Pressures Mount for Chief Of Prince William Schools

Ian Shapira:

After a school year marked by academic and administrative controversy, Prince William County Superintendent Steven L. Walts retains rock-solid School Board support as he seeks to raise the reputation of Virginia's second-largest school system. But his relationships with many parents have fractured, and some local officials wonder when, if ever, test scores will rise to levels found among the county's neighbors.

Hundreds of parents protested an elementary math program Walts championed, prompting board members to reevaluate it. Two of the county's top-performing high schools and a third of its elementary schools remain overcrowded. Teachers in Prince William continue to earn less than those in neighboring counties.

Test scores from Walts's third year are not yet public. But results from the first two after his 2005 arrival were uneven: SAT and state test scores remained among Northern Virginia's lowest. The decline in the county's average SAT score -- from 1504 to 1486, by far the steepest drop among the area's major districts -- meant that Prince William continued to lose ground to Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington counties.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 5, 2008 3:33 PM
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