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JUNE 5, 2014
NUMBER 52
Educa t io n
VOLUME 7
Sports
Dulles Access Loudoun, Meet Dr. Williams Community Gets To Know First New Road Future: Schools Superintendent In 23 Years More Study L if e s t yle s
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Cla ss if ie d
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he polarized community debate over the Virginia Department of Transportation’s plans to build a new western access road to Dulles Airport was on full display Monday, but the outcome may hinge on a new study. The Board of Supervisors’ public input session at Briar Woods High School Monday night drew about 60 people who expressed concerns the project would impact their neighborhoods and businesses. Most comments focused on whether the proposed Dulles Air Cargo, Passenger, and Metro Access Highway should be built in the median of Rt. 50 or in a new alignment along the Broad Run south of Brambleton. Unsurprisingly, Brambleton residents have pushed for the Rt. 50 alignment, while those living in neighborhoods like South Riding, Stone Ridge and Kirkpatrick Farms along Rt. 50 have touted the northern route. However, many speakers said the debate should not be pitting neighborhood against neighborhood, but focus on which option is best for Loudoun County as a whole. “This was never about Brambelton vs. South Riding,” Brian Viola, vice president of the Brambleton Community Association said in the first comment of the evening. “I would hope you would help tamp that down. Somehow this got out of control. It is really about a road and people’s opinions of a road, not about neighborhoods.” Those in favor of the Rt. 50 route have said it more closely follows the county’s Countywide Transportation Plan, which already calls for interchanges at major intersections along the road, and would require taking much less private property. But those who live and work along Rt. 50 say they could not tolerate several more years of construction that make their commutes unbearable already, and that the land through which the northern route would be built already is planned for development that would have significant environmental impacts.
s they stand side by side, one difference is obvious. Retiring Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick stands almost a full foot above Eric Williams, who will step in to Loudoun’s top education job in three weeks. But how their leadership styles, and vision for the school division, compare is yet to be seen. During a quick, two-day stop in Loudoun last week, Williams acknowledged that he has big shoes to fill, figuratively speaking. His wife asked him if he was crazy when he first told her he was considering following the longest serving superintendent in the region. “I have a habit of doing this,” following experienced and respected superintendents,” he said. Just six years ago, he was tasked with filling another set of big shoes when he took over as superintendent of York County School Division, following Steve Staples. Staples was Virginia’s second longest serving superintendent in one division, only behind Hatrick, and he was recently named Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction. “It really is an honor to come to such a high-performing school division, and it’s an honor to follow an exemplary superintendent like Dr. Hatrick,” Williams said. “My wife may call me crazy, but I’m excited about the chance.” With Hatrick as his tour guide, Williams got a glimpse of Loudoun last Wednesday and Thursday. He stopped in at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, for which he will serve as the school division’s liaison, and ate breakfast with county leaders during County Chairman Scott K. York’s (R-At Large) annual State of the County address. “It’s been a good two days,” Williams said when Leesburg Today caught up with him. “I’ve been incredibly impressed with the strong sense of pride the community has in the schools and the level of civic engagement.”
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