LCPS HISTORY TIMELINE ....................... (Continued from page 20)
1873
LCPS completes construction of 55 school buildings, most of which were one-room school houses.
1887-1888
LCPS had 5,405 students enrolled, but only 2,963 attended school. There were 117 schools in the school division with many of the one- and two-room variety.
1890s
The number of elementary schools in the district exceeds 100 before school division leaders begin a process of consolidation that would take decades to complete. The first high school classes are offered.
1909
By this time, three accredited high schools are operating in Leesburg, Lincoln and Waterford.
1911
Middleburg Elementary (now Charter School) opens.
1916
The number of high schools increases to a dozen before another consolidation process begins. This consolidation will reduce the number of high schools to four by 1944. LCPS has an enrollment of 4,598 students, but only 2,967 of those students are attending regularly in the absence of compulsory attendance legislation.
1916-1917
LCPS had 81 schools (many were one- and two-room) with 4,598 students enrolled (2,967 attending).
1917
Oscar Emerick becomes superintendent – a position he will hold for 41 years – at an annual salary of $1,800. The school division he leads has 78 schools, including 11 high schools, and a transportation system of five horsedrawn wagons. Emerick’s original office was in his home at the corner of Orchard and Main streets in Purcellville. He moved his office to a space above N.G. Miller’s Purcellville Pharmacy a year later. He remained there until moving to an office behind the Loudoun County Courthouse in 1935.
When the Loudoun Times-Mirror conducted a poll of the community to determine the most influential member of the community during the 20th century, Emerick was the choice.
1920
Emerick organizes the first centralized School Board.
1922
Emerick appoints his sister, Ruth, to become clerk of the school board, a position she would hold for the next 40 years. Besides Emerick, she was the School Board’s only employee.
1925
LCPS purchases its first motorized school buses.
1926
Lincoln Elementary opens.
1928
Aldie Elementary opens.
1940s
A full, 12-grade system began during this decade. There were 23 schools in Loudoun, serving an average enrollment of 4,059 students. The average school budget was $500,000. During the 1943-44 school year, the 121 teachers earned an average salary of $1,143. For the first time there was a salary scale for teachers and principals. Supplemental courses – including home economics, industrial arts and agriculture – were added to the curriculum. To heat schools during the early 1940s, $7,100 was spent to purchase 200 tons of “stove coal” and wood to heat two schools.
1941
Frederick Douglass High School opens in Leesburg, offering a threeyear program for African-American students. John Wanzer, representing a group calling themselves “colored citizens of Loudoun County,” presented the School Board a check for $4,000 on Dec. 6, 1940, to purchase the eight acres of land needed for the school’s construction. The first school buses made available to African-American students were purchased in 1941.
1947
Banneker Elementary opens.
1950s
The average budget was $1.3 million to serve an average student body of 4,881. Art and music were added to the budget. A master’s degree track was added to the salary scale. Workman’s compensation and Social Security appear for the first time as budget line items. Electricity was budgeted for, at a rate of 2 cents per kilowatt. LCPS sets aside $250 per year for textbooks for students who can’t afford them. This is 2 percent of the total textbook bill paid by parents. Virginia’s appropriation to Loudoun for school lunches was $16,000 for 1951-52. Seventeen LCPS schools participate in the federal lunch program at $1,029 per school.
1952
Hamilton Elementary opens.
1954
Loudoun County High School opens. It replaces four regional high schools: Aldie, Leesburg, Lincoln and Lovettsville. On September 14, 1954, the high school opened its doors to 979 students, housing grades eight through 12 (there were no middle schools at the time). At a cost of $1,170,745, it was the most expensive building project in the county. The school opened with the bare minimum of classrooms ready on time. The cafeteria, auditorium and gym opened at later dates.
1957
Clarence Bussinger becomes Superintendent of a school division of 5,156 students and an overall budget of $1.1 million. Base teacher pay in 1957 was $3,240.
1958
The original Douglass Elementary opens. Fred Drummond is the school’s first principal. Drummond was an LCPS principal for 36 years (1953-89). He finished his career with 18 years as the (Continued on page 22)
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