Loudoun Offers Students Last Chance To Collect Items From Schools

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Loudoun County Public Schools are providing an additional opportunity for families to retrieve medication, laptops and other critical items from school buildings. On Thursday and Friday, families who need to collect critical items should call the main office at their school or email the school principal to make an appointment for a brief visit.

When they visit their schools, families should maintain appropriate social distancing at all times, the Loudoun school system said. The number of visitors to any building at any one time will be limited. "As the virus situation continues, LCPS is unsure if we will be able to offer another opportunity in the future," the school system said.

The Loudoun school system has made an initial purchase of Wifi hotspots to help ensure continuity of access to Internet-based instructional resources for students and staff during an extended closure.

The school system said it is prioritizing the distribution of Wifi hotspots to students in grades 3-12 to households with the greatest needs, with a limit of one hotspot per household. Hotspot devices could be available for distribution as early as the week of March 23, the school system said.

Families and staff will need to request a device by completing an online form or by calling the Loudoun County Public Schools Technology Support Center at 571-252-2112 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.

Loudoun County schools are continuing to provide daily breakfast and lunch service to the students that rely on the schools for meals. The program has been established for students age 18 and under.

On Tuesday, the Loudoun school system announced it is discontinuing meal service at 12 sites across the county, although the county still has many sites where students can pick up meals each day. The school system also changed the meal pickup time at schools to 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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"We understand that in these difficult times, many people across the country and our county are in need of meal support. We ask the community to support our commitment to our young citizens when visiting our school meal distribution sites," the school system said.

Meal pickup sites that experience fewer student visitors than anticipated may be able to make leftover items available to the general public after the scheduled 1 p.m. program close each day. Loudoun County schools also are working with other hunger relief agencies to make sure no leftover food is wasted.

The Loudoun schools system has created a Continuity of Education webpage that contains digital and offline learning resources to provide optional learning experiences for students. Resources are organized by grade level with references to curriculum guides that align the supplemental opportunities with students’ recent classroom experiences.

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