n LOUDOUN
5 | n LEESBURG
8 | n EDUCATION
10 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
Community-Supported News. Free to all.
VOL. 9, NO. 49
37
OCTOBER 17, 2024
School Board Policy Promotes Home Gun Safety BY NORMAN K. STYER nstyer@loudounnow.org
The policy handbook for Loudoun County Public Schools students is getting a new section that highlights parental responsibility to securely store firearms in homes with minors. The resolution, approved by a unanimous School Board vote Oct. 8, follows a trend among school divisions nationwide as they work to prevent school shootings. Under the action, school administrators were instructed to create “a notification to parents and guardians that explains the importance of secure gun storage and the legal obligations to protect minors from accessing irresponsibly stored guns.” That document will be among the paperwork parents are required to review at the start of each school year. The adopted resolution also commits the school division to work with law enforcement and community nonprofits to promote secure gun storage. The resolution cited statistics linking firearms to youth shootings, suicides and violence on school grounds, including that each year roughly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else with 70 percent of these GUN SAFETY continues on page 46
Hanna PampaloniLoudoun Now
A portion of Old Wheatland Road, which runs from Waterford to Rt. 9, is being considered for paving by the Board of Supervisors as part of their Secondary Road Six-Year Plan. Several residents along the road support the proposal citing dangerous conditions.
Board Eyes Old Wheatland for Paving, Grapples with Sustaining County Rural Roads BY HANNA PAMPALONI hpampaloni@loudounnow.org
As county leaders conduct their annual review of the Secondary Road Six-Year Plan that determines which, if any, of the county’s gravel roads will be paved, resi-
dents gathered at the government building in Leesburg Wednesday night to provide their input. The plan is a joint effort by the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation and sets how state funding will be used for paving roads that qualify by hav-
ing 50 or more vehicle trips per day. The only road included in this year’s plan is a 0.8-mile portion of Old Wheatland Road between Rosemont Farm Place
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