n LOUDOUN
4 | n LEESBURG
VOL. 8, NO. 22
10 | n EDUCATION
12 | n PUBLIC SAFETY
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Last weekend’s 33rd annual Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival featured large crowds pouring into the downtown historic district to visit the booths of more than 125 vendors and celebrate spring’s arrival. Here a young visitor gets up close with the intricate display by Pine Ridge Landscaping, the winner of the 2023 People’s Choice Award.
BY RENSS GREENE
rgreene@loudounnow.com
See more on page 36. Norman K. Styer/Loudoun Now
Parents Ask to Keep Virtual Elementary agustin@loudounnow.com
Valerie Smith is no stranger to speaking out about the division’s recent decision to close Virtual Loudoun Elementary. She has been speaking virtually at most School Board meetings since learning the program would close at the end of this school year. Smith’s son Ben has complicated medical issues that prevent him from attending school in person. She said parents weren’t given a say on the closing of the program, and said of the more than 80 students enrolled, most require the service. “This isn’t a choice, but everyone acts like it is. It’s very frustrating. No one would ever walk up to you while you were having an asthma attack and if you couldn’t reach your inhaler say you made the choice not to be near it,” she said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered schools for children everywhere, Smith said the introduction of virtual learning opened a new world for children who couldn’t attend school in person because of complex medical issues. Now she says it’s cruel to shut that window just because normal life has resumed for everyone else. For many students in the online program, it’s their first time being in a classroom setting with a teacher and other peers. The Virtual Loudoun Elementary program offers synchronous all-day learning and includes specials like art, P.E. and music classes. Students can do group learning in breakout sessions, get extra help in a more private one-on-one setting with their teacher and, most importantly, socialize and make friends in a safe environment.
“Without this program these kids won’t be socializing. The reality is they are isolated because of medical needs. Some are extremely immunocompromised. They can’t go to amusement parks or indoor play areas like Chuck E. Cheese or overly crowded indoor places and be with friends. They have friends now. Take this away and you take away their world,” Smith said. She said having virtual school makes the many doctor’s appointments Ben has easier because he can take school with him and not miss anything. “There are so many benefits, I don’t see a real reason why the program wouldn’t go on,” she said. With a price tag of $2.5 million for 24 positions and just over 80 students, the division decided during a budget
News that longtime Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder will sell the team reignited speculation over the weekend about the possibility of a new Commanders stadium. And once again speculation about a new home field led to the team’s corporate home, Loudoun County. In 2022, Snyder pursued plans for a new stadium within a larger mixed-use development. The planned Waterside development at the southeast corner of Rt. 28 and Old Ox Road in Loudoun County was one of three Virginia sites under consideration, and the General Assembly that year debated over two competing bills to create a Virginia Football Stadium Authority to attract that project. But the state Senate and House of Delegates could not agree on a bill, with the Senate pushing a much more generous deal for the team while the House—and many residents— worked toward more restrained incentives.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION continues on page 14
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26
APRIL 20, 2023
Commanders Sale Sparks New Stadium Speculation
Festival Fun
BY ALEXIS GUSTIN
17 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
2023-2024 School Year www.FairfaxChristianSchool.com
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