Citizens unhappy with the exhumation of graves at the construction site for the 12th high school received the attention of Coles District Supervisor Marti Nohe, who now wants to change the policy for county agencies exhuming graves.
During Supervisor’s Time at the Nov. 19 Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Nohe addressed the issue, saying he received multiple calls and emails from concerned citizens, who would have liked to have seen the release of the information about the graves in a more transparent matter before remains were moved.
“What I’ve heard generally is that people feel they’d like to have more public notification an opportunity for individual citizens, especially those folks with an interest in history to comment on such removal, provide input and be part of that be part of that decision making process," Nohe said.
He did not accuse the School Board or school administration of mishandling the remains, rather he said that while they “did follow required processes set out by state law,” those processes may be “insufficient” for Prince William citizens who believe in preserving and respecting history.
The most unfortunate aspect of the manner in which the graves were exhumed was that the process was almost complete by the time the family, ancestors of those believed to have been buried in the graves, had been identified and located.
Nohe said that while we cannot go back in time, and the remains will not be reinterred at the school site, the Board of County Supervisors can going forward create a policy that would bring more transparency to the way that grave removal is done by government agencies within the county as well as making the decision to move graves more rare.
“I do think it’s appropriate for us as a government agency that we should revisit the policy we use to make a resolution like this,” Nohe said.
Nohe suggested that a new policy would include input from the Historical Commission at the beginning of the process, when graves have been identified. He explained that the Historical Commission is a citizen group of history buffs, who have been appointed by the Board of County Supervisors.
While Prince William County Schools approved the removal of the graves before they were identified, through research, the Historical Commission was able to connect the graves with the Lynn family. Since then, the Lynn family has been contacted and will have input in subsequent decisions regarding the graves and remains.
Nohe asked that a new policy should thus require that the Historical Commission be called to research the sites, before an application to exhume the graves is submitted to the Virginia Department of Historical Resources.
Nohe also suggested that the Historical Commission invite citizens, and possibly family members to take part in future decision-making, and that the process becomes more transparent.
Prince William County Schools has been criticized for removal of the graves at the 12th high school. Some have questioned why notice was only published in The Washington Post and not more local media outlets. However, Superintendent of Planning and Finance Dave Cline explained they chose the newspaper with the biggest circulation.
Cline and Superintendent Steven Walts also addressed the issue of the graves during Superintendent's Time at Tuesday evening's School Board meeting.
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