On Tuesday and Wednesday, March 11 and 12, an e-mail was widely distributed throughout western Loudoun County stating that the School Board had effectively abandoned plans to build Woodgrove High School.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The school system is awaiting the end of litigation involving Loudoun County and the Town of Purcellville so that it can start building Woodgrove. Bond funding for this school has been approved and plans for Woodgrove have been submitted to the county and approved. The Supreme Court of Virginia is slated to decide litigation involving Woodgrove’s site within the coming months. When litigation hurdles are removed, the school system expects construction of Woodgrove to begin.
The e-mail also states that the School Board has moved HS-5, a new high school north of Leesburg, ahead of Woodgrove on its construction schedule.
This also is not true.
HS-5 also is behind schedule, again due to litigation that has now been resolved. The funds for this school have already been allocated through bond referendum. Its construction has not been made a priority at the expense of Woodgrove.
The e-mail mentions alternatives for assigning students to Harmony Intermediate and Kenneth W. Culbert Elementary (scheduled to open for the 2009-2010 school year) should overcrowding in western Loudoun become too extreme. The School Board has discussed such options openly and honestly in various public meetings for the past two years. (See superintendent’s previous message regarding “Status of Western Loudoun Secondary Students.”) At these meetings, it was stressed that no definite plan has yet been reached for the reallocation of students because overcrowding at western Loudoun schools had not yet reached a critical point.
If you have questions about Woodgrove High School, or any Loudoun County Public School, you may contact the LCPS Public Information Office at schools@loudoun.k12.va.us or 571-252-1040.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Woodgrove HS
The following statement from Dr. Hatrick is (or soon will be) posted on the LCPS website:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
John
ReplyDelete..."because overcrowding at western Loudoun schools had not yet reached a critical point" - So what defines a critical point? Where else is the whole freshman class sent to a middle school? Where else do you have 10 trailers - the maximum number the site can support? Where else do you have 2-1/2 hour/day bus rides? Overcrowding in a 40+ year old structure is different than in a new building. Tell me, have you been to LVHS during lunch or class changes? If so, do you see how Dr. Hatrick's statement seems, frankly, ridiculous and insulting to western parents? Is he really serious when he speaks of shift scheduling? How is that really going to work, would that really ever be applied in other areas of the County? I'm sorry if this seems like 'blanket allegations' John but I hope you can see that saying things are not yet critical borders on incompetent evaluation skills.
You'll be proud to know that your tax dollars in Loudoun are currently paying the salaries of at least two of Woodgroves' Administrators 18 months before the school is slated to open. I was told by a school board member they are working on the 5th floor of the Administration Building until the school opens next fall(2010). Is this how the school board operates? Why would we hire people so far out? What are we paying for for the next 12+ months? Were the positions open to the public or did the selection process get bypassed? You people better wake up!
ReplyDelete