LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
LoudounNow
[ Vol. 4, No. 28 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
■ PUBLIC AND LEGAL NOTICES - PAGE 35 ■ EMPLOYMENT PAGE 39
■ RESOURCE DIRECTORY PAGE 41 [ May 30, 2019 ]
School Board Keeps TJ, Cuts Costs BY ANDREW D. PARKER The Loudoun County School Board voted 6-3 on Tuesday night to renew a contract that allows Loudoun students to attend Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria. But the night didn’t end without sacrifices for TJ supporters, as a divided board voted to stop using taxpayer money to pay for transportation costs, and to cap the number of students sent to the Fairfax school. With the Academies of Loudoun now open, school board members have been debating whether to cut ties with TJ—a STEM magnet school that is among most highly regarded high schools in the country. More than 75 students, parents and supporters of keeping the TJ option spoke during the board’s Tuesday meeting, adding to more than 60 speakers in favor of keeping TJ during the board’s May 14 meeting. TJ supporters also presented a petition with more than 1,700 signatures to the board. The majority of speakers at Tuesday’s meeting were students, including past, current and hopeful future attendees of TJ. One speaker was only in the second grade. “This isn’t about the kids at TJ. This is about the kids that want to go to TJ, and there’s thousands of us,” said Aubrey Powers, a rising eighth grader at Smart’s Mill who has worked hard to get a chance to get a STEM education. “TJ is our dream. Please don’t crush it,” added Sathvik Redrotha, a seventh grader. Following the public comments, board member Chris Croll (Catoctin) proposed two amendments. The first was to eliminate transportation costs. On a Facebook post over the weekend where she first mentioned her suggested changes, Croll wrote that she tried to “find a compromise position where we still make this program available to the students who require it … but to make LCPS costs for TJ more predictable and more ‘reasonable’ since many people in Loudoun County believe the cost of sending these students out of county are too high.” Under Croll’s plan, the school system TJ STAYS >> 33
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Walmart’s Edwards Ferry Road store in Leesburg closed its doors for the final time Tuesday evening as the new Compass Creek store was expected to open the following day.
Weighing the Impact of Walmart
As One Store Opens, Another Closure Sparks Concern BY KARA C. RODRIGUEZ As employees hurried to put the finishing touches on the new Walmart Super Center in Leesburg’s Compass Creek development, not everyone was celebrating the closure of the Edwards Ferry Road store. The arrival of the Compass Creek store, scheduled to open this week, meant that the Edwards Ferry Road store would close. While that store’s closure may not have as big of an impact on its employees—all are transferring to the new store, in addition to 100 new associates, Walmart says—it is the community immediately surrounding the old store that many are concerned will be negatively impacted. The Edwards Ferry Road store, opened in 1993, is in the Shenandoah Square shopping center, adjacent to Loudoun County’s Shenandoah building, where its health and human services programs are located, and within walking distance to many of Leesburg’s lower-income neighborhoods. Many residents in the area rely on their own two feet, rather than a car,
to get around, and on the Walmart to do their shopping. The county government has added a new bus stop to bring shoppers and employees to the new store on the outskirts of town, but some question if that approach goes far enough. One of the most vocal critics in recent weeks has been Leesburg Councilman Ron Campbell, who has said he would not attend Wednesday’s scheduled ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new store. Campbell said he believes the town could have done more to keep the Edwards Ferry store open. “The town doesn’t have a right to decide whether a business should stay here or go there. But it does have a position to take about how those businesses really help our community,” Campbell said. He pointed to how many nearby residents rely on the store location for an affordable option for groceries, medication and more. Campbell also took issue with how the town has negotiated—or not—with Loudoun County on its Joint Land Management Area, where the new Walmart will be located. The town and
county are in the preliminary stages of considering a boundary line adjustment that would bring the Compass Creek development into town limits. “Our responsibility for leadership is to protect the interests of our town. And we have no solution—the town has no solutions. The county’s solution is one unreliable bus route,” he said. Others are taking a more wait-and-see approach, including Jennifer Montgomery, executive director of Loudoun Hunger Relief, the county’s main food pantry. “We will have to see what kind of impact [the Edwards Ferry store closure] has to be able to respond accordingly,” she said. “We’re working together to make sure people can access the services on the other side of town.” Montgomery lauded the county government and nonprofits’ outreach efforts to let the residents know about the store closure and how to access the new store. In addition to creating the new bus route, the county government also put together an online directory of other grocers withWALMART >> 46
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