President's Message Vision Mission and Priorities Who We Serve

Board of Directors Meeting Schedules

Message from the President, Ms. Maria Paslick, SAI Engineering

We measure our success by enriching the lives of the students of Prince William County Public Schools. In the words of an anonymous author, “Fifty years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, how much you had in your bank account, or what your clothes looked like. But the world may be a little better because you were important in the life of a child.” Supporters of the Prince William County Public Schools Education Foundation want to make a difference in the lives of students.

Since its inception, the PWCS Education Foundation has invested in the academic success of thousands of children by partnering with Prince William County Public Schools to support student achievement through the “Innovative Grants” program and to provide funds for major capital projects such as “Read to Achieve with KidBiz” and “EduLink.” 

Supported by donations from local businesses, the PWCS Education Foundation has been able to provide 77 grants to Prince William County schools, as well as to School Division departments and offices, through our Innovative Grants program. Thanks to the generosity of our community, the PWCS Education Foundation has provided more than $400,000 in grant funding for this program since 1999, which allows schools and departments to fund programs that would not be possible otherwise.

By financially supporting Read to Achieve with KidBiz, a Web-based reading and writing software program used by the School Division to supplement the education of over 5,000 third-grade students, the PWCS Education Foundation hopes to improve the test scores of students entering the fourth grade who are reading below grade level. 

We are also pleased that PWCS has now adopted the EduLink system throughout their 86 schools, allowing schools to be in contact with the families of more than 72,000 students instantly. In past years, the Education Foundation is proud to have provided the seed money for this very important initiative. 

The PWCS Education Foundation is fortunate to have recently added two additional ways to support student education. The past years have brought the loss of two of our community’s great educational leaders; Dr. Edward L. Kelly, who served PWCS as its superintendent for 18 years, and Michele D. Wickham, who served the PWCS Education Foundation as its executive director for 10 years. Their legacies, and their commitment to education, continue through the Foundation’s Dr. Edward L. Kelly Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Michele D. Wickham Endowment Fund. To date, three students have received money from the Dr. Edward L. Kelly Memorial Scholarship Fund to pursue a career in teaching, and both of these new programs promise to offer many more opportunities to PWCS students in the future.

We invite you to offer support for the Foundation’s initiatives and help provide opportunities for our students to reach their greatest potential. Your involvement will be tremendously rewarding to you and to our community’s students. You can make a difference in the life of a child.

Sincerely,

Maria Paslick
President
Prince William County Public Schools Education Foundation

Vision

The vision of the Prince William County Public Schools Education Foundation is to be the first choice for investing in a competitive community through enriched education opportunities for the children of Prince William County.

Mission and Priorities

The mission of the Prince William County Public Schools Education Foundation is to engage community partners to fund and promote initiatives that enhance educational excellence.

Organizational priorities identified for the 2005-06 school year include:

• Bolstering student achievement through the Innovative Grants Program and other special projects.
• Encouraging family involvement in education through the EduLink Parent Communication System.
• Helping students achieve reading and writing proficiency through KidBiz.
• Creating meaningful dialogue between the schools and the community.
• Uniting community resources to invest in public schools.

Who We Serve

Prince William County is home to the third largest school division in Virginia, with 66,000+ students enrolled in 80 schools and education centers. Of the total student population, 45% are minorities, 10% are gifted, 12% require special education, 7% speak English as a second language and 20% are economically disadvantaged. Fifty percent of Prince William students continue their education at universities, colleges and other schools after graduation.

All schools are accredited by the State Board of Education. Middle and high schools are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2001, Newsweek named three Prince William high schools among the "Top 500 High Schools in America". Time named Stonewall Jackson High School as "High School of the Year" in 2001. Specialty programs have been created in 24 schools, from elementary through high school, to prepare students for specialization in specific career fields.

Prince William County Schools is a high performance organization, receiving the Medallion of Excellence, U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award, a Gold Medal rating three consecutive years by Expansion Magazine and a host of other distinguished awards. The school division is nationally known for its system of school-based management, which places decision-making and accountability at the school level.

Through their generous contributions of time, talent and resources, members of the business community provide tutors, mentors and classroom speakers; offer internships and job shadowing for students; donate supplies and funds and make a myriad of other contributions to the education of children in Prince William County.

The Education Foundation is proud to support Prince William County's vision of providing "a quality education for...the children, the community and the future!"