In 2020, Loudoun County Public School Board contracted with a private firm to review the names of all LCPS schools and mascots for political correctness. This action was not done at the request of any student, parent, teacher, or school staff. This action was simply a desire of the school board to impose their political agenda on each community.
Nine schools were identified for name change:
Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School
Mercer Middle School
Belmont Ridge Middle School
Belmont Station Elementary School
Seldens Landing Elementary School
Sully Elementary School
Hutchison Elementary School
Ball’s Bluff Elementary School
Emerick Elementary School
Over the years, thousands of students, families, and teaching professionals have been proud to call these schools home; schools that have shaped their lives and helped them become who they are today.
Now at cost of $125K- $140K per school, the school board is considering renaming all of these schools. No discussion has taken place on whether the funds could be better spent on facility improvement, safety, accessibility, or academic achievement and progress.
There is a crisis in American education and Loudoun County, as usual, is leading the way. Instead of teaching essential skills, our school board wants to embed their progressive agenda under the guise of social justice and inclusivity into every aspect of our children’s experience at school. The results are lower test scores and students ill-prepared for the future.
The Loudoun County Public School Board is driven by a majority of members making wasteful, politicized, top-down directed decisions that have nothing to do with student well-being, safety, and the promotion of academic excellence and everything to do with political activism.
Contact your school board member and let them know you want this wasteful spending on school name changes to stop. Tell them to focus on the success of students and teachers, not their selfish political agenda.