Educating Undocumented Children

Undocumented residents (don’t call them “illegal immigrants” around me please) are all the talk of Loudoun County politics this month.

• The Board of Supervisors unanimously (and without warning, study or apparent forethought) passed a resolution to deny as many services as legally possible to people who can’t prove that they are in our community legally.
• The Loudoun Republican Committee recently included a question on their list for School Board candidates that read: What specific federa/state legislation prohibits the local school system from identifying children of illegal immigrants? What prevents a legal challenge? (Cost is not an answer! The cost to taxpayers who provide the education is unacceptable.)
• The issue is getting plenty of coverage in the local media: Leesburg Today, LoudounExtra.com, LoudounTimes.com.
• Candidate for Sheriff Jay Ahlemann has chosen this as the defining issue of his campaign platform, and with some success. He unseated the incumbent Republican Sheriff in the party's nomination last month.
• Prominent Local blogger "Loudoun Insider" clearly considers it to be a litmus test.
  

In the midst of all of this, the LCPS staff attorney Bill Chapman was kind enough to forward to the School Board members a legal overview of public schools’ responsibilities toward the children who live in our communities. I thought I’d share it with you here. The overview was written as an opinion by Mark L. Early, then Attorney General of Virginia, in April 1999. You can read it here. You will find that the summary of the opinion appears at the very top:

“Local school board is not permitted to inquire into, or require documentation to verify, student applicant’s citizenship or visa status for purpose of ascertaining whether student is bona fide resident qualified to attend free public school in school district.”

In the interest of answering the LCRC question, the opinion goes on to cite Article VIII, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia, Section 22.1-3 of the Code of Virginia and a 1982 ruling by the United States Supreme Court in Plyler v. Doe.

I will write more about this subject as it pertains to our community in the future, but today I am limiting the topic to schools. So for anyone who had a question about how LCPS will serve the children of our community, you now have an answer: All children will be educated. Period. If you don’t like that answer and would instead take sides with powerful landowners against impoverished children, it appears that you’ll need to take it up with the United States Supreme Court.

Update on Textbook Review

In a previous post I mentioned that new textbooks were available for review at the School Admin building in Ashburn. One person asked whether information regarding the materials was available online. I passed that question on to Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Sharon Ackerman and in response LCPS has extended the review period through August 14th, provided links to publishers and organized a public information session on August 9th. I think this is excellent responsiveness, and I hope that you, Loudoun parents and taxpayers (yes, I'm looking at YOU, who is reading this right now) will take the time to make this extra effort worthwhile.

As I've said before, joining the School Board means having a million things to learn, and this has been another one. Now I know that LCPS has a textbook selection committee that includes parents, teachers, and content specialists. In addition there are opportunities for public review and comment on each textbook series being considered. The textbook selection committee's recommendation will come before the Curriculum and Instruction Committee prior to the purchase of the materials, and this is generally the final point of review.

All of these meetings are open to the public and to public input. For those of you who decry your lack of power at the ballot box, I'll let you in on a secret... the real power is in the nitty-gritty work like this... so get going and exercise that power.

Report #3 from Conference

Session III: An Evaluation Process for Program Improvement
Presented by Chantal Follett and Lidi Hruda, Evaluation Specialists with the Fairfax County Office of Program Evaluation
Presentation:
Fairfax County has a process for evaluating programs for long-term success. This process was developed and implemented by professional, certified Evaluators on staff with FCPS. In a nutshell, programs are nominated for evaluation by administrators at any level. The full-time staff of six evaluators has determined its capacity to evaluate sixteen programs simultaneously. After following a process to establish evaluability of each proposed program, the Superintendent and School Board decide which programs will be evaluated. Each evaluation lasts for three years and is designed to help the programs set and achieve goals for effectiveness and sustainability. Programs which are not able to meet these goals are recommended for modification or discontinuation.

Given that Loudoun County does not have a dedicated office for evaluation, Fairfax County agreed to provide resources to assist us in developing a modified process suitable for our administrative structure. The presenters cautioned that for uncertified evaluators, making recommendations for program continuation and modification may be difficult.

Materials:
The presenters provided a process flow sheet and an evaluation tool called a “Box Score Sheet” that provides an executive summary for program evaluation. The Box Score Sheet contains benchmarks of four Program Components and twelve Program Component Standards. The sheet explains each of the scoring standards and displays the per-student program cost. It concludes with a recommendation of “Continue As Is” / “Modify” / “Discontinue”.
The presenters also provided a data sheet with contact information for assistance.

Questions:
What processes does LCPS have to identify programs for evaluation, conduct the evaluation and recommend modifications?
Can a process such as this improve on that of LCPS?

Recommendation:
Refer questions to Curriculum and Instruction Committee.

Forbes Ranks Loudoun Schools 11th in Nation

From the "For what it's worth" department, another attempt to rank public school districts:

Paraphrasing this Washington Post Article: A new study by Forbes magazine ranks Loudoun County public schools 11th out of 97 major school districts in the nation "for the buck," for delivering return on educational investment.

Important snippets:
The analysis, "Best and Worst School Districts for the Buck," ranks 97 jurisdictions for performance -- as measured by SAT data and graduation rates -- relative to per-pupil spending.

The endeavor is skewed toward affluent and suburban schools, educators said, because of the focus on local property taxes; wealthier jurisdictions tend to pay a greater share of education costs from their own tax coffers.

The finding reflects decades of research showing little or no correlation between money and performance in public schools.

Report #2 from Conference

Session II: Is Green Design Right for your Schools?
Randy Hudson, Hayes Large Architects

Presentation
Randy Hudson provided a primer on the LEED system of environmental construction principles, including the newly published LEED standards for school construction. The true benefit of the workshop lay in the wealth of materials provided, which are cited below.

Materials

1. Report: “Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits”
2. NY Times: “The Power of Green” by Thomas Friedman
3. Washington Post: “Thoughts of a Conservative Conservationist” by Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)
4. Harvard Business Review: “Competitive Advantage on a Warming Planet” by Jonathan Lash and Fred Wellington
5. School Construction News: “Pennsylvania Elementary School Meets the Green Standard”
6. Hayes Large Architects: “Why Geothermal Makes Sense”
7. Bibliography of Web & Print Resources

Questions
In an April 2007 briefing to the Finance, Construction and Site Acquisition Committee on environmental school construction and LEED certifications, Mosely Architects recommended against the use of Geothermal Heat Pumps in school construction. HLA recommends hybrid systems for our area that incorporate GHPs. What is the right answer for future construction and renovation of LCPS facilities?

Recommendations
LCPS Finance, Construction and Site Acquisition committee should explore with staff a new policy by which all new LCPS facilities are designed to a LEED Gold standard, and any major renovation to a school would achieve a LEED Silver certification for that school. This standard could only be waived for individual facilities by majority vote of the full School Board.

Report #1 from Conference

As I mentioned last week, I attended the Governor's Conference on Education in Richmond, organized by the Virginia School Boards Association. It was a very brief affair, starting on Tuesday morning and ending after lunch. The morning consisted primarily of four half-hour sessions on 86 different topics. This week I will post my synopsis of the four sessions that I attended. These are the same documents I will provide to my colleagues on the School Board as we share with each other what we learned. If you would like more information about what topics were available or about the sessions I attended, please let me know or contact the Virginia School Boards Association.

Session I: Energy Conservation in Stafford County Public Schools
Presented by Robert Randall, Energy Manager, Stafford County Schools
Presentation:
Stafford County Schools entered into an Energy Performance Contract in 2006. The Contractor identified six Energy Conservation Measures which will save the district $400,000 annually in utility costs. These ECMs were descrbed by Mr. Randall as the “low hanging fruit” in their energy efficiency efforts. The program will payback in seven years and includes the Energy Manager’s salary.

Materials:
Mr. Randall provided a one-page briefing memo on the basics of the program, a by-school utility comparison summary, and an overview of how energy savings are calculated when energy costs are incurred over a variety of differently-priced energy sources.

Recommendation:
Loudoun County already has a similar Energy Performance Contract and is executing it, the School Board received a briefing on the program in May 2007. The Finance, Construction and Site Acquisition Committee should work with Staff to identify and fund opportunities for further energy conservation during the FY2009 budget development cycle to insulate LCPS against rising energy costs.

Superintendent Oversight

Members of the School Board frequently hear from members of the public that we seem to be rubber stamps for the Superintendent. I disagree, and last week I heard something on the topic worth writing down. I was in Richmond for an orientation for new School Board members and new Superintendents conducted by the Virginia School Boards Association. At that presentation this topic came up, because apparently such charges are typically leveled at School Boards across the Commonwealth. The response of the experienced folks there was interesting to me. They basically made the point that if the Superintendent is acting according to the wishes of the Board, there shouldn't be much for the School Board to overrule and be critical of. Work together as a team, they said. That is best for the schools. And if you find that the Superintendent isn't following the Board's priorities and meeting the Board's goals, get a new one.

School Sizes

Be sure to read today's Washington Post story about larger school sizes in Loudoun County. Many people, particularly in the rural west of the county, are understandably upset about the growth in school sizes. Small schools based in each small town would mean less time on the bus, greater community identity for the school and more individual attention for each child. It would also mean a significantly higher tax burden that the voters of Loudoun County have demonstrated they are not willing to bear.

Shift Happens

On Monday & Tuesday this week I attended the Governor's Conference on Education. I have a lot to report, and will find time to write about it over the next few days. In the meantime I'm giving you a little food for thought, a slideshow originally entitled "Did You Know" and now known by it's closing line "Shift Happens."

You can click this link to watch the slideshow.

The slideshow was originally created by a Colorado High School teacher named Karl Fisch for a staff development meeting. You can download the original materials and the sources of his information from his blog, The Fischbowl.

Condemnation of Property

While rampant and poorly planned development by private profiteers has left this County with a problems that it will take a generation to overcome, one nice side effect of having housing developments created by large developers is that those developers donated land for schools as part of their negotiations with the County. As we are reaching the limits of our ability to develop in the portions of Loudoun County east of Rt. 15, and seeking to limit the size of development to the West of 15, we don't have that donated land, and we're in the position of paying millions of dollars for land on which to build schools.

This whole process is very new to me. I have done a lot of work in Loudoun County prior to joining the School Board, but land use has not been a part of it. It is a huge part of our responsibilities as a Board and I'm working hard to come up to speed on it. Since most parents probably aren't any more acquainted with the process than I was before joining the board, I might be a good person to speak to the topic because I don't assume prior knowledge. In explaining it I also have the opportunity for others to review and correct me if I'm wrong.

Here are a few things I have learned.

1) It's very difficult to find land suitable for schools. We demand very large lot sizes, dozens of acres, for the building, parking and various fields. Most sites in the western part of Loudoun County don't have utilities and that drives the price higher as we seek to extend them to the site or provide them ourselves. The tricky part with utilities is all of the water that must go into and out of the school each day. It's not just a matter of drilling a well and dropping in a septic tank.

2) When a tract of land suitable for a school site is available for purchase, either on the open market or because a land owner is receptive to discussions with the district staff about a sale,
negotiations ensue. One or more appraisals are done and used as a baseline for negotiations.

3) If an agreement can't be reached, the schools have the option of "condemning" the land for public use. This essentially amounts to a seizure, where the School Board says "you say you are willing to sell your land, but not for a reasonable price. We need land for about three new schools every year, and we need yours or we won't have anywhere to put a school. But we're not going to be exploited to pay more for the land than it's worth just because we're in this position, and we can't keep dilly-dallying around."

4) Negotiations continue for about a year, while waiting for a judge to hear the case. Generally shortly before the trial date, the landowners settle rather than go to court.

Every case is unique obviously, with its own complications and timelines.

One of the unique cases was the source of a public hearing for a condemnation last week, and written about in this Leesburg Today article. In this case, the landowner is protesting the condemnation of his property on two basic grounds. The first is that he lives on the property and the policy of the School Board is not to take residential property by condemnation. The second is that the Board didn't give him adequate time to respond to its offer before beginning the condemnation process.

The article states:

John Duncan Crerar lives on his property. In the past, the school board has adhered to a policy of not seeking condemnation of properties used as residences.

I don't see any response within the article, so I thought I'd give one here because the implication that the Board is evicting people is pretty harsh. Mr. Crerar has been attempting to sell his property, including the section where his house is, for some time. It seems clear that he'd rather have the money than live there. I would never vote to kick someone out of their home who planned to stay.

The article also quotes Mr. Crerar's attorney, John Farrell. "We had a very flawed appraisal handed to the property owners on the 29th of May," Farrell said. "Within a week, the notice of a public hearing was filed. Has there been an opportunity to negotiate?" Mr. Farrell is blowing smoke. A public hearing is not an action to condemn and does not put and end to negotiations. It is an effort to seek the input of the community. Neighbors adjacent to the properties came and spoke about their concerns with building a school across from them. The Board needs an opportunity to consider this information before it votes to authorize condemnation. Even a vote by the Board to authorize the condemnation process is not an action to condemn. It just gives the staff one more option, to be exercised in the future, to ensure that when the next 3,000 students show up, they have somewhere to go.

Finally, the article contains allegations that the entire process is being handled behind closed doors. The negotiating process and the discussions among the Board and staff members need to be private. I know that goes against our instinct for open government, but one of our mandates is to not waste taxpayer money. Clearly, showing all of our cards would do nothing but weaken our bargaining position and ultimately would put more tax money paid by average people into the hands of wealthy landowners, leaving less for the important business of building and running the schools.

To ensure that there is no abuse of the closed process or the power to condemn, there are courts with oversight. And ultimately, elections.

Evan Mohler

This past weekend Mr. Evan Mohler, Assistant Superintendent of Support Services for LCPS, retired after 43 years of service. He followed his young wife into the schools because she was a teacher and it would give them each the same schedule. Starting as a classroom teacher he became a vice principal, a principal, facilities manager and on up the chain to Assistant Superintendent. Read this article for more details.

Evan's portfolio is virtually every non-instructional operation in the school system. Every bus driver, custodian, contractor, and meal served has been his responsibility. I met him soon after joining the school board, and was told by my predecessor John Andrews that he was a tremendous man, a straight shooter, an asset beyond our ability to truly appreciate. I believe John was right. In the past few months I have seen evidence of his excellence everywhere. In the past few weeks I have heard accolades heaped upon Evan from Board members and line workers alike for his dedication through the years.

Every school that has opened on time in the past several years can be credited to Evan and the team he has assembled. He has saved the people of Loudoun County millions of dollars with efficient planning and construction oversight, never sacrificing quality.

I have only known Evan Mohler for these few months that I have been on the board, and you should ask others for more particulars about his accomplishments over time. I have only this to add: I never once had a conversation with him or saw him speak to others about his work in which he did not mention the children in our schools. Our children. "The youngsters" as he refers to them. This man of brick and mortar (in character as well as occupation) has kept the focus of the people who work for him where it needs to be.

Thank you Evan, for your life's work. Enjoy the rest.

How do you measure?

There is an interesting story in yesterday's Washington Post regarding school rankings. It offhandedly states "Graduation rates in smaller local systems ranged from 58.2 percent in the District to 92.5 percent in Loudoun County." The story goes on to talk about how extremely important it is to have a high graduation rate.

You might also look at the 2007 Challenge Index, the only national ranking of High Schools which uses only one criteria... what percentage of students take an International Baccalaureate program or at least one AP course. On this index, Loudoun High Schools are ranked from #182 to #694, nationally.

And of course you'll see news about how our kids fared on this May's SOL tests later in the summer.

And armed with all of that, you’re going to hear ambitious candidates this year talking about problems with the schools. Fair enough, there is room for improvement and campaigns are for new ideas about how to address these challenges.

When you read about these rankings or hear someone talking about reforming the schools, particularly if they call the schools mediocre or over-funded, ask yourself a simple question: How has your own experience with the schools been? Think about your kid’s teacher, your principal, your school. Think about the bus driver, the counselor, the librarian, the coach and the cafeteria lady. More than anything else, ask yourself: is my child getting a good education?

Let your own experience be your guide, and if it has been a good experience then trust your instincts.

If not, tell me about it. Let’s see if we can get it straightened out.

Textbooks Available for Review

Did you think that the work of education stops just because it's summertime? LCPS yesterday gave citizens two weeks to review new textbooks being considered. Read the story.

You have the opportunity to see what our kids will be learning in:

• the elementary music program
  
• the middle school health and physical education program
  
• the high school health & physical education
  
• high school driver education
  

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of textbooks. I'm a child of the digital age. My guess is that these very expensive textbooks have one big advantage in that they ensure standardization. So for instance, the kids at Loudoun Valley HS in Purcellville have the same resources and are taught the same facts as the kids at Dominion HS in Sugarland Run.

This is your chance for input ladies and gentlemen. If you seek to influence education in this county, here's a place to start.

Conflicting values

I wrote yesterday about the custodial banquet and appreciating our custodians. In addition to the banquet itself, many local businesses and organizations donated 150 gifts that were raffled off over the course of the evening. One organization in particular donated a $500 cash gift. The generous group was one of the many churches who hold services in our schools on Sunday mornings. Custodians clean up after them too, and ensure that they have a nice place to gather and worship. This church has services in two schools, and generously took a special collection in each to gather the money for this prize. The pastor from this church was late in arriving to present the award and I had to leave before he made the presentation, and so I don't know what he said as he gave it. I hope and trust that it was gratitude for their help, paired with something along the lines of how Jesus told us to recognize those whom others would overlook. I extend my thanks to Pastor Jay Ahlemann of the Church of the Valley, and his congregations, for their generosity.

I wish I could end my comments there, but I cannot. Almost two weeks ago, Mr. Ahlemann signed his name to one of the most offensive things I have seen in print in quite some time. Full-page advertisements in Leesburg Today, Ashburn Today and the Loudoun Easterner trumpeted lies in bold face about hate crimes legislation currently before the US Congress. I will refer you to this post on the Equality Loudoun website to explain the details.

Mr. Ahleman portrays this legislation as an assault on churches, ministers and others who believe and preach that homosexuality is a sinful practice by choice and condemned by the bible. I don't believe this, but what we believe isn't the point in this case. The Truth (I rarely capitalize that word but do so here with great purpose) is that no matter the nature of homosexuality, your GBLT neighbors just want to live their lives in peace, free from violence, as everyone does and has a right to do. That is all this legislation attempts to address. Read it yourself. It does not, and can not, criminalize thought, speech, theology or faith. I'm sure they join me in wishing that people who say nasty things about them would just shut up, but that isn't the power of this law. To say otherwise is a lie and embarrassing, but to bray that you are being attacked by people who are only asking to be left alone is incitement by the strong against the weak, and that is shameful.

Moreover, the editors and advertising managers of these newspapers, who I know are good people, showed a lapse in judging these ads to be acceptable to community standards. If the ad had said instead that the legislation would make it a crime to preach that your Muslims neighbors are terrorists or that interracial marriage is an abomination, I feel sure that the ads would have been rejected as beneath the dignity of our community. I also feel sure that if the newspaper had rejected the ad, the editors would have encountered a well-orchestrated firestorm from Mr. Ahlemann's friends, and that they were aware of that when they accepted the ads. I hope that the editors will exercise better judgment if presented the opportunity in the future.

As for Mr. Ahlemann and his congregations, I will shake your hand warmly and say thank you for your recognition of our custodians. But before I release from that handshake I will look you in the eye sternly and tell you clearly: Leave my friends alone.

Custodial Banquet

I enjoyed myself at last night's banquet held for the 450 custodians employed by Loudoun County Public schools. It was held at the National Conference Center, which used to be the Xerox campus some years back. It brought up some thoughts that I thought I'd share with you.

As is practice, the Chairman of the School Board gave remarks at the beginning of the dinner. He speaks on behalf of the parents in that setting. He thanked the custodians for their work, and said they were one of the four pillars of Loudoun's school system (the other three: bus drivers, instructional staff and food service). I think I'd break that down a little differently myself, but the important point is that there are a lot of people involved in making our schools work each day, and they aren't all classroom teachers. Mr. Dupree said that when people from other school districts come to our schools for various reasons, they nearly always remark on how clean and well-maintained our buildings are. I'm concerned that we're so used to it, we hardly notice.

If you have experience with a nice car, or an excellent hotel, or even just a really good quality power tool, you know that the best part isn't the features or amenities. It's the reliability. It's knowing that when you turn the key, flip the switch or look for what you need, you get just what you wanted. It's not having to worry that is the greatest luxury.

Our custodians, who clean and maintain and repair our buildings, give us that luxury. They constantly maintain HVAC equipment to keep classrooms comfortable. They clean the cafeterias and classrooms and bathrooms to keep our children healthy. When the incredibly tenacious ice encased every lot, sidewalk and doorway this February, they hacked through it. They are tasked with achieving the savings from energy efficiency that I wrote about some weeks ago. They keep the dust and pollutants under control during renovations, make playgrounds safe and keep up the landscaping. They do a tremendous job, with no fanfare.

And therein lies the challenge. When something is so reliable, like the electricity to the lamp or the water to the spout, we don't think about it until something goes wrong. These men and women of Loudoun's custodial staff are the great luxury that allows us to assume that when our kids go to school, they'll be in a good place. If you haven't ever thought about that, it's the biggest testimony of all to their hard work and the best reason to thank them.

And that is my challenge to you. Don't let Mr. Dupree be the next parent to thank them, at next year's banquet.

If you're in a PTA leadership position, make it a practice to recognize the custodial team the same way you do the teachers and staff. Have a custodian appreciation day where you bring lunch and flowers. If you're a parent at school for lunch or an event, say hello. Ask their name. Tell them yours. Say thank you.

It's so easy to overlook the people in the blue shirts. They're generally quiet, going about their business away from the classrooms while you're there. Many don't speak English very well. They work hard, they are essential to our schools, and they deserve recognition for the great job they do.