The Loudoun County (Va.) district has opened two new campuses for the 2019-20 school year.
WTOP-TV reports that a new high school and a new elementary school — both in Ashburn, Va., — officially opened their doors this week,
Independence High School is the school system’s 16th high school. It is opening with between 1,000 and 1,100 students. For the first year, the school will not have a senior class.
The two-story, 282,00-square-foot high school sits on about 85 acres.
“When I was over visiting the school recently, it was just beautiful walking in,” says Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Eric Williams.
The building features a “state-of-the-art” security vestibule, broad hallways and high ceilings and what he called “impressive” athletic facilities.
Also opening is Waxpool Elementary School, which is expected to have about 700 students. It is the 59th elementary school in the county and will focus on what is called “wall-to-wall projected-based learning."
In addition, Waxpool is one of the first elementary schools in the county to include a heavy emphasis on computer science, coding and overall “computational thinking,” Williams says.
Another new development on the technology front: Schools are rolling out a system called “Permission Click,” which will enable parents to sign permission form for field trips online.
“They don’t have to worry about it if they sign it, does it end up stuck still in their son or daughter’s backpack?”
It’s an expansion of the school system’s “Virtual First Day” program, which enables parents to sign a host of forms and authorization forms online.
All told, nearly 84,000 students are enrolled this year in Loudoun County Public Schools — about 1,500 more students than last year.
Over the past five years, the student population has jumped by more than 10,000 students.
