A Swimming Pool at School?

Is there a pool down there? (Nope)

   There were always the rumors: "There's a pool in the basement" or "The Auxiliary Gym's floor is retractable and there's a pool underneath." * These were spread around my high school to the new freshmen. But what if a school really did have a pool?


   Well, at one time, there was talk about just that.

   While looking through files and files, one folder title jumped out at me: "Pools in Schools." Only two pages inside, a map and an information item from a School Board meeting.

   Let's briefly set the stage: It was the late 90's. Eastern Loudoun's population was growing immensely, yet the closest public pool was at Ida Lee in Leesburg.

   In 1999, Parks and Rec teamed up with the school system to come up with plans for a new public aquatic center. It would be connected to the school that eventually became River Bend MS. The aquatic center would be placed on the back of the gyms. The gyms would also be a shared facility with the school and PRCS, much like how Douglass School's gym space is shared with the school and community center.

   The file I found states that the Board of Supervisors would review this plan on their next meeting, and were "expected to vote on inclusion of these facilities as part of the November voter referendum for general obligation bond funding."

   For whatever reason, when River Bend MS opened in 2002, it did not include an aquatic center. With the opening of Claude Moore Recreation Center, there is currently not much need for a pool. For now, the idea sits in a filing cabinet, ready to be called on if the need ever springs up again.


   I hope you are having a merry 6th day of Hanukkah/Christmas today! (Happy Kwanzaa tomorrow!)
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* Which I did believe for a while. I was part of the first freshman class at LCHS after its 2005-2006 renovation, and the just-opened Auxiliary Gym smelled like chlorine for its first month.

Frederick Douglass Elementary School Update

As promised, I came home for Thanksgiving and did a walk-around of the Douglass ES property. Here's what it looks like now:

WOAH! There's a whole new building!

Half picture of school, half ad for Porta Potties!

This is where the sports field will go

The view from Plaza Street

Above, they are moving the stream underground. This was the stream from this summer:

Now back to the present:

I even found a little bit of the old Douglass!

LCPS Construction Dept. has a powerpoint online to view the monthly progress of all of their current build projects. Here is the one for FDES.


Other Douglass ES articles from this site:
Frederick Douglass Elementary School
Douglass Demo Mid-July Update

North Street Update

North Street, picture from July 25, 2011

   Being 3-4 hours away, it's hard to stay in-the-know on things. Luckily, there's this thing called the internet.

   I am really looking forward to North Street reopening. The last word I heard before summer ended was that it was opening "this fall." There hasn't been much buzz online yet. BUT I contacted Parks and Rec, and they said "The grand opening will be held on Saturday, October 22, at 10 a.m. The building will be operational beginning Monday, October 17."

   Exciting times! I'll be going home for Thanksgiving, so I will have a full report of North Street when I'm back!

Auditorium under construction
Picture from July 25, 2011

Middleburg - 100 years

   This past weekend was Middleburg Elementary School's 100 year anniversary celebration. While I was not able to attend, I am very proud and happy for this school. The LCPS website wrote a wonderful little article on the celebration (which you can view here [no longer available]). I'd recommend you check it out. It might just be my browser, but I wish I could make their picture slideshow bigger.

   I wish the school and the community that loves it another outstanding 100 years of education!

   On a different note, my university (Christopher Newport University) has been celebrating its 50th Anniversary this month as well.

  Here's another, this one favors history over pretty aerial shots.

Last Day

   Today was my last day of my internship. It was very bittersweet. I met a lot of nice people, had a lot of fun, and, of course, learned a lot. I hope everyone who has read this blog has as well.

   And now, it's time to let the stats roll!

   In total there were 121 page views. My second blog post "Frederick Douglass Elementary School" actually had the most page views. People stumbled onto my page from search keywords such as "frederick douglass elementary school leesburg va," "layout for new frederick douglass elementary school leesburg," and "frederick douglass elementary school location leesburg"

   Most of the viewers were from the USA. 3 people from Germany visited the blog (Guten Tag!), One person from South Korea found the page, and then one day, five people/views from the UK stumbled onto my page for some reason.

   The most common operating system was Windows (85%). Mac was in second place with 8%, while the rest (Mac, Blackberry, Other Unix, Android, and iPod) were under 10% each. The most common internet browser was Internet Explorer (57%). Firefox was at 28%, Chrome was at 10%, then Mobile, Safari, and Mobile Safari made up less than 3%.

    I do have a couple of blogs in draft, and they will (hopefully) be posted, just not on a schedule. Again, thank you for joining me.

Lincoln Elementary School

   This blog has mostly covered schools that are no longer schools. In my defense, those schools have a lot of history, with twists and turns in their lives. But Loudoun County Public Schools still does have many old operating schools that have just as much history, so I'm going to switch it up today.

   Here is the elementary school I'm crushing on, Lincoln Elementary School. It's old, it's small, it's wonderful. It was love at first sight.

   Lincoln was the first state accredited high school in Loudoun County. It opened in 1908. For a time, it served all grades. When it became overcrowded, the elementary school students were moved to an older school building.

Lincoln High School, 1908 - 1926
Framed photo displayed at the school.

   On April Fool's Day, 1926, there was a fire that burned down the building. The school building was rebuilt to the present building and opened that same year in time for fall classes.

Lincoln School, present day.
Framed photo displayed at the school.

   In 1954, Lincoln was one of the four regional high schools that became elementary schools with the opening of the consolidated Loudoun County High School.

   Lincoln has remained virtually unchanged since then. Two cottages have been added outside the school, security cameras and computers have been added, but other than those, it remains a charming school establishment

The main room/gym/cafeteria/auditorium

Behind the stage is the Library, but also a movable wall
(hasn't been moved in years) so you can extend your stage space

I love the ceiling!

The backside of the school

Lincoln's schoolyard (I visited the school last winter)

  

   Unfortunately, it's one of our county's schools (along with Aldie and Middleburg) that have consistently low enrollment numbers, and it's sometimes suggested to close it down. I worry about it, but I'm glad for the time being that it continues to be open for education.

Sources:
Lincoln ES bookmark - 1926 Fire news article
Lincoln ES 2010 - 2011 handbook
Loudoun Times-Mirror - 6/13/1954 "Lincoln School Closing Marks End of an Era" by Howard T. Brown
Framed historic photos from Lincoln ES

Union Street School

What do you call a school with at least six different names?

Let's count the ways:
Loudoun Training School
Leesburg Training School
Loudoun County High School
Douglass Elementary School
Loudoun County Training School
Leesburg Industrial School

   I myself have given it a few more nicknames, calling it The white Black School on Union Street, or just plain Union Street.
   It's a headache, so say the least. (For this blog's purposes, I'm going to call it Union Street)

   Welcome to Union Street. In 1962, a brick admin building was built on the property, but before that, it was the site of Leesburg's black school. Let's first walk around the site.

The one story wing was built at a later date, I don't know when.

Only the windows on the front aren't boarded up.

The backyard, sporting great views of the cemetery

   Union Street was built approximately 1884. A Training School (as one of its names) was a derogatory term applied to black schools, saying it wasn't really a school but a training school, not in the same league as a white school. It was Loudoun's only black school that taught secondary education when it began offering the level in the 1910's (which is probably around the time it received the name Loudoun County High School. How does it compare with the originally white-only Loudoun County High School of 1954?)

   The building had no indoor bathrooms. There was an outhouse (now demolished). There was no cafeteria, no auditorium, and no library. It housed five classrooms. Its school equipment, especially for science, was lacking. The school was also a death trap.

"...the window opening on the fire escape does not even have sash cords, and the oil soaked floor and open oil drum under the steps leading to the second floor constitute a veritable death trap in case of fire."
                                      - Charles H. Houston letter to Superintendent Emerick, 3/16/1940

   The parents pushed and pushed for a new school. When Douglass HS opened in 1941, the high school students moved out...but the elementary school students stayed. Union Street was renamed Douglass ES. The conditions did not improve. In 1958, when the new Douglass ES was built, this facility finally closed as a school.

   For a few years, it was used by the National Guard, during which time toilets were installed in the basement. I don't know when they moved out or much about what Union Street was used for afterwards. Currently, the building is mostly empty, being used for a little bit of storage.

   One of my goals this summer working here was to get into this building. And it happened! Would you like to take a look inside?

Look! Electricity! It has life!

The Basement bathroom

Storage of old things

It was surprisingly clean in this room

Old Lights

   On the second floor:

A close-up on the door: "A little shove will do it"

   And, the lovely staircase:

   I like it. It's sad to see it like this. I wish a use could be found for this. It's sort of away from the epicenter of downtown Leesburg, so it's not in the best spot in the world (plus, it's next to the cemetery, that's always a bonus, right?). It would need a big renovation if it was ever to be used publicly again. I know what I'd do with it. Why not turn it into a LCPS history museum and offices? Blue sky idea, but it's historic enough and it doesn't have to be big.

   In 2003 during a school board meeting, it was recommended to give future consideration to Union Street in a "lease agreement to the County of Loudoun or Town of Leesburg for governmental/historic use." I don't know what was said or what actions were taken; or it is possible nothing happened, that it was forgotten about. The building sits.

   Geraline Johnson (a Union Street teacher who is still alive) said in a recent interview about Douglass ES (1958) that she would like if the building was used like the Second Street one-room schoolhouse in Waterford, a place where children could learn how school used to be and about segregation. Unlike one room schoolhouses, Union Street has five rooms, which could give it multiple uses.

   So if you have a couple of million of dollars to spare...
What would you do with Union Street?


Sources:
Geraline J Johnson interview (2011) for Frederick Douglass ES
Douglass HS 50th Anniversary booklet (1991)
"Piedmont Stories: Leesburg Teacher's Career Spanned Two Eras" from the Washington Post, 9/20/2009
"High Schools Once Flourished Across Area"  - Eugene Scheel, Washington Post, 9/21/2003
Charles H. Houston letter to Superintendent Emerick, 3/16/1940

A special thank you to Sara Howard O'Brien!!

Whoops!

I took a very relaxing break from the blog.

Unfortunately, I'm going back to college next week, so this is my last week at LCPS, and the last week I'll be posting regularly. I don't know what my plans are, but I might have a few blog posts that I'll post at a later date. It's seemed like it's been such a short time!

In other news, Borders Bookstore is closing:

 And... their Invisibility Cloaks are 20% off.