Loudoun to Redraw School Zones
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Building Freeze Prompts Change
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Facing budget constraints that will delay school construction, Loudoun County officials might have to redraw the attendance boundaries of as many as 34 schools to alleviate crowding, Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III said last week.
Citing the county's fiscal troubles and the difficulty of floating new bonds, the Loudoun Board of Supervisors has told the school system not to expect approval of any building project next fiscal year.
That freeze, coupled with ongoing school construction delays linked to land-use issues, means school officials will have to redraw many attendance zones for the 2009-10 academic year to prevent student crowding from getting worse, Hatrick told the School Board on Tuesday.
Changing Attendance Zones
These are the 34 schools whose attendance boundaries might be shifted next fall to relieve crowding, according to Loudoun County school officials. Any proposed changes would be subject to public hearings before a vote by the School Board, they said.
- Elementary Schools: Creighton's Corner, Legacy, Mill Run, Cedar Lane, Belmont Station, Newton-Lee, Seldens Landing, Ball's Bluff, Catoctin, Cool Spring, Evergreen Mill, Frances Hazel Reid, John W. Tolbert Jr., Leesburg, Sycolin Creek, Emerick, Hamilton, Hillsboro, Lincoln, Mountain View and Round Hill.
- Middle Schools Mercer, Stone Hill, Belmont Ridge, Eagle Ridge, Farmwell Station, Harper Park, J. Lupton Simpson and Smart's Mill.
- High Schools Briar Woods, Broad Run, Stone Bridge, Heritage and Loudoun County.
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Hatrick made the comments as he presented his proposed five-year school construction plan to the board. The plan would delay the previous timeline for 16 construction projects by a year, including four projects totaling $157.8 million that school officials had wanted to undertake next year: a new high school in Ashburn, new elementary schools in the Leesburg and Dulles areas and renovations at Park View High.
The plan "is in some ways the most difficult [capital improvement program] I've had to present," Hatrick said, "because we're working on so many variable levels with so many sources of funding."
School officials project continued enrollment growth despite the economic downturn and the slowdown in housing construction, in part because existing Loudoun families continue to get bigger, said Sam Adamo, director of planning and legislative services for the school system. His office expects that the school district, still by far the region's fastest growing, will increase from 57,000 students this year to almost 72,000 in 2013.
"We will still be growing for over a decade," Adamo said. "There are going to be a series of boundary changes that are going to occur at all levels" if the School Board approves them.
Among the possible boundary adjustments described by school officials: Legacy and Mill Run elementaries would send students to Creighton's Corner Elementary; Newton-Lee and Seldens Landing elementaries would send students to Cedar Lane and Belmont Station elementaries; some students at Mercer Middle would move to Stone Hill Middle; and some students from Briar Woods, Broad Run, Stone Bridge, Heritage and Loudoun County high schools might be shifted to Tuscarora High in Leesburg when it opens in fall 2010.
Elementary and middle school boundaries in the Leesburg area also might shift to distribute students more equally there, officials said.
Hatrick also outlined a strategy for addressing student crowding in Western Loudoun if Woodgrove High near Purcellville, which is the focus of a protracted legal battle between the county and town, does not open by fall 2010.
Under his contingency plan, Kenneth W. Culbert Elementary would open as scheduled next fall but as an annex to Harmony Intermediate instead of as an elementary school. Grades six to eight would be at Harmony and Culbert, and Blue Ridge Middle would be used as a second campus for Loudoun Valley High for grades nine to 12.
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- Nov. 12, 2008 -- Slowdown Means Redrawing Schools Boundaries, Says Hatrick
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Purcellville officials have objected to the Woodgrove site, saying the county has not done enough to address the school's impact on traffic and utilities. County and town officials are in settlement talks, but it remains unclear whether a resolution is close. Adamo said Friday that he fears that after Tuscarora High opens in Leesburg in 2010, the next high school opening might not occur until 2013.
The School Board also voted 6 to 3 Tuesday to direct Hatrick to prepare several versions of the proposed 2010 operating budget that anticipate local funding cuts of 15, 10 and 5 percent, a no-growth budget and a budget that incorporates all programs Hatrick deems necessary. Members Thomas E. Reed (At Large), Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) and Tom Marshall (Leesburg) voted against the measure.
Board Vice Chairman John Stevens (Potomac), who proposed the measure, said it would provide "strategic guidance to the superintendent" and would help supervisors understand the impact of funding the school system at various levels.
But Reed said that supervisors had already directed the school system to prepare budgets at those levels, and he called the discussions on Stevens's proposal an opportunity for "grandstanding."
"Is there something in this motion that Dr. Hatrick has not agreed to previously?" Reed asked.
"Nothing," Hatrick replied.
Tagged: Board of Supervisors, budget, construction, Economy, education, Purcellville, school board
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Lousy county residents don't want to raise taxes to build schools so they will get what they deserve, overcrowded classes.
Posted by mortified469 (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 5:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
my college classes had more than 300 students. Class size isn't the end of the eductation world.
Posted by jklaw (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 6:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Parents have been screaming to redraw boundaries for years. Students living directly across or next to a school end up bussed to a school miles away because the boundaries were never revisited when new schools opened. Redrawing boundaries throughout the county would give a SAVINGS of millions in transportation costs. They also need to charge for after school activity buses and cut out those freebie rides to practices all summer for football players. That is ridiculous!
Posted by GenuineRisk (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 7:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Class size may not be important to college students but, it is ignorant to not understand that elementary students need low student to teacher ratios to help ensure the quality of their education.
Posted by upnightz (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 7:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To equate an elementary school class with a college class of 300 students is like comparing apples and oranges. One has nothing to do with the other. Under the writer's thinking Loudoun county could just build large auditoriums and put one class in each room. How ridculous is that!
Posted by jeanhecht (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 8:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
just keep bringing liberals into Loudoun County, and it becomes just like where they came from like Fairfax County and Montgomery County Maryland. Loudoun is becoming the next Fairfax County. This is very bad.
This is the same effect that New Mexico and Colorado experienced in the presidential election...all the Californians moved to NM and CO to escape the high CA taxes. So they vote their liberal agendas into the new states, and then NM and CO become like CA. And then they will move to the next place that have lower taxes and conservatives in elected office.
Posted by jim000122 (anonymous) on November 15, 2008 at 8:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Loudoun County Public Schools tout themselves as "the fastest growing county in the nation", but they haven't kept up with this quaint advertisement. Everything is a mess, not just the schools. The personnel office is a fiasco, they don't know who they've hired or when, potential teachers receive job offers but no contracts, so go elsewhere, teacher aides are barely paid a living wage because King Hatrick has publically stated "you can find those on any street corner" Morale is lower than dirt among all employees. And the students suffer. There is no planning. It is time for Hatrick to step down. Hint, it's not a one high school county any more. Go sit in one of the many overcrowded trailers, Mr. Hatrick, at Loudoun Valley HS. Walk through the hallways during breaks. It is beyond shameful.
Posted by kris2 (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, and let's not forget the email sent to schools after the tragic Amish school shootings a couple years ago from the spokesperson, Mr. Byard. To wit, "news media, specifically Fox News, has been nosing around Montgomery County Schools checking on security. We can expect the same from them here. So be sure to keep outside entrances locked for the "next few days" so they don't spot anything. There have been 2 gun in schools over the past two years. No security whatsoever. Yup, the students are a priority? NOT!
Posted by kris2 (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We have limited resources. We are a lot poorer than last year. Our collective wealth has plummeted 25% with declines in the stock market and our real estate values. 70%+ of the county budget is spent on schools. We can spend money on constructing new school buildings or on teachers but not both. We can't borrow our way out of the current problem and leave it for the next generation because the credit markets are frozen after the subprime mess (which coincidentally fueled Loudoun's growth.) We must be more efficient in our use of existings infastructure (i.e. boundary changes) so there is money for teachers of everyone's favorite academic programs. The party's over and we don't have to be happy about our hangover, but its time to get financially sober.
Posted by EdwardMyers (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 11:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Understand Park View High School still has the original circa 1980 science classrooms. Park View is the only school in Loudoun County with obsolete science classrooms. It is a shame and a disgrace. I request that all the School Board Members, and Board of Supervisors, take a tour of PVHS science classrooms and when PVHS doesn't make AYP in science you will know why. Shame on Dr. Hatrick and the Loudoun Board of Supervisors for even considering delaying science classroom renovations at Park View another year.
Another thing, Loudoun Valley deserves the trailers and overcrowding. How long, and at what expense, did Purcellville fight a new Western Loudoun County High School.
Posted by waxtraxs (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 4:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Since the town of Purcellville insists on spending it's tax dollars to fight education, in terms of the above mentioned lawsuits fighting a needed and approved high school, let's see how they like it when they start bussing their students to Ashburn and Leesburg for school, so that students in Round Hill, Hamilton, Lovettsville, etc, don't have to go any farther. Let's make EVERY student commute at least 10-15 miles for school. That should make it fair.
Education shouldn't be bent, but there are probably some other "free" programs in the county that can go, or at least be charged for. Everybody's income is down, so the county's will be as well. Let's tighten our belts, and start prioritizing. Public safety and education need to be tops. Other stuff: back seat.
Posted by cnewport (anonymous) on November 16, 2008 at 9:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Unfortunately, newport, 'education' is too broad a topic. To some Entitlement Mentality parents, 'education' means no more than X miles to school, X number of extra-curricular programs offered, X number of students per classroom etc.
Folks, I'm sure that having class sizes of five, building enough schools that everyone could walk, and offering unicorn breeding as an elective are great things to strive for, but NOT DURING A RECESSION. Some just don't get it. Some Entitlement Mentality parents demand more services, or scream bloody murder when the thought of cutting something comes along, but then refuse to pay for it.
I'm sorry the science room at Park View doesn't have a mass spectrometer for kids to play with, but at least they have classrooms and books.
Posted by Hoqenishy (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sorry the science room at Park View doesn't have a mass spectrometer for kids to play with, but at least they have classrooms and books. -Posted by Hoqenishy
Your kids obviously don't attend PVHS. The science classroom renovations do not include a "mass spectrometer." The renovations however do include fixing the disparity between PVHS science classrooms and the rest of Loudoun County High Schools. I am confident if PVHS was in Ashburn this inequality would never have occurred. It is unfortunate that the Park View students suffer because it is not a mostly white affluent school. Again, shame on Dr. Hatrick and the Loudoun Board of Supervisors for even considering delaying science classroom renovations at Park View another year.
Posted by waxtraxs (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 10:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This should be a vote. I have lost all confidence in the School board and the leadership.
Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
waxtraxs and cnewport. The County expected the Town to pay for road improvements to manage over 7,000 students(more students than Town residents) attending the 7 public schools w/in less than a mile from the Town. I don't think there is a similar concentration anywhere in the County. Why should the Town taxpayers be expected to pay for all that? I live miles away but I sympathize. The venom you assume against thousands of kids for the County's poor planning and arrogance, and the Town taxpayers saying "enough", shows your utter lack of compassion and could come back to bite you one day. I won't take your track, I hope PVHS gets the labs it deserves.
Posted by stinger (anonymous) on November 17, 2008 at 10:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No student in a county like Loudoun should be stuffed in a trailer. Shame on those who take their anger out on children.
Thank you Mr. Hatrick, for my "teacher appreciation" gift this year: A large clear plastic desk thingy that holds posty notes. Emblazoned with "Loudoun County Public Schools" and sent with bright yellow card stock letter that LCPS does not deem "recylable". This little "gift" is slightly less useful than the dribble travel coffee mug of past years, but what did this crap cost? Better nothing than cheesy things that are simply a reminder of a man who has been there too long. I sent mine back.
Posted by kris2 (anonymous) on November 18, 2008 at 5:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The school superintendent should be an elected post, not a kingdom like it is now. Hatrick and his greedy band of hooligans need to be swept out.
Posted by GenuineRisk (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 10:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just what we need - another elected official who is subject to political pressure from those who elected him/her. Yes, yes, we need to politicize the education system.
Posted by momof2 (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 7:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"just keep bringing liberals into Loudoun County, and it becomes just like where they came from like Fairfax County and Montgomery County Maryland. Loudoun is becoming the next Fairfax County. This is very bad."
maybe if you're a moron, it's bad. Fairfax and Montgomery have some of the finest public schools in the nation.
"And then they will move to the next place that have lower taxes and conservatives in elected office."
I guess that means there are more liberals than conservatives, eh? Oh well, that's democracy at work. Your losing streak will continue.
Posted by koolkat_1960 (anonymous) on January 5, 2009 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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