2020
During the 2020–2021 school year, the Prince George County School Board had a meeting where they voted to close the William A. Walton Elementary School and build a replacement school due to mold inside the school. The new school will be called Middle Road Elementary School. The school opened during the 2022–2023 school year. [6] [7]
August
On August 7, 2020, Prince George County Public Schools announced during the COVID-19 pandemic that they would opt into a hybrid instruction plan for the 2020–2021 school year. The county's parents and students were split on how they believed the schools should return to providing classes. In a district survey, 51% of parents preferred an all-virtual option while the remainder wanted to return in-person classes. The district then released their return to school plan that includes a hybrid education method. The plan states that half of the district can learn in school with social distancing and reduced class sizes in effect while the other half can learn virtually. The county's school district was the 3rd Tri-cities School district to opt to have in-person learning and virtual learning. In response to the survey, the School Board Chair, Chris Johnson, said that the teachers' survey responses were what stuck out to him the most when he was making his decision whether to allow in-person learning or just virtual learning. 78% of teachers in the survey wanted to return to teaching in-person rather than virtual. [8]
On August 25, Prince George County public schools announced that they are having a school Chromebook shortage. The cause of the shortage is from the high amount of students that are doing virtual learning due to the pandemic. [9] It was also stated that a delivery of over 2,500 laptops would be delayed until December. [10]
2024
February
In February 2024, a 13 year old boy at J.E.J Moore Middle School, a middle school under the district, was arrested on school grounds for making threats to attack the school and harm students. The student was charged with 2 counts of threats to kill or injure people on school grounds. [11]
July
On July 31, former PGCPS Assistant superintendent William Barnes was charged with nine felonies, including aggravated sexual battery, indecent liberties with a minor and sexual assault by force or threat. [12] [13] [14]
August
In August, parents criticized the school district for its handling of the allegations against the former assistant superintendent. [15]
September
In September, state police investigation confirmed that the school board knew about sex abuse allegations against the former assistant superintendent William Barnes. The former superintendent Lisa Pennycuff provided Hanover School Board Chair with key dates about the timeline of the events. [16]
October
In October, a teacher at Harrison Elementary was arrested for possession of child pornography. It was not believed that they had any inappropriate pictures of students. The teacher was put on administrative leave pending the investigation results. [17] [18]
In response to a nationwide shortage of bus drivers, parents blamed the district's transportation department for students having lower grades. The district's transportation department said they are short 200 bus drivers and that the issue is caused by bus drivers having to do back-to-back routes causing students to arrive late at school. Prince George County Public Schools has over 1,000 bus routes to cover. [19]
December
There was a fundraiser to make blankets for a non-profit organization named Project ASK which is a childhood cancer foundation. The fundraiser was held to make blankets for kids with cancer in time for Christmas. [20] [21]
