Publications by Julia Stewart

A motion to adopt the staff plan recommendations for Ashburn and Leesburg area high schools failed in a 4-4-1 vote with John Stevens (Potomac), Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin), Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) and Joseph Guzman (Sugarland) voting for the staff plan and Robert DuPree (Dulles), Warren Geurin (Sterling), Priscilla Godfrey (Blue Ridge) and Tom Reed (At-Large) voting against. Tom Marshall (Leesburg) abstained.

The recent debate on Ashburn/Leesburg high school attendance boundaries has been a difficult and sometimes rancorous one for the School Board. Here are comments from their most recent discussion:

The relevance of a Career and Technical Education (CTE) is evident both to students and visitors who come to Monroe Technology Center (MTC) in Leesburg. The courses taught at MTC are intended to directly relate to the individual student and his or her identified goals and aspirations. In a nation focused on high academic and technical achievements–and the recognized need for a skills-driven education as well–many high school students still struggle to connect the dots between the courses they take, their lives and the future.

With this edition, the Loudoun Independent begins a multi-part series examining the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) system with a focus on achievements, assessments, certifications, efficiency, compensation, resources, special education, parity, design, planning, building and budgets. Interviews with former and current school board members, school administrators, teachers, students and parents are planned.

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), a national standardized test for college admissions, has an almost mythical stature in American education. A student’s SAT scores – and high school transcripts – are the two central components of any college application. Generally, the better the SAT scores, the more college choices available to a student.