Prince William County Schools

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Virginia Teachers Chatboard

Prince William County Schools

by Buckeye Teacher

Jul 13, 2010

I am wondering if teaching at Prince William County is an attractive school district (where there are considerable support from the community and the parents, students take school seriously and care to learn, little violence incidents and a good teacher salary.) I am certified to teach English and Language Arts in Ohio and have positive teaching experiences in Ohio. I am interested as I heard of a teacher who is currently teaching in Prince William county and she grew up in the same county as I did in Ohio and went to the same college in Ohio. I cannot blame her for leaving Ohio b/c the competition is fierce as Ohio educational systems are doing better than WV.

However, I have taught one school year in a school district in the awful Eastern Panhandle region in West Virginia (the school district name will not be disclosed.) The reason I say teaching in WV was awful because of the apathy and disrespect towards learning and because I was not a native West Virginian, the people t...See More

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Melanie Hello,

This district is one of the DC Virginia suburbs (one of the southern ones in VA of the DC region) and is urban/suburban. I have previously interviewed there some time ago but was not hired, and they can be quite selective in their hiring staff (I'm a teacher currently in VA who was RIF'd this spring from another district, and have s...See More

Jul 13, 2010

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PWCS teacher I teach in PWCS and it's the 2nd largest district in the state. The county is very large (geographically) and very diverse. There are schools that are more urban, some that are rural and everything in between. The type of students, the parents and their involvement, and the overall climate varies greatly from one school to another. The fact that th...See More

Jul 20, 2010

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me On 7/13/10, Buckeye Teacher wrote: > I am wondering if teaching at Prince William County is an > attractive school district (where there are considerable > support from the community and the parents, students take > school seriously and care to learn, little violence > incidents and a good teacher salary.) I am certified to > teac...See MoreOn 7/13/10, Buckeye Teacher wrote: > I am wondering if teaching at Prince William County is an > attractive school district (where there are considerable > support from the community and the parents, students take > school seriously and care to learn, little violence > incidents and a good teacher salary.) I am certified to > teach English and Language Arts in Ohio and have positive > teaching experiences in Ohio. I am interested as I heard of > a teacher who is currently teaching in Prince William county > and she grew up in the same county as I did in Ohio and went > to the same college in Ohio. I cannot blame her for leaving > Ohio b/c the competition is fierce as Ohio educational > systems are doing better than WV. > > However, I have taught one school year in a school > district in the awful Eastern Panhandle region in West > Virginia (the school district name will not be disclosed.) > The reason I say teaching in WV was awful because of the > apathy and disrespect towards learning and because I was not > a native West Virginian, the people there gave me impossible > difficulties, the only and smart move was to leave for my > sanity. Also, they had/have severe issues with student > behavior with constant kids fighting and bomb threats. Kids > yelling at teachers and principals. Never experienced this > in Ohio though. > > Like I said, all of my teaching experiences (student and > substitute teaching) in Ohio have been successful besides > teaching in WV. > > So, if you have taught in Prince William County, what was > your impression and do you have small-town schools or big > ones that fill 1,000 students? > > Honest and accurate responses are encouraged. Thank you.

There are no "small towns" in PWC. It's all part of the DC metro area. There are some farming areas in the "Rural Crescent," but they are just a few minutes' drive away from shops the like.

The DC area is a very diverse, transient area, partly due to the military and government presence. Many people you meet were not born in the area, or even the country, so you will definitely NOT experience any kind of discrimination for not being a Virginian.

The schools run the whole spectrum because the county is so diverse. In the nicer areas with the expensive homes, the kids will be fine, but the parents might tend towards being helicopters. In some of the poorer areas, you will see some of the problems that you expect to find in urban schools, but the parents won't be on your case so much. I work in one of the "worst" schools, and there are many hurdles that we face in teaching them. However, I don't really see any of the violent, oppositional, lack-of-respect issues that I did see when I taught in the inner city. With many of the kids, it's that they simply lack structure at home.

Jul 22, 2010

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PT I heard that PWCS has had a freeze. Does anyone know how long its been in place?

Aug 3, 2010

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Chris On 8/03/10, PT wrote: > I heard that PWCS has had a freeze. Does anyone know how long > its been in place?

My friend up here in NJ just got a call for an interview in PW tomorrow...so I'm thinking no more freeze.

Aug 12, 2010

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