Manassas Park board praises smooth start to school year; teachers raise morale, workload concerns

Manassas Park City Schools’ board heard reports that the 2022–23 school year opened smoothly and celebrated staff efforts, while the teachers’ union urged the district to address rising workload and staff morale.

The division’s spotlight presentation described an orderly start to the year for about 3,500 students across four schools and thanked teachers, instructional assistants, bus drivers, food service workers, nurses and support staff for their work. “We didn’t even want to say it that week because we certainly didn’t want to jinx anything, but it did not even feel like the first week,” a district presenter said, summarizing the opening days.

Why it matters: The board frames a reliable start to the school year as foundational to student achievement and daily operations; union concerns about workload and morale signal items the district may need to address to sustain teacher retention.

Board members and staff noted new district tools launched this year, including a redesigned website, school-specific attendance phone and email lines, and ClassLink, a single sign-on portal for student and staff applications. The board also moved its offices to the third floor of the new City Hall building.

During public comment, Theresa Hayden, librarian at Manassas Park Elementary School and president of the Manassas Park Education Association, thanked the district for the Professional Learning Academy and for a newly approved teacher salary scale. “We are hopeful the creation and implementation of this new salary scale means we will now be able to recruit, hire, and retain quality educators for our students, with retention being the top priority,” Hayden said.

Hayden also said the union appreciated security enhancements and updates to the student code of conduct, and she asked the board to work with central office to address continuing concerns about staff morale and increased job demands. The board did not take any formal action on the concerns during the meeting; members said they look forward to working with the MPEA and central office staff in ongoing conversations.

The board approved the meeting agenda and consent items at the start of the session. No separate votes were taken on the spotlight presentation or the union comments.

Board members said the division plans additional outreach and communications to families over the school year and that some details raised by the union — notably the salary scale already adopted — are expected to support retention efforts going forward.