Loudoun Now for June 3, 2021

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n LOUDOUN

Pg. 4 | n LEESBURG

VOL. 6, NO. 27

Pg. 6 | n PUBLIC SAFETY

Pg. 10 | n OBITUARIES

Pg. 12 | n PUBLIC NOTICES

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JUNE 3, 2021

LCPS Webcast

Leesburg Elementary School teacher Tanner Cross speaks to the School Board May 25.

Suspended Teacher Sues for Reinstatement BY HAYLEY MILON BOUR

Byron “Tanner” Cross, the Leesburg Elementary School physical education teacher who was put on administrative leave after speaking against the School Board’s model policy for transgender students, filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to be reinstated to his position. Cross was placed on paid administrative leave on May 27, two days after he cited religious grounds for his objections to model policy 8040, which gained widespread attention. The policy mandates “LCPS staff shall allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence.” Virginia state law requires all CROSS continues on page 39

Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now

During the first in-person meeting in more than a year, the School Board on Tuesday night found more supporters than critics in the small crowd.

School Board Battles ‘Misinformation’ Over Equity Efforts BY HAYLEY MILON BOUR & NORMAN K. STYER

After months of attack by critics charging that the division has embraced critical race theory, the School Board on Tuesday held a special workshop to provide an update on its equity initiatives designed to tamp down the growing culture

war playing out each month in its meeting room. “LCPS is not indoctrinating students using critical race theory. Critical race theory is not a part of the curriculum,” said Interim Superintendent Scott Ziegler, to punctuate the workshop, held under the title of “A Path Forward Together.”

For months, board members have been dealing with a torrent of complaints over racial education in schools, most of which, Ziegler said, has been based on misinformation, rumors and even fabrications. CRT began as a broad set of ideas about racial inequity in academia nearly 40

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