PWC School Board chairman to step down when term ends Dec. 31, 2015

Milton Johns, chairman of the Prince William County School Board, announced this morning that he will not be a candidate for reelection in 2015. His term ends Dec. 31, 2015, concluding 12 years service on the school board.

Johns issued this statement shortly before 10 a.m. this morning, Dec. 15, 2014.

“After months of prayer, reflection, and discussions with my family, I have decided that I will not seek re-election as Chairman at Large of the Prince William County School Board in 2015.  When my term ends at midnight on December 31, 2015, I will have spent nearly a quarter of my life serving on the Prince William County School Board.  It is time for me to focus on other matters, including my family and my law practice.  I do expect to continue to have a role supporting Prince William County Schools and in local political activities.

“When the 12th year of my tenure on the School Board concludes, I will have been part of a Board that opened 20 schools and renovated and expanded dozens more, that brought robotics to every school in the county, and that established the Safe Schools Advisory Council and the Governor’s School @ Innovation Park.  We expanded full day Kindergarten county-wide, expanded AP, IB and Cambridge programs, and offered a myriad of specialty programs at nearly all of our schools.  By my rough count, over 65,000 students have received high school diplomas during that time, and I personally watched almost half of them cross the stage at graduation.

“Prince William County Public Schools are not perfect; they never were and they never will be.  But I am extremely proud of the progress we have made - administrators, teachers, support staff, parents and students - in the past 11 years as we have emerged to be one of the premiere large suburban school divisions in the country, and the role I played on the Prince William County School Board. It was a labor of love, but all things must come to an end.

“Among the many people who have supported me over the years, I must especially thank my wife Shellie and my children Caitlin and Milton Wyatt for their love and understanding, and I look forward to work hard in 2015 for the citizens of Prince William County.”