My Summer with Loudoun Schools

Sunday, April 5, 2026

Revisiting Leesburg High School / Senior Center (2026)

A photo of the front entrance of the Senior Center of Leesburg, a brick one-story structure. To the left and connected is the Library Administration wing entrance.

I recently swung by The Senior Center of Leesburg, the former Leesburg High School/Elementary School/North Street Administrative Office building. I had last visited when it had just opened up in its current iteration (2012), so it was nice to check it out again. Let's see how the building has been lived in and changed after 14 years, shall we?

An image of a square lobby with a wooden circular welcome desk. No one is sitting at the desk. There are some Caution Wet Floor signs around the lobby, along with mats over a wooden laminate floor.

Looking at the lobby from the front door

Lots of new things in the lobby. Most noticeably is the rounded plexi-glass shield left over from COVID safety accommodations. A member of staff told me that it was supposed to come down last year, but due to the supports being screwed into the counters themselves, no work has proceeded until new counters come in. Another change is the floor. Building-wide, the carpet has come out and been replaced by wood laminate.

Something I didn't mention last time, during the renovation, workers had found a hidden display case behind a wall, full of old trophies. They planned to display the trophies once the building opened, but they weren't out yet when I visited in 2012. It was nice to finally see them. It's crazy, some of them even pre-date the current 1925 building! I wonder how they survived the former building's fire?

An image of a black, built-in display case. On the upper level are numerous shiny trophies and plaques. On the bottom level is a lot unrelated knick-knacks, overstuffed. with jewelry, bowls, holiday decor, office supplies, and whatnot.

An close-up image inside of two shelves inside the black trophy display case. The trophies are golden and shiny. Some are cups, some are plaques, some have golden models in athletic poses with balls and bats.

An image of a framed yellowing full-page newspaper article hanging on a wall. The article is titled "Leesburg School Closes Classroom Doors" from the Loudoun Times-Mirror, July 29, 1971.

Another lobby addition is a 1971 news article
on the school's closing.

Throughout the halls are artwork and pottery displays. You can even buy some of the creations made! (They should offer their creations during Leesburg's First Friday and reach a larger audience...)

An image looking down a white hallway with brown/black chair rails, doors, and chairs. On the wall on the right is a small display of paintings.

An image of a long glass shelving unit holding many different pottery pieces. The shelf is sitting against a white wall in the Senior Center of Leesburg.

I'm pretty sure I didn't take any photos of the fitness rooms in 2012 because the rooms were in use at the time. Luckily, this time I was visiting during a brief lull in activity, so that wasn't a problem. Fun fact: The fitness rooms are where the auditorium's stage used to be.

An image of an empty exersize room. A bar and mirrors goes across one wall. In the reflection, you can see chairs and other exersize equipment. The floor is covered with a gray marley dance floor..

The Group Exercise Room

Fitness Room

An image of a room with two long row of tables with chairs. Cabinets and counters line one wall. There are paintings, sewing projects, and thread storage sorters on the counter.

Craft Room

An image of an empty lounge. Along one wall are built-in shelves with books and trophies. Along the perimeter of the room are green cushion chairs. In the middle of the room is a conference table with red office rollable chairs.

The Lounge

In the Ceramics Room, the preserved school chalkboard is buried behind supplies, shelves, and a newly-installed television. If you didn't know it was there, you might miss it.

Then:

An image of the ceramics room in 2012. The walls are empty and supplies are orderly. Along the back wall is a green chalkboard behind plexi-glass.

Ceramics Room, 2012

Now:

An image of the ceramics classroom in 2026, from the same perspective as in 2012. More supplies, shelves, and artwork cover the wall. The green chalkboard behind plexi-glass is covered by much of it, as well as some taped-on signs and a big screen television mounted to the wall. The TV has a Progressive Insurance ad playing.

Ceramics Room, 2026

That's not the only disappointing de-emphasizing of the building's history. The proscenium arch of the school's original auditorium has been painted white, camouflaging it into the wall. It is probably easier to repaint the wall this way. It's nice the arch is still there, but I hope it isn't forgotten about and taken down at some point.

Then:

An image of a large, decorative square arch in 2012. The arch is painted tan next to a white wall.

Proscenium Arch, 2012

Now:

An image of a large, decorative square arch in 2026. It is from the same perspective as the previous picture. The arch is painted white next to a white wall.

Proscenium Arch, 2026

In the multipurpose space/former auditorium, lots of changes here. The wallpaper and curtains are gone. The floor has been changed out, and its replacement has the lines marked out of what I'm guessing is probably a pickleball court. Disregarding the pickleball court, the space unfortunately has had some aesthetic downgrades. Still a functional space.

*(My 2012 and 2026 pictures below were taken from opposite sides of the multipurpose room, unfortunately I don't have a good before/after photo of this space.)

Then:

A picture of the multipurpose room in 2012. There are tables set out. On the right are people dancing. The walls are yellow and curtains hang around the windows. The floor has four black squares, each with a sunburst motif inside them.

Multipurpose Room, 2012

Now:

A picture of the multipurpose room in 2026 (a different perspective than in 2012, sorry). The room is empty of people but still full of tables. The walls are white and the windows are unadorned, except for blinds. The floor has a wood laminate pattern, as well as lines making up some sort of sport court. I don't know sports, sorry.

Multipurpose Room (from the opposite side of the room), 2026

There was one surprise: The former school projector room! In the back of the multipurpose room is an exit with an antechamber with storage closets. In one of the storage closets is a ladder leading up to the projector space. It hasn't been repurposed for anything for the senior center, so it's stayed pretty much the same as it has for decades. A mini time capsule of sorts.

Projector Booth

This space gets a whole lot of light through its window. I'm very curious about the architectural story behind this. Was the window here before the space was allocated as a projector booth? Was it always a projector booth, and they gave it a window anyway? At some point, the window was covered, most likely to solve the light problem for projectionists. During the senior center conversion, the window was uncovered again. No projection booth, no problem!

An image of the exterior of the former Auditorium in 2012. It is a brick building with rectangular windows and exterior molding. There is a half-circle window above the entry doors.

Reference photo: Auditorium Exterior Door & Window, 2012

A picture looking up at the projector room openings from inside the booth, 2010. Some plaster is off of the bricks around the openings. There are disconnected wires exposed. In the room beyond, you can see the wooden roof support structure.

Projector openings, 2010

A picture looking up at the projector room openings from inside the booth, 2026. Same perspective as the previous photo. Shiny silver material now covers the projector holes and most of the exposed brickwork. There are now new pipes and wires sticking into the wall, along with some of the disconnected ones that were there previously.

The covered projector openings, 2026

One final change. Last time, a lady told me "You don't look like you're fifty-five!" This time, no one told me that. No one told me I looked fifty-five either, but still. I'm noting my presence here is not as much a juxtaposition as it once was. Still got over two decades before I can enroll in membership, but my youth is clearly fleeting before my eyes!!

The Senior Center of Leesburg appears to be thriving. It has had upgrades and changes to keep up with the times and maintenance. Some of the history is de-emphasized, but it's all still there! All-in-all, a great building that has many more decades of use left!

SOURCES:

Talk Loudoun: School Spirit

Other North Street Articles:

Leesburg High School / North Street

North Street Update (2011)

North Street 2012 Update

Monday, February 16, 2026

Repost: Dr. Hatrick's Salvation South Interview

Hi, hello there! I haven't posted here in a while, and am currently working on some things/thinking about working on some things. In the meantime, I would like to share a recent interview former LCPS Superintendent Dr. Ed Hatrick did with Salvation South. Enjoy!

Salvation South: Inside the School Wars With an Uncommon Common Man

Monday, February 3, 2025

Recent Reads: "The Battle for Loudoun County: Inside the Culture War Between a "Woke" School Board and the Radical Right in America's Wealthiest Suburb"

Image of the cover of Wayde Byard's "The Battle for Loudoun County" book. It features a black and white photo of a group of adults yelling.

This blog mostly focuses on the history of the school buildings, rather than the bureaucracy, attendance zone fights, and other antics that goes on daily in Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS). This is probably for the best. However, it's not every day a book comes out to discuss an insider perspective on the school system's operation. Enter Wayde B. Byard in The Battle for Loudoun County: Inside the Culture War Between a "Woke" School Board and the Radical Right in America's Wealthiest Suburb.

Byard served as LCPS' Public Information Officer for over 20 years. During his tenure, he became a mini-celebrity known for his deadpan recorded messages sent out when school was cancelled/delayed due to snow. The book covers his last few years in that role, 2021-2023. After progressive policies pushes the school system into the politicized national spotlight, two sexual assaults at different schools with the same perpetrator launches a right-wing special grand jury investigation. Their findings lead to Byard indicted for an alleged cover-up, placing him on leave without pay. In his memoir, Byard takes you moment-by-moment, from school board meetings at the Administration Building to the defense table at his trial.

Byard serves as an opinionated narrator, giving the facts of what happened, but also all the tidbits and his opinions about everyone involved. There are some hot takes, and sometimes I wish he shared a little less. But can I blame him? He is a man who (spoiler alert) is acquitted, has retired, and has nothing professionally to lose anymore. But between his over-honesty and a situation that goes from bad to worse, it's an intoxicating read.

While mainly a story covering terrible circumstances, it's also a story of how Byard rallies his spirits in his hardest moments, like spending time with his young grandson, and cherishing the friends and family that stuck with him through it. After the last few years we have all collectively had, I definitely related to him finding those little things that made him happy/at peace when surrounded by so much uncertainty and worry.

Do I believe his side of the story? Yes. He presents his case very factually and logically. He has his opinions, yes, but he also goes over a lot of concrete material and sources, and it's clear what is fact and what is opinion. And in the end, he was proven not guilty by a jury! I may have some confirmation bias, but his innocence in this matter felt well-supported and secure.

The Battle for Loudoun County is an entertaining read, a fable for how today's political climate can upend anyone's life. It's unfortunately an ever-increasing common occurrence. Check it out! It can be found in bookstores and online.

Monday, October 21, 2024

Recent Reads: "Dirt Don't Burn: A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation"

Image of the book cover of "A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation" (2023). It features a black and white photo of a Black woman standing in front of a wooden two-story structure.

I read a new-to-me book, Dirt Don't Burn: A Black Community's Struggle for Educational Equality Under Segregation, by Barry Harrelson and Larry Roeder. It came out last year, and it's all about education in Loudoun County, so it is the perfect thing to talk about here!

Dirt Don't Burn chronicles Black education in Loudoun County from the Civil War to the late 1960's, when the school system was forced to desegregate. It doesn't just cover education itself, but also the many facets that need to be met in order to have a thriving learning environment: health/sanitation, heating, nutrition, transportation, administration, funding, and teacher education. It also sheds light on the many sung and unsung heroes who championed the fight for better Black education, as well as the work, petitions, letters, and organizing those individuals accomplished.

This book was created by the Edwin Washington Project, a non-profit dedicated to documenting the impact of segregated education in Loudoun. They've done some fantastic work uncovering and preserving stories, data, and history that really hasn't been public knowledge. And this book demonstrates that. The Edwin Washington Project is a subsidiary of the Edwin Washington Society, which was created to foster non-partisan conversations about the value of diversity in modern society, usually with a history/preservation focus.

Back to the book. The book's emphasis is on Black education, but in order to truly explain the dichotomy between the separate education systems in Loudoun, white education also has to be defined, so it really is an overview of both. There is lots to glean from its pages, especially in the early years of public education in the county. This is a thorough book of information that explains the intricacies of Loudoun's early public education system and how it grew. I understand their scope was just covering segregation, but I wish their coverage of events continued beyond that point. While de jure segregation was put to an end, there are still areas of de facto segregation.

The Edwin Washington Society has said they have more books planned, so I look forward to seeing what they publish next. In the meantime, add Dirt Don't Burn to your reading list!

Dirt Don't Burn can be bought online in multiple places. It also is available at select bookstores around Loudoun County. I happened to find one at the Very Virginia Shop in Downtown Leesburg, and it turned out to be an autographed copy! Just goes to show, it never hurts to shop local!

Monday, August 19, 2024

Arcola School - 2024 Update

An image of the 1939 Arcola School at an angle. Sunshine is hitting the front of the one-story brick building with white trim. There are concrete stairs and a ramp going down from the elevated entrance. A bench sits to the right of the stairs on a concrete pad. A series of black wires reach out towards technological equipment on the building.

Where we last left the 1939 Arcola School in 2022, Loudoun's Board of Supervisors had voted to transfer the building and site over to Capretti Land Inc. contingent on a couple factors. Since then, the Board of Supervisors reviewed Capretti's rezoning application for the land in October 2023 and voted to approve it! Huzzah! As of now, the building is still owned by the County, so there are probably some other processes everyone is working through, but this is a great step towards the building's adaptive reuse.

Out of the board room, the school's condition is ... perhaps slightly better? Things I've noted here in previous posts have been addressed around the property. We love signs of continued maintenance! Let's take a look around...

Most of the spots where there were paint flaking have been repainted white, including the trim and front doors. It makes the façade look really sharp and less abandoned!

An image of the 1939 Arcola School, a one-story brick building with white trim. All the windows are boarded up. The grass on either side of the path leading to the school is mown.

Grass is mown, and other plants have been cut down around the building

Above the main entrance

Places where I had seen wood rot have been addressed. I'm not sure if the wood was replaced or covered over. Is this a band-aid fix until major renovation can occur? Either way, it looks so much better than it did two years ago.

An image looking up at the white trim molding on a corner of the brick 1939 Arcola School building. There is a white rain gutter, downpipe, and a couple miscellaneous wires around the corner.

An image of a side of the 1939 Arcola School, a one story brick building with white trim. There is one elevated entrance (doors boarded up) with stairs to the ground, and one window to the left of the doors. On the side borders are brick quoins.

Short end of the building

A detail image of a school bell of the 1939 Arcola School. It is painted white to match the trim it is against. Below it is the red brick of the school, along with a vertical series of brick quoins. I like the word quoins.

Old school bell

The backside of the building continues to be main target for vandalism and possible break-ins.

An image of the backside of the 1939 Arcola School. Windows are boarded up. The boards on the window closest to the left is fresh yellow-brown (newly placed), while most of the others are a faded brown. There are white blocks of paint on some of the boards. The ground is grassy around the school, then fades to a gray gravel parking lot.

An image of another section of the backside of the 1939 Arcola School. Most of the windows are boarded, but there is a square that is missing off the top of one. There is glass and wood surrounding the spot.

Recent window vandalism

An image of the 1939 Arcola outdoor stairs down into the basement. There is a black railing, a couple vine plants growing, and some miscellaneous trash.

Stairs to the basement

An image of an overhang structure above doors into the 1939 Arcola School auditorium. The doors are blocked off by a metal gate. The overhang is bordered by metal, but its underside is composed of white-painted wood that is rotting/falling down.

Deteriorating wood under an overhang into the auditorium

An image of another section of the backside of the 1939 Arcola School. Next to the brick building, there is asphalt, a couple vine plants growing, the broken remains of a chain-link fence, and a couple wooden boards in a pile.

The shed I looked at two years ago is now gone

Light bulb

An image of concrete, bordered by grass. In the concrete, there is some writing that was carved into it when it was freshly poured. It looks to say "D Furr, C McInto, D Harris, 11-11-02."

Some names scrawled into the concrete

In previous years, I had noted there was a whole fenced-off area on one side of the building that was severely overgrown. It's now all cut down! Sure, it's not much to look at, but it's better than it was!

An image peering over a fence along one side of the 1939 Arcola School. There is grass, dirt, and a hilly mound in the fenced-off area. On the brick school are more windows and a set of double doors, all boarded up, as well as stairs from the door to the ground.

The grounds' amenities continue to be limited, but in most cases, that's probably for the best while the site prepares for its future.

An image of a metal baseball backstop, metal bleachers, a water fountain with a pebble aggregate concrete base. Beyond the backstop is a grassy field, and then trees. One tree is next to the bleachers.

Baseball field with a grassy diamond

An image of a fenced off area full of short green vegetation. In the back are trees with green leaves. On the chain-link fence is a blue sign that says "Playground Closed."

The playground's play structures have all been removed now.

An image of two empty basketball courts next to each other. There are four metal basketball backboards, three of which have glassy backboards. The fourth is missing. There are no basketball hoops.

All the basketball hoops are gone

An image looking through the chain-link fence surrounding a tennis court. There are large cracks in the court, with tall weedy vegetation growing up through them.

The tennis courts are cracked and weedy

An image of a square wooden pavilion with a gable roof. There are five wooden picnic benches under the pavilion. Grass and trees surround the pavilion, while moss grows on the roof's wooden shingles.

The field pavilion is in pretty good shape

An image of a grassy field, bordered by trees.

The field

Well! After my last couple check-ins at the Sterling Annex building, it's nice to see maintenance and upkeep happening in a positive direction. Arcola's future looks bright, and hopefully its hardest struggle is behind it.

An angled image of the front of the 1939 Arcola School. In the foreground stretches the accessibility ramp from the front entrance. All the windows on the one-story brick building are boarded up.

SOURCES:

Loudoun Now: Old Arcola School Approved for Affordable Housing

Loudoun Times-Mirror: Housing development centered on historic Arcola school approved

Email Correspondence with Capretti Land, Inc - June 2024

Read other Arcola School Posts:
The Three Schools of Arcola (2011)
Arcola School - 2017 Update

Arcola School - 2019 Update

Arcola School - 2022 Update

Thursday, July 11, 2024

After Sterling Annex - 2024

A field with overgrown foliage grows around with a concrete cut right down the middle. In the distance are sport field light posts and parked vehicles.

In 2023, I thought I would only have one more Sterling Annex entry to write after its demolition, a nice little epilogue on the pocket park to memorialize the school. That prediction ended up being incorrect. I was in the area recently and decided to swing by, thinking maybe there would have been changes by now. But no, things look fairly similar to how I left them.

Since the Sterling School building's demolition, there really hasn't been any other activity on the site. It continues to be used primarily for extra car parking for the Lindsay Automotive fleet. I reached out to my contact with Lindsay, who told me there's been a few delays with the county in the process of building their detail facility and adjoining pocket park on the site. They're hoping to start construction by the end of the year.

So in this interim period between destruction and creation, I'm going to look around, see what looks interesting architecturally.

What remains on the site? Pretty much everything except the school building. As evidenced in the first photo, the front path that led up to the main entrance is still in place. It now leads to dirt and spindly grass. There are three piles of brick, most likely saved to be reused in the pocket park.

A patchy field with yellow, long grass. In the foreground is a pile of brick. Green trees are in the background.

School's out forever

There's some fun finds in the brick piles. One that warmed my heart was seeing a surviving section of a brick arch that used be above one of the side doors. No idea if it was over my favorite or its duplicate on the opposite side of the building.

A brick pile laying by pebbles and yellowing grass. In the foreground is a section of bricks still connected by mortar. The piece is intentionally curved.

Part of one of the brick arches!!

Close-up of the backside of a rusted bell in the brick pile. Some wires and machinery are visible.

Also found in a pile was a rusty school bell

This light pole that used to be in the middle of the parking lot is still there.

A light pole surrounded by four smaller faded-red poles. The weeds are mown down. In the background is a yellow field of grass and, further away, trees and larger foliage.

2024 light pole

Picture of a rundown brick building with overgrown plants. To the left is a light pole in a gravel parking lot. Grass is starting to grow through a portion of the gravel. Four little faded-red poles around the light pole's base are mostly obscured by weeds.

2023 pre-demo photo with the same light pole (left)

The baseball backstop and its infrastructure are untouched, still used as the main parking lot on the site.

Cars are parked next to a baseball backstop on both sides. The backstop is partially obscured by overgrowing foliage.

Baseball backstop and parked cars

Near the site's corner, the brush has been cut back so utility lines can be identified. This has also uncovered some of the wooden rail fence.

Some overgrown foliage that has been cut away next to a road. A graying wooden rance fence is partially visible. There are bright orange and red spray-painted lines and mark on the remaining foliage and road.

Finally, by the former playground, the forest continues to grow. The fence that surrounds that little area is still in place, but slowly disappearing behind the foliage.

Overgrown foliage. A line of stakes with rolled-down black plastic tarp runs diagonally from the view. On the right is a wooden post, partially obscured by foliage.

So, that's what you can find at Sterling this year. Not what I expected, but still interesting. I'll see you back here one last time (knock on brick?) next year.