Loudoun County Public Schools announced that it will hold town hall sessions at four locations on April 18, 19, and 21, with some sessions held simultaneously. On Tuesday evening, the school board also voted to form a parent advisory group.
“These Community Town Hall meetings will be facilitated by RTI International, an external firm leading strategic planning on behalf of the division. Loudoun County School Board members will also be in attendance. These sessions are designed to create a space for community members to think about and articulate their vision for all students in LCPS moving forward. Participating community members will have an opportunity to offer input and provide feedback on the most important actions they’d like to see the division take over the next five years, as well as programs and practices that they hope will be added, discontinued, or otherwise considered,” the district announced.
“Personally, I’m not encouraged by this ‘Town Hall’ initiative by Ziegler and LCPS. Yes, parents have been asking for this for a year+, however, we thought LCPS would have the courage to stand on their own,” Parents Against Critical Theory (PACT) responded in a blog post criticizing the choice of RTI International to facilitate the meetings.
The district has been the focus of conservative activism for over a year, with parents frustrated over school closure policies, school transgender policies, school equity policies, and an overall lack of transparency. That helped fuel a broader wave of Republican political wins in Virginia in 2021, with GOP candidates calling for schools to allow more parental involvement.
On Tuesday, Fight for Schools, a conservative PAC, highlighted a LCPS training document from August 2021. “In a Loudoun County Public Schools training document, recently acquired via FOIA, LCPS instructs staff that the school district must determine whether the parents should be provided information about their child’s gender identity,” Fight for Schools reported in an email update titled, “Loudoun County Public Schools Says Parents Have No Right to Know Child’s Gender Identity.”
The school board voted seven to zero to create the Loudoun Education Alliance of Families (LEAF), according to The Loudoun Times.
LEAF’s charter states, “Responsibilities and goals of LEAF are as follows:
• To be a voice for parents from their school communities providing valuable parental
perspective to the School Board.
• To communicate School Board questions, recommendations, or decisions back to their
communities.
• To serve as an advisory body, bringing to the School Board’s attention existing or
emerging issues expressed by parents in their school community.
• To help develop and shape recommendations on improving student experience in
schools.”
“I think this is more of a response to the opinion of the board members that we need to reach further in and engage the parent community with better representation,” board Chair Jeff Morse said, according to The Times.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Loudoun Schools” by Loudoun County Schools.
