Cell Phone Rules, School Capacity Priorities As LCPS Opens 99th And 100th Schools
LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — After peers in neighboring Fairfax and Prince William County started school earlier in the week, Loudoun County students are headed back to class Thursday.
Loudoun County Public Schools now has 100 schools, with the opening of Henrietta Lacks Elementary School and Watson Mountain Middle School. LCPS held a welcome event for students at Watson Mountain Middle School Thursday morning.
Dan Adams, spokesperson for LCPS, told Patch Henrietta Lacks Elementary School is a sister school to Hovatter Elementary School in Aldie. The new school serves around 800 students in kindergarten through second grade and is named for Virginia’s Henrietta Lacks, whose “HeLa” cells became a key part of medical research and a debate over the ethics of medical research.
Find out what's happening in Ashburnwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Watson Mountain Middle School near Brambleton is the first four-story facility at LCPS, according to Adams. The school is serving about 550 students in just sixth grade this school year and will expand to seventh grade. After a few years, eighth grade will be added. Five elementary schools feed into the new middle school. Watson Mountain is named for the Watson community that was home to the county’s largest free Black population.
Expanding capacity is one of the ongoing priorities in the growing Loudoun County, which is experiencing housing and population growth. Near Watson Mountain Middle School, LCPS is planning a new high school (HS-14).
Find out what's happening in Ashburnwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“We’re not only continuing to grow in the moment but looking to the future and where we need to be based on the continued growth of Loudoun County,” said Adams.
Adams said the new high school will follow a renovation of Park View High School in Sterling to update the older school and expand capacity.
While teacher vacancies have troubled regional school districts in recent years, LCPS is starting the school year strong. According to Adams, 98 percent of licensed staff positions are filled at LCPS. The school district had 615 new licensed teachers in the 2024-2025 school year as of Aug. 7. Among the incentives LCPS offered were signing bonuses for new teachers and extra incentives for special education and Title I teachers.
“Around 250 of those are brand new out of college, their first teaching experience so we’re excited that they chose us to start with,” said Adams. “But that also means that over 350 of those teachers are experienced educators who came from other divisions, which again shows how Loudoun County Public Schools is an employer of choice.”
Teachers are facing additional training due to the Virginia Literacy Act, a state initiative to improve literacy outcomes for younger grades. LCPS is also preparing for the Virginia Language & Literacy Screening System, a new assessment for third grade and new kindergarten to second grade teachers, and new standards for the mathematics and English Standards of Learning standardized tests that teachers must instruct students in. To provide more professional development time, LCPS initially proposed 16 late start days in the new school year. That proposal drew largely negative feedback from the community, leading the School Board to approve four professional development days as an alternative.
“We understand there’s a lot of those requirements coming from the state, the Literacy Act and so on, and we’re dedicated to making sure our teachers are trained up and got all the skills and the tools they need,” said Adams.
As students begin school, they will have to follow a new cell phone and personal device policy. Adams said the School Board-adopted policy sets standards by grade level. Elementary schools cannot use personal electronic devices at all during the school day.
“Off and away if they have them at all. What we’re finding is that most electronics with elementary kids are the smartwatches. So our policy does incorporate the smartwatches and other such electronics,” said Adams.
For middle school students, devices must be off and stored away during the school day. Students may check their devices before and after school. High schools are requiring devices to be off during instructional time, but students can check devices in between classes and at lunch.
“We’ve already even heard from schools that did a pilot program that the students have even said we like not having the electronics on,” said Adams. “The pressure’s off. They’re having more interpersonal contact with their peers and their teachers, better conversation, better collaboration. We think it’s going to be a great year.”
The LCPS spokesperson said the school district is following updates on Virginia Department of Education guidance to restrict student cell phone use during the school day. Draft guidance was released after Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order, and final guidance will be released on Sept. 16 following a public feedback period ending on Sept. 15.
One other new initiative this school year is the opening of a health and medical sciences community at Briar Woods High School and Tuscarora High School. the inaugural class will include 150 rising freshmen.
“Everything from wanting to be doctors and nurses to being scientists, these are the kids that are going to cure terrible diseases and make amazing medical breakthroughs in the future,” said Adams. “We’re really excited about offering new pathways for students as they figure out what they want to do after their time with us.”
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.