the increase they do each year.

[VRE332]

Originally Posted by KathyR

FYI, Prince William Cty schools are changing their requirements this coming fall....subs will have to have a college degree.

teaching or just a whatever 4 year degree?

[sundevil85]

I'll bet it is a four year degree in anything. That's how it is in AZ. That's why they pay more than Virginia, even though cost of living are half.

[mojo_1979]

Originally Posted by tamitrail

Back to the original PWC question, I seem to see a ton of bad news reports about things happening in PWC. I don't know anything about the area though. On the flip side, I saw on the news yesterday that PWC was the only county in NOVA that had an increase in real estate sales. All the other counties were in the negatives.

Maybe it has something to do with the 29% decline in home prices over the past 12 months...??


MRIS Statistics

[Daisyduff]

My boys are at Glenkirk ES, and we've been very happy there. My oldest spent 1st and 2nd grade at Alvey, and we were then moved to Glenkirk when it opened. Great teachers, great parental involvement, etc. I haven't noticed any difference between Alvey and Glenkirk. My guess is that all of the schools at this end of the county are comparable. My oldest is headed to Gainesville Middle School this fall, and I've heard some wonderful things about that school as well.

[tgbwc]

The schools in the area should be pretty similar. Remember, all county schools are working with the same curriculum. In fact, the VA Standards of Learning ensure that the curriculum is basically the same throughout the state.

[fromNYtoVA]

Originally Posted by El General

You said it! Bristow is simply an extension of Manassas. There are lots of foreclosures and lots of "Spanish Families." The traffic is Hell. Countryside/Cascades are way nicer for less money. Those are some lovely shades of beige, vinyl siding though.

Most "spanish families" I know are just as interested in getting a good education for their children. If you had said "black families" you would've gotten a waring from the site administrators.

I have been researching schools in Nova and found the site SchoolMatters - Home very helpful. In the end it boils down to 2 things: is the school safe and are there good teachers. In that setting, most children will do well.