Mansfield Re-Elected Loudoun School Board Chair, New Vice Chair Chosen

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — At the Loudoun County School Board's organizational meeting on Thursday, Dulles District representative Melinda Mansfield was re-elected as chair.

At-large representative Anne Donohue was elected as vice chair. Donohue replaces Sterling District representative Arben Istrefi as vice chair.

Algonkian District's April Chandler was selected as the was elected as the board's representative to the Virginia School Boards Association. The Catoctin District's Kari LaBell, who was the previous delegate in 2024, will serve as the alternate.

This is the second year of a completely new school board. In the last year, some of the notable items the school board worked on were a collective bargaining ordinance, a process to consider name changes for nine schools, restricting cell phone towers on school properties, stricter cell phone guidelines for students during the school day, and adjusting the school calendar to meet new teacher professional development requirements. The school board also changed the admissions policy for the district's career and technical academy by adding a lottery for in-demand programs.

One controversy the school board faced was the ending of a public comment period when a gun storage safety resolution was being discussed. Several speakers mentioned WJLA's reported claim of an armed student who threatened a student in 2023 at a Loudoun County middle school and is now attending a high school. LCPS cited protecting individual students' private information as a reason for Mansfield ending the public comment.

There was also controversy over Ashburn District representative member Deana Griffiths publicly commenting on the school board's evaluation of Superintendent Aaron Spence. The school board decided not to discipline Griffiths.

At the organizational meeting, the school board approved its 2025 meeting calendar. The school board will continue with 4:30 p.m. meetings on second and fourth Tuesdays. The board chair has the authority to reschedule dates and times of school board meetings.

The next school board meeting is 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 14. The meeting agenda will be posted by 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 10.