Loudoun Hunger

continued from page 1 allow Loudoun Hunger to expand its offerings, with a free grocery market, the newest best practice for people in need as the most dignified way to receive that food, as well as more warehouse space, new truck bays, and more workspace for volunteers. And bringing in the other nonprofits will mean people who come by for any one service will also have access to literacy, jobs, benefits, and other supports to help them not only put food on the table but lift themselves up.

The ongoing $3 million fundraising campaign to build the new space was kicked off with a $500,000 gift from the Claude Moore Foundation, the county’s largest single nonprofit donor.

“When people hear that Claude Moore Charitable Foundation has supported your project, that is a vote of confidence,” Montgomery said.

“There are donors and there are doers,” Claude Moore Foundation Executive Director J. Hamilton Lambert said. “…Jenni-

Superintendent search

continued from page 3 back up to speed and they need to be supported.” fer is the duchess of all doers in Loudoun County.”

She said the division needs a leader who is going to set that tone and “not tinker in the emotional feel-good stuff,” referring to social-emotional learning.

Courtney Smith defended social emotional learning in division schools, saying it was the people who were offended after the division paid for an equity report in 2019 that revealed racism in schools that were the ones responsible for making social emotional learning and safety in school a political point.

“We need a superintendent who is going to put every student at the forefront absolutely. Unfortunately, in protecting all of the students, some of that will become political,” she said.

Other parents brought up concerns they have with division and state policies they feel are politically motivated that affect students and their safety.

Elizabeth Boyko talked about speaking at the last School Board meeting on behalf of a friend whose daughters have expressed being uncomfortable with “a 200-pound boy” using the girls’ bathroom. She said they were told by administrators to use a single-user bathroom or to speak to a counselor if they were uncomfortable with the situation.

The hub is also supported through in-kind donations by Merritt Construction, which is contributing architecture, building plans and general contracting, and Loudoun County government, which is providing the space, occupied until recently by the Office of Elections.

“I think the one thing we don’t do well is always see people in need, and I’ve said, in Loudoun County, you have to kind of hurt quietly. I don’t want that to be so,” Loudoun Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) said. “I don’t want us to force people to hurt in silence. If somebody needs something, I want them to know that they have some place to come ask, and I want them to know that when they come ask they’re going to be treated with respect and dignity. I want them to know that their privacy will be maintained.”

She said Loudoun’s nonprofits do just that.

“Standing up a human services hub, with each organization collaborating yet serving in their own expert capacity,” is an incredible achievement, Loudoun Hunger

Relief Immediate Past Chair Carole Barbe said. She said the long-desired human services hub meets a strategic goal of the county, local philanthropists, and the nonprofit community.

“This project has been delayed for three years by COVID-19,” she said. “We are truly delighted to be here, finally getting this construction started.”

The expansion into more county-owned space was approved in 2019, but delayed for years as plans to move the Office of Elections were also held up. After those delays, the Board of Supervisors extended the lease ten years, to December 2040. The county does not charge rent for the space, reasoning Loudoun Hunger’s services to the county, including distributing an estimated $4.1 million worth of food in fiscal year 2022, are worth considerably more than the space’s estimated $156,000 rent. Loudoun Hunger estimates the nonprofits at the planned nonprofit services hub will employ about 39 people, pay about $2.5 million in payroll, and provide $5.9 million in value of services.

The COVID-19 pandemic was also a time that nonprofits saw a surge in need that has never fully abated. Loudoun be prepared because parents aren’t going away.

“If the superintendent comes in and thinks they are going to have a cake job or a snow job, I would personally encourage you to tell that superintendent to think about whether they want to take this job because we are not going away,” he said.

“We need a superintendent that is going to lead and shine properly, and we have not had that,” Suzanne Satterfield said.

Colin Doniger said the decision to hire a new superintendent needed to wait until after the new School Board takes its seats in January.

“This current board is not trustworthy to hire a superintendent, they proved it time and time again,” he said to applause from attendees.

Hunger Relief is still distributing more than twice as much food as before the pandemic.

Loudoun Hunger Relief Board Chair Charlie McQuillan thanked the nonprofits and their leaders who will move into the new hub, providing a one-stop location for a range of services. The wall between the current and new space had been symbolically decorated with some of the missions and services of those nonprofits.

“You’ll see behind me some words on the wall symbolizing the barriers many in our served community face daily,” he said. “Things like access to good nutrition, literacy, aging in place, job support, job coaching, weekend food support for students, and even pet food. As we break this wall today, we are literally and figuratively providing improved access to resources in our county and beyond.”

Shortly thereafter elected officials and philanthropic and nonprofit leaders took sledgehammers in hand and put the first holes in that wall.

Learn more or donate to support Loudoun Hunger or human services hub at loudounhunger.org. To find help with food, go to loudounfeeds.org. n the makeup of the school systems they are coming from to see if it matches with Loudoun’s demographics.

Dan Nebhut said it was important for Alfaro to include what he was experiencing that night in his report and recommendation because he said it was very telling for the future superintendent to see what the environment was like in the division.

“You are starting with a challenge of trust and a challenge of communication …. and you are starting from a deficit in both those categories. You are starting with distrust that is active and you are starting with intentional miscommunication and secrecy that has resulted in criminal action. You are not just dealing with ‘I wonder if.’”

“You tell me how we are supposed to get politics out of school when girls can’t even be safe and are treated like second class citizens?” she said. “You cannot get politics out of the school system as long as we have these policies in place.

It is not OK.”

Smith said it was federal litigation and told her to take it up with the courts, which caused a brief argument.

Longtime school division critic Brian Davison criticized the division for academic shortfalls, lack of college preparation, recent criminal indictments of administrators, and a lack of transparency. He said the new superintendent needs to

Davinelle Woodson, a parent and teacher at Heritage High School, said she wants a superintendent who is not afraid of parents.

“As teachers we are tired and we are beat up on,” she said. “I’m not saying every teacher is an A+ teacher, but most of whom I have worked with over the last seven years at three different schools are amazing teachers who actually care about the students. It has gotten out of control in LCPS with parents.”

Truphelia Parker asked if the names of potential candidates could be made public. Other parents said they wanted to know candidates’ track records and

GR Recruiting will take feedback from last week’s stakeholder sessions and combine it with results from a survey to create a leadership profile of the qualities community members want in the new superintendent. That will then be used to recruit candidates nationwide, with interviews being done in May and a new superintendent hired in late May or early June.

The division is holding a series of community listening sessions over the next two months in the eight election districts to hear from community members on ways the division can better serve students and rebuild trust. The next session is March 30 at 6:00 p.m. at Trailside Middle School. n