We Get an Answer Tonight!

From the Agenda under Information Items:

The School Board and the Board of Supervisors agreed to fund engineering and design studies to explore locations for an elementary school (ES-22), a middle school (MS-6), and a high school (HS-8). Staff was tasked with the following assignments:

1. Locate an elementary school on the County-owned Farmwell property;
2. Construct a middle school on the Newton-Lee Elementary School site (with and without the additional five acres of land from Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, NVRPA);
3. Convert Belmont Ridge Middle School to a high school.

Professional architectural and engineering consultants have prepared a comprehensive report on the aforementioned tasks that will be shared with the public at the meeting.

Put a High School Here!

Remember the boundary war over Stone Bridge High School that ended with Freshman in Lansdowne going to Tuscarora until a new high school could be located and built? Remember how the Board of Supervisors is funding studies to see where schools in the north Ashburn area might go. Remember how these studies require outside consultants to tell us what, in some cases, is obvious - like the feasibility of turning Belmont Ridge Middle School into a high school is nil?

Put a high school here: One Loudoun!
The following articles each report that the One Loudoun property is in foreclosure and going to auction.

http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2010/09/16/news/9534toneloudoun091610.txt

http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/one_loudoun_facing_foreclosure999/

Maybe we (the taxpayers) could get a deal!

Thoughts on the LCPS Budget

I have kept myself informed on this year's budget process as it has bounced back and forth between the Loudoun County School Board and the Board of Supervisors. I have either watched the proceedings live or on the webcast and have read the local papers and many of the local blogs. In my opinion, this article in Leesburg Today is the best summary of the most recent School Board meeting.

And here are my thoughts, in no particular order, on what has and hasn't happened:

FLES (Foreign Language in Elementary School) - Little Dude is finishing the fifth grade, so he has had the opportunity to experience the entirety of this enrichment program throughout his time in elementary school. And I'm glad that he has had this opportunity. Is the program perfect? No, it's not. I don't like not having the chance to meet his teacher or to have access to the syllabus; I don't know if they are learning the language and culture of Spain (a total waste) or of Mexico and Central America (a more practical application). But he denies that it has been the same every year: "We learned about insects this year." He came home with a test that none of us knows if it was a real test or a practice test and only got one answer incorrect. But the picture of the little girl holding a dog gave away the answer to one of the questions. I do wonder about the attention of the children, but it doesn't sound like they are misbehaving. He knows more of a second language at eleven years old than either of our older kids knew at fourteen. Fix it and keep it.

JV Lacrosse: If there is a varsity program, there should be a JV program.

Freshman sports: When did this become more important than high school summer school? If there is a choice between the two, the SB picked the wrong one, but I'll get to summer school in a few minutes. Am I the only one who sees that the natural compromise is to have freshman sports WITHIN THE COUNTY? Aren't we going to have 11 high schools this fall? Can't we keep the games in the county and eliminate all the transportation costs by having the players report to the various fields at specific times? Chairman Stevens may see this as micromanaging, but I see it as compromise.

Gifted and Talented and Special Education: I am sooooo relieved that these parents were not pitted against each other, especially since there are children who are in both. THANK YOU!

Shared Principals at the 4 smallest schools: It sounds like there are two principals who are retiring, so this might work out without some weird arrangement.

Reading Specialists: Now come on, how can anyone reasonably say that we are all about educating the county's children and then propose to cut reading specialists. Reading is the single most fundamental skill that our children are taught. Glad that common sense prevailed.

SAT Prep classes: Ms Giggles took this class, probably when she was a junior and the writing part of the SAT was new. It stunk! Half of getting an above average score is understanding how the test itself is scored and this information was never relayed to the students - you can't guess on this test as you are scored down for wrong answers. If you can't have a class that truly addresses the strategy of successfully taking this test then you have no business offering it AT ALL! You are only raising the hopes of students and parents to offer any class to any student that is only about content. Charging for this is sinful. DUMP IT!

Subsidizing School Lunch Costs: I am not talking about low income students who get free or reduced price lunches, every child needs a minimum level of calories to learn. But why are we reducing the cost of these high fat meals for students who can pay full price? OUR CHILDREN WOULD BE HEALTHIER IF THEY BROUGHT A BAG LUNCH!

Larger Class Sizes: There are particular schools and/or specific grades in even the crowded schools that this will not effect due to the numbers of students per grade. But at Seldens Landing, currently the largest elementary school in the county, this will be awful for some grade levels. Unless and until the decision makers have visited all of the classrooms that currently have 28 students, they should not be allowed to increase it to 29 students. Funny, I haven't seen ANY school board members at Seldens this year! THIS IS THE WORSE DECISION OF THE YEAR!

Assistant Athletic Trainers: Unfunding this was way overdue!

Summer School: First of all, let's get one thing straight - Extended School Year for special education students IS NOT SUMMER SCHOOL. ESY is legally required for specific individual students who will have very serious set backs with a twelve week break, or for that matter, it may even be the two weeks of winter break. I do not feel that it is required of me to give examples of the students who require these services as this is a very personal, confidential and necessary decision for the families involved. Little Dude has a learning disability and our team spent less than a minute deciding that he did not require this level of support. The majority of special ed students do not participate in ESY.

But that does not mean that there are not elementary students who are below grade level in a specific academic area (reading or math) that require extra academic assistance to enter the upcoming year on par with their peers. The elimination of the early back program will affect the reading and math scores of dozens of students in each elementary school. Or more students will be repeating grades than have in the past. Thanks for nothing.

Middle School Summer School: Well it was torturous how we finally got funding for this necessary program, but as the night wore on, it became clear that somehow it was going to be funded. Thank Heavens! But it shouldn't have been so hard.

High School Summer School: And the first citizens that need to enroll are sitting on the dais! Not funding and providing for high school summer school will affect our on time graduation rate, drop out rate and eventually our status among college admissions offices. How do you propose a student who fails a math or science or English class makes that up? If they have failed math or science as a sophomore they can't take both the 10th grade and the 11th grade levels the next year - they didn't learn enough the first time through to be successful taking both the following year! This requires another compromise: provide actual summer school classes for students who made D's or F's in their (non-elective) classes. Students who are taking classes for enrichment purposes can take them online.

I have more to add, but it's too late to do it tonight.

School Board Boundary Policy

I attended the School Board meeting this week and spoke about the boundary changes. Then I went next door to hear a wonderful presentation on bullying at the Special Education Advisory Committee. When the presentation was complete, I went back to hear the discussion on the boundary policy.

It seems to me that this topic is becoming extremely difficult and time consuming, but I for one don't think it's better - just different.

So, I came home and wrote my own policy. And I'm posting it here. This is a link to board docs and the policy that is under consideration.

FYI - Blue text is my two cents!

§2-32 School Attendance Zones: Policy and Process

A. Authority

The Loudoun County Public Schools is vested with the authority to “provide for the consolidation of schools or redistricting of school boundaries or adopt pupil assignment plans whenever such procedure will contribute to the efficiency or the school division.” [Code of Virginia: Section §22.1-79 (4)]

B. Definitions

Permanent Attendance Zones – LCPS does not provide permanent attendance zones.

Stable Attendance Zones – The School Board strives to provide stable attendance zones for all of the students of LCPS. Stable attendance zones are those that are deemed unlikely to require revision for 5 years.

Temporary Attendance Zones – It may be necessary for the School Board to engage in attendance zone changes that are deemed temporary. This is likely due to the health, safety and instructional needs of students during a period of expanding attendance.

Cluster/Feeder System – LCPS utilizes the feeder system to promote cohesive operational clusters in which students remain with their educational cohorts and staff coordinate and communicate within the cluster. Generally, several elementary schools feed into one middle school, and the middle school feeds directly to the high school. Clusters are identified by the high school in the feed.

Split Feed – Any school that sends students, upon completion of the highest grade level, to more than one cluster or any school that receives students from more than one cluster is considered to have a split feed. All split feed attendance zones are considered to be temporary attendance zones.

Staggered Enrollment/Phasing – The School Board may decide to stagger an attendance zone change through the phasing of incoming classes.

C. Reasons for Considering Attendance Zone Adjustments

The School Board may change an attendance zone in order to maintain or improve operating efficiency and/or in order to maximize instructional effectiveness. In general, adjustments may relieve facility crowding, better utilize existing space, avoid underutilized facilities, mitigate the impact to schools created by demographic imbalances, and better allocate program resources, and/or reduce operating costs.

D. Attendance Zone Change Process

At least annually, the Superintendent will recommend to the School Board options for the transformation of all temporary attendance zones to stable attendance zones. In addition, the Superintendent will evaluate whether or not additional attendance zone changes are to be considered. Typically, the evaluation will take place within the context of the Capital Improvements Program process, but changes may also be recommended at any time to address safety, overcrowding or other concerns. Attendance zone changes may also be initiated at the direction of the School Board. When conditions exist for school attendance zone changes, the Superintendent will recommend to the School Board that options for change be developed. These options will identify schools potentially affected by the attendance zone changes, the means by which the public will be involved in the attendance zone change process and a calendar for the attendance zone change process. The School Board will seek to encourage public participation throughout this process and will hold at least one public hearing prior to the adoption of any attendance zone change recommendation. The School Board will act on the Superintendent’s recommendation, but may modify that recommendation. Finally, if an attendance zone is deemed to be a temporary attendance zone the time frame of the change and the means to transformation to a stable attendance zone will be determined at the time of the change.

E. Factors Considered in Attendance Zone Changes

When changing school attendance zones, the School Board and the Superintendent will consider, but not be limited to, the following criteria whenever possible (alphabetical order):

Demographic characteristics of the student population

Equitable distribution of programs and resources

Minimize future capital and operational budget costs

Minimize long-term use of mobile or modular classrooms

School capacities, new facilities and/or renovations to existing school facilities

School location

Stability

Student enrollment projections

Transportation

The School Board may will consider each of these factors in making an attendance zone change. In the exercise of its authority, the School Board recognizes that it may not be reasonably practicable to reconcile each and every factor in any attendance zone change, but any attendance zone plan adopted by the School Board should be based on the above factors to the greatest extent possible.

School Board 2, My Comments

This post is a continuation of my post from early this morning on last night's School Board meeting. It is also, however, an interruption of the topic of that post. I will return to that topic shortly, but wanted to post here, now, the comments that I prepared to read last night. This is in it's entirety as I was unable to finish my comments due to both the time constraint of two minutes AND the fact that I lost my place while I was reading and had to repeat part of a sentence. I am leaving out the salutation and identification info at the beginning.

It does not please me to be here tonight.

You have heard many of my neighbors give details on how tonight’s Action Item is the result of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior by members of this board. This information is available as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request. It is shocking that citizens in this school district must file FOIA requests to have the facts about their schools. It is especially disgraceful in light of the fact that this board revised it’s Code of Conduct for School Board Members in August.

A4 of that policy begins: That my fellow board members and I should take the initiative in helping the people of this community to have the facts about their schools…

It is offensive that these words have been so quickly forgotten and replaced with behavior intended to spread disinformation. As a special ed parent, I cannot communicate with the members of this board or administration about any educational issue that my child may have if FOIA is the new preferred method of disseminating information; I will not participate in violating my child’s rights.

And where does a communication process that requires the use of FOIA as a starting point proceed to? I’m afraid to imagine what the next steps may be. I am personally trying to avoid a due process hearing for my fifth grader by working my up the chain of responsibility within the special ed department. But when elected representatives don’t represent and communication is at a standstill, what is the equivalent of due process for an entire neighborhood?

Meanwhile, I have heard new, good options for the students of Dulles North that you may never hear if this process continues to intentionally pit neighborhood against neighborhood. Stop now and do it correctly and openly.

I will end where I started, it does not please me to be here tonight. I should be in room 105, engaged in the presentation by the Parent Resource Center on transitioning to middle school with IEP.

In hindsight, I should have gone to the presentation!

To the School Board: YOU DON'T GET IT!

For almost a year, Dulles North parents have been dealing with boundary issues. And tonight the process lost at the expense of the children in Lansdowne. Adding insult to injury, Bob Ohneiser - the duly elected school board member of the affected children - LECTURED Lansdowne parents from his cushy chair behind the dais.

I got involved in this last year when Little Dude was a fourth grader and the boundaries for all levels of schools were affected - elementary, middle and high school. I didn't think at the time that he would be moved for 5th grade or that our neighborhood would be moved for middle school, although here is a link to a plan that everyone denies has ever been promoted to take part of Lansdowne out of Belmont Ridge Middle School. I worked with others who were interested and self-selected myself to work on maps. Having been through many boundary changes with our older two children, I was familiar with the process - including when Stone Bridge High School opened. As a group, we pretty much determined that Seldens Landing would be over capacity, but moving one section of students to another elementary school to overcrowd them by the same amount was silly - a neighborhood elementary school should be overcrowded with it's own students, not with a handful of students from another neighborhood.

The staff and the school board apparently agreed and there were no boundary changes for our elementary school students. Middle school was more difficult, from a map perspective, but after many options by parents all over the Central and Dulles districts and, of course, the staff, it became clear that in one, two, or three years they would all be over capacity. So the same reasoning must have prevailed and the middle school boundaries were not changed.

But then we have the Almighty Stone Bridge High School!

Our family moved to Ashburn Farm (planning zone DN28) when Ms Giggles was in 3rd grade and Floggy was in 6th grade; I was pregnant with Little Dude; we moved from Ashburn Farm when Little Dude was starting kindergarten, and Ms Giggles was a Freshman and Floggy was a Senior at the Almighty High School. I never anticipated that Little Dude would go to the Almighty SBHS. And I am not alone among my neighbors with elementary only children, hence the poor turnout at neighborhood and school board meetings by parents of elementary aged students. Frankly, I think they trusted their neighbors with older children to represent the best interests of the community when it came to high school planning.

There were a number of different priorities that members of the community had. Teens at the Almighty Stone Bridge, naturally wanted to stay there. Younger sibs in middle school naturally wanted to not only follow their older brother(s) or sister(s) to the Almighty SBHS, but wanted to maintain the friendships that they had developed in middle school.

As a community we learned about the academic and social benefits of the feeder system, and liked what we learned. Everyone agreed that this was a common priority. We agreed that we wanted our children to have not just a stable neighborhood, but a stable school community. As a neighborhood, we will never be big enough to need a 1600 student capacity high school. Even with the largest elementary school in the district, we will not ever have 400 students in a grade, although we are over half way there with current second grade.

SO WE WANT TO BE IN A SCHOOL COMMUNITY WITH OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS THAT BORDER OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

Our children attended Seldens Landing with the children from neighboring University Center until a new elementary school was built near One Loudoun and University Center was moved just over a year ago. Our middle school aged children have attended Belmont Ridge with children from Belmont Country Club, Belmont Green and part of Ashburn Farm.

BUT WHERE ARE OUR NEIGHBORS IN THIS PLAN?

Before I get into the particulars on tonight's meeting, I think we need to remind ourselves of the terminology that different groups use to describe our children. The Board of Supervisors refers to our children as seats; the School Board refers to our children as students; I have personally birthed three children that I call by name or refer to as my/our (older or younger) son and my/our daughter.

So who did what that was outrageous tonight?

I am compelled to start with Dr Hatrick because I hope that I can be as persuasive as he tried to be tonight.
Dr. Hatrick, nice try, but frankly, I don't believe you. It is futile to say you weren't steamrolled when: 1)members of the community have copies of the actual e-mails that were sent; or to use your experience on the job as justification for being able to hold your own when : 2)you clearly lost the grade weighting for honors classes debate; and most importantly: 3)I have never seen you have so little regard for the children that we have entrusted to your care. If you truly believe that it is in the best interests of the children who live in Lansdowne to become an academic and social island in your school system then I have been trusting you for way too long. We might all agree that it is the politically expedient thing to do, but I am not talking about seats, I am talking about the best interest of the teenage children that you have just agreed to isolate. There is a better process and there are better options. And I believe that you have the education and experience as both an educator and an administrator to know that this isolation is not necessary. I understand that the increased high school enrollment figures, especially for Briar Woods HS, were a surprise and that the original staff recommendation from last spring is no longer an option. But for a person who gives a great speech on the world that you are preparing our children to enter, this lacked any notion of the innovation that I hoped that you would model for those children.

And now the gloves come off.

Bob Ohneiser. I sit here trying to come up with one word that appropriately describes my impression. But maybe I should just describe the behavior and let the rest of you decide! You are the school board representative for the majority of the Lansdowne neighborhood, and at this exact moment I am jealous, for the first time, of my neighbors who happen to live in West Goose Creek. Clearly, you did not represent us tonight, and it seems that you have spent quite some time preparing to not represent us. And you have not communicated with us, in any manner, not only what your position is about where our teenagers should go to high school, but that you were going to throw us under the bus! You have also not solicited any input from us as to what we would consider reasonable, would be willing to accept, or what our priorities are. And on top of that, you had the gall to lecture us DURING A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING! Why didn't you meet with us sometime in the past two weeks? Is your precious phasing more important than our children. We think not, but it seems you disagree. And the whole hat demonstration was ridiculous. But not nearly as laughable as presenting it to the principal of Tuscarora HS. For anyone who was there or watched it on TV, maybe the word "Wegman's" is all that we will ever need to remind ourselves of your spectacle tonight.
There were plenty of comments from my neighbors about your phasing plan: What happens if you have a current 8th grader and a current 9th grader? How is it beneficial to a family to have two children, especially two children only one year apart, going to different high schools? How do we get out of Tuscarora? If you have a freshman when the next boundary adjustment is made and our children can go to school with children in nearby neighborhoods closer to home are we stuck at Tuscarora? Yeah, it's a nice new school - FULL OF STRANGERS! And you did not have our permission to trade 130 of our children for your pet project.
Do you realize that we do not want to drive our children to Lucketts or Point of Rocks to visit their new friends or work on a project. And we have no interest in having our children with drivers licenses making that trek up and down Rt 15.
You need to come here and meet with us, in person.


And it's almost 3:30am and I need to get some rest. More tomorrow. After the PTA meeting, but before the IEP meeting hopefully.

Are We Just a Bunch of Whiners?

While I prepare to update what's going on in the special education part of our lives, here's one more link to an article by an emergency room doctor that was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Enjoy!