Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) just had their board meeting for November. In this board meeting, they addressed various issues in LCPS that needed to be remedied. They revised policies 5170 and 8520. These policies both relate to problems that the youth of LCPS have been facing for some time now. Policy 5170 looks at substance abuse in the schools of LCPS and seeks to raise awareness for this issue. The policy itself was originally only looking at drugs and things of that nature, however, with this new update, students will be educated about the harmful effects of gambling as well. Policy 8520 looks at responses to bullying by teachers. Before this meeting, teachers would have to respond to alleged bullying incidents within five days of being notified. However, with this meeting came a revision to policy 8520 which states that the response will have to come within 24 hours. This is impactful because before this, teachers could treat bullying as an issue of lesser priority, but now, they are mandated by the county to respond as soon as they possibly can. These policies are important because bullying and gambling are both issues experienced by the youth of LCPS, and these revisions can seriously help any students who are suffering from the effects of these things.
“I really do believe that the policy for bullying should have been like this from the start,” Arya Rasooly, a sophomore at John Champe High School said. “I mean, it’s great that the board has implemented it now, and kids will be bullied less, but it should have been implemented long ago.”
