School Starts Aug. 27 in Loudoun

While Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” plays across America in late May to early June, there’s really no equivalent for what students face as autumn approaches. Sorry kids, summer’s over.

At last count, 68,170 students will enter the doors of the ’ 82 schools Aug. 27 for the 2012-13 school year. Again this year, opening day comes before Labor Day, allowing schools to close June 6. 

As enrollment approaches 70,000, the school system highlighted the largest classes:

• The largest elementary school class will be the fourth grade with 5,802 students.
• The largest middle school class will be 5,325 students in the sixth grade.
• The largest high school class is the freshman class with 5,050 members. 

The Class of 2013 includes 4,646 seniors at 12 of the county’s 13 high schools — John Champe High School will not have a senior class in 2013 — compared to the 2,700 members of the class who entered the first day of kindergarten in 2000, when LCPS enrollment was 31,804.

Two new schools are among the county’s 82, including the following:

• John Champe High School
  41535 Sacred Mountain Street
  Aldie, VA 20105
  703-722-2680
  John G. Gabriel, Principal
• Frederick Douglass Elementary
  510 Principal Drummond Way SE
  Leesburg, VA 20175
  703-252-1920
  Timothy J. Martino, Principal

Gabriel and Martino are among 13 new principals at county schools this year, including three in Ashburn (in bold):

• Belmont Station Elementary: Lori A. Mercer
• John Champe High School: John G. Gabriel
• Creighton’s Corner Elementary: Christopher L. Knott
• Frederick Douglass Elementary: Timothy J. Martino
• Emerick Elementary: Dawn E. Haddock
• Forest Grove Elementary: Monique X. Martin
• Freedom High School: Douglas B. Fulton
• Harper Park Middle School: Elizabeth A. Robinson
• Hillside Elementary: Garett E. Brazina
• Liberty Elementary: Paul A. Pack
• Pinebrook Elementary: Paul G. Thiessen Jr.
• Sycolin Creek Elementary: Derek A. Racino
• Woodgrove High School: William S. Shipp

To keep up with the school system, parents, faculty and students are encouraged to keep up with school board meetings, check out the school system’s website as well as their own schools’ websites, and follow the school system’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The school board meets twice a month at the LCPS Administrative Offices in Ashburn. Meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays with the exception of December, July and August when no fourth Tuesday meetings are planned. Loudoun residents are encouraged to attend and participate. Agendas can be found on the LCPS website through Board Docs, located under the School Board tab. Those who wish to speak at a School Board Meeting may call (571) 252-1020 to have their names placed on the speakers’ list in advance of the meeting. They also may add their names to the list at the time of the meeting.

In addition, LCPS-TV broadcasts on Comcast Channel 18, Verizon FIOS Channel 43 and Channel 42 on Open Band in Lansdowne, providing live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of scheduled School Board meetings. Meetings can be viewed live and on-demand via webcasts on the LCPS website at www.lcps.org.