{"id":508027,"date":"2024-05-13T10:35:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T14:35:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/?p=508027"},"modified":"2024-05-13T12:48:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T16:48:18","slug":"how-superintendent-aaron-spence-is-transforming-loudouns-educational-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/family\/education\/2024\/05\/13\/how-superintendent-aaron-spence-is-transforming-loudouns-educational-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"How Superintendent Aaron Spence Is Transforming Loudoun\u2019s Educational Landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Aaron Spence took his <a href=\"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/family\/education\/2023\/06\/05\/aaron-spence-new-loudoun-county-superintendent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new post in September<\/a> as the leader of a school system that had drawn national headlines for its <a href=\"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/culture\/news\/2023\/02\/15\/loudoun-county-schools-wont-release-internal-report-on-sexual-assaults\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">handling of sexual assault cases<\/a> and heated debates about hot-button issues. Now, nearing the end of his first school year with Loudoun County Public Schools, he says he\u2019s listening to the community and building a relationship with a school board that began its work in January. He talked with us about his work so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-you-started-at-a-time-when-there-have-been-some-difficult-issues-in-loudoun-how-have-you-dealt-with-that\">You started at a time when there have been some difficult issues in Loudoun. How have you dealt with that?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the things I committed to with this board was to really listen and learn from our community about what their concerns are and work to be very transparent. I\u2019ve been really trying to be visible, build relationships in the community, with parents, with our staff \u2014 visiting schools, getting to know key leaders in the community and members of our business community, and just really working hard to reestablish some trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-do-you-hear-most-often-from-educators-and-parents-we-have-a-community-that-really-supports-its-schools-and-really-is-invested-in-our-school-division\">What do you hear most often from educators and parents? We have a community that really supports its schools and really is invested in our school division.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So mostly, what I\u2019m hearing with regards to the other conversation [about controversies] is, people are tired of it. They\u2019re tired of the politics around it and they want our school division to get out of the news and only be there for the great things that it\u2019s known for, which is great teaching, high performance, and lots and lots of opportunities for the kids that we serve.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Aaron-Spence-Photo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-508037\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Courtesy Loudoun County Public Schools<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-do-you-see-the-role-of-a-parent-in-education\">How do you see the role of a parent in education?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been an educator for nearly 30 years, and parents have always been our first and best partners in the educational experience. Parents are their children\u2019s first teachers. They always have been, they always will be. And our job is to partner on a daily basis with our parents, because our parents know who their children are \u2014 they know their strengths and their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-do-you-see-the-effects-of-the-pandemic-lingering\">How do you see the effects of the pandemic lingering?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>So many people, all they want to focus on is what was lost and what I\u2019m wanting to focus on is where we\u2019re going and about the comeback that public education has seen. And that\u2019s important as a distinction because I hear all the time, \u2018Your test scores have dropped.\u2019 Well, of course, they dropped. The question now is &#8230; where do we go from here? How do we improve? And that kind of persistence and resilience is what I\u2019m seeing in our schools. And that\u2019s what we should be talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-loudoun-county-has-been-making-an-effort-to-help-kids-with-mental-health-challenges-tell-us-about-that\">Loudoun County has been making an effort to help kids with mental health challenges. Tell us about that.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a significant push in Loudoun County to provide the kinds of supports that our students need. Some of that is through staffing. So, making sure that students have access to school counselors, to school psychologists, to social workers, to student assistant specialists. We\u2019ve heard a lot of people say, \u2018It\u2019s not the school\u2019s job to provide mental health to my child.\u2019 Well, I would say it is our job to help students who are struggling with mental health issues by partnering with their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Feature image of Aaron Spence courtesy Loudoun County Public Schools<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>This story originally ran in our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/in-this-issue\/in-this-issue-may-2024\/\">May&nbsp;issue<\/a>. For more stories like this,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.secure.darwin.cx\/I34AWEBN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subscribe<\/a>&nbsp;to Northern Virginia Magazine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loudoun County\u2019s superintendent reflects on his first school year with the system.","protected":false},"author":1002002,"featured_media":508036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41333],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Aaron Spence on First Year as Loudoun County Superintendent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Loudoun County\u2019s school superintendent, Aaron Spence, chats about his first year. 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