Potomac News Online | Manassas Park Schools
Though small in size, Manassas Park schools have made big achievements in the past year – just ask the school superintendent, Thomas DeBolt.
Manassas Park City Schools is projecting 2,470 students this fall, an estimated 9 percent increase over last year.
Staff for the upcoming school year is roughly 330, including 210 teachers, DeBolt said.
The city of Manassas Park is growing residentially and commercially. Student enrollment is expected to continue at this pace for the next few years.
Manassas Park schools have four educational facilities well-equipped to meet the modern instructional needs of parents and students.
The division has one high school, one middle school and two elementary schools.
The state administers Standard of Learning tests to third-, fifth-, eigth-graders and high schoolers in core subjects: English, math, science and social studies. Each school must have a passing of 70 percent or above in those areas in order to be fully accredited.
During Manassas Park’s 2002-03 school year, the results showed all but Cougar Elementary School fully accredited.
But Debolt has high hopes that all four schools will be fully accredited once the Department of Education releases the official results for tests administered this spring.
Elementary students benefit from classes of 11 students in the core areas of mathematics and language arts. The schools run on the “parallel block system” which allows teachers to focus on no more than two subjects and provides more individualized attention.
Manassas Park High School opened in February 1999 with a capacity of 650 students. The school is undergoing a renovation that will expand space, making room for 1,025 students.
The $7 million project is scheduled to be complete by May 2004, DeBolt said.
The school will also welcome students in the fall with a new athletic field.
Manassas Park Middle and Manassas Park Elementary Schools are also receiving new phone systems for the upcoming school year, DeBolt added.
The Manassas Park City School Board meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 8 p.m. in the City Hall Building on the second floor at 1 Park Center Court, Suite A. The meetings are open to the public. For more information, call the School Board Clerk Lois Steele at (703) 335-8867 or e-mail?[email protected]
The board is led by Chairman Frank Jones Jr., Bryan Polk, Vicki Augustine, Donna J. West and George Chichester.
CONTACT INFORMATION
? General Information:?http://www.mpark.net, (703) 335-8850
? Superintendent Thomas DeBolt: (703) 335-8859,?[email protected]
? Associate Superintendent of Administration Ritchie Carroll: (703) 335-8857
? Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Gail Pope: (703) 335-8854
SCHOOL BOARD
? Chair Frank Jones Jr.: (703) 330-1606,?[email protected]
? Vice Chair Bryan Polk: (703) 368-5348,?[email protected]
? Vicki Augustine: (703) 368-3676,?[email protected]
? Donna J. West: (703) 335-2485,?[email protected]
? George Chichester: (703) 330-2306,?[email protected]
SCHOOLS
? Manassas Park High
8200 Euclid Ave.
Manassas Park, VA 20111
Principal Bruce McDade
(703) 361-9131
? Manassas Park Middle
8202 Euclid Ave.
Manassas Park, VA 20111
Principal Elizabeth Purcell
(703) 361-1510
? Manassas Park Elementary
101 Tremont St.
Manassas Park, VA 20111
Principal Eric Neff
(703) 368-2032
? Cougar Elementary
9330 Brandon St.
Principal Patricia Miller
Manassas Park, VA 20111
(703) 392-1317