Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Joint Board of Supervisors and School Board Committee met on October 5, 2026, at the LCPS boardroom. The meeting covered public comments, co-chair reports on school and county activities, and two information items: the use of publicly owned property for attainable housing and the expansion of the Safe Passages to Schools program. The committee also voted to add adult personal enrichment education programs to its work plan.
Use of Publicly Owned Property for Attainable and Workforce Housing (Item 4.01)
Expansion of the Safe Passages to Schools Program (Item 4.02)
Good afternoon. I call to order this September 10th, 2026, Loudoun County School Board and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors joint committee meeting. Welcome everyone to the LCPS boardroom. We're happy to host the joint committee this afternoon, and we'll start today with public comments. I understand that we have two public speakers today. Thank you for engaging with the joint committee through the public comment process. We welcome comments from Loudoun County residents and believe that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system. Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted. Based on the number of speakers and the agenda this evening, all speakers have been allotted two minutes each for public comment. Please be advised that speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning and dignity of the joint committee at all times. Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, speaking at the podium or during a break. Shouting, heckling, jeering, applause, and other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting. These are considered violations of civility decorum and respect. Obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board and vice versa, interrupting speakers, attempting to speak when not called to do so by the chair, and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate, disparage, or distract a speaker, staff member, or other meeting attendees. Speakers should refrain from vulgarity, obscenities, defamation, profanity, and other like breaches of respect, nor may speakers target, criticize, or attack individual students and or individual division employees during public comment. As a reminder, school board policy 2520 states speakers may not target, criticize, or attack individual students during public comment. Speakers should communicate those concerns to their school principal or an appropriate school official. The school board requests that comments from on an individual student or employee related matter not be shared at public meetings where the disclosure could violate applicable confidentiality requirements. Speakers should uh direct their comments toward the committee. And please understand that the committee will not respond in any way directly to the public during the public comment uh period. Violations of decorum and civility by any meeting attendee may result in the chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting. Uh repeated or persistent violations of decorum civility by the audience may result in on the decision of the chair. Public comment being tabled to a later time in the meeting, limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room, or public comment ending for the evening. We do look forward to hearing your comments. Our first speech speaker today is Madeline Marlowe. And the next speaker is Susan Jones. Oh, uh we have online public comment today. Yep. Um is there a speaker here? Um, Miss Marlowe. Yes, this is Madeline Marlowe. Great. Uh the floor is yours. Excellent. Thank you so much for having me here today. Uh I'm here today to uh express my gratitude and also express urgency for the action item uh regarding the expansion of the safe passages to schools program. Uh I'm a lifelong Virginia resident. I've lived in Loudoun County for 10 years now, and I am a parent. Uh my son is zoned to atone uh to attend Newton Lee Elementary School in two years. I am so grateful that there is moving forward and attention uh and resources being dedicated to the uh safe passages to schools or safe to schools program. Uh I really wanted to come before the board to urge a comprehensive and holistic approach. Supervisor Turner and his staff might recognize my name from the uh hopefully polite nagging emails about the crosswalk request program that I heard about for Loudoun County in a separate context. I was delighted to see that that was included in the meeting materials for today. I urge the board, both the board of supervisors and the school board to take a comprehensive comprehensive, holistic approach for this, not just for the probably minority of students who will walk to school for 180 days per year, but for the entire community that will use pedestrian infrastructure for 365 days per year. A street that works for an eight-year-old works for an 80-year-old. And I am completely fine with safe passages to school being the way that we target and prioritize the investment in our community.