Boundaries

From Leesburg Today:

President Obama buys dinner for Loudoun

From Leesburg Today Editorial: Hitting the Target?

This week's Board of Supervisors' decision to simply substitute $7.3 million in local tax funds needed for the school system with $7.3 million in federal stimulus funds doesn't seem to achieve the stated goals. The shift in funding would not create or preserve a single school system job nor would it increase services provided by the schools. Nor is it likely the freed up money will be invested into debt-free construction or even to accelerate bond payments, options that could achieve long-term savings and are typically viewed as prudent uses of one-time revenues.

Most likely the action simply permits the Board of Supervisors to shave 1 cent off the real estate tax rate. That means a family living in a $400,000 home will save $40 in taxes next year - enough, perhaps, to sit-down for a meal at a restaurant.

Crayon Recycling

A particularly cool mom that I know brought this to my attention:

The CRAYON RECYCLE PROGRAM takes old, rejected, broken crayons to a better place, where they’ll be recycled into fresh, new crayons!

I gather from the website that this company takes the donated crayon bits, melts them down and makes new crayons for resale.

Agenda for March 24, 2009

Full Agenda Here

Recognitions

• Music in our Schools Month
• Teacher of the Year Award

Action Items

• Adoption of 10-point grading scale
• Return of $15M CIP surplus to County
• Proposed Budget Adjustments due to Federal Stimulus Package
• Approval of RIF notices
• "Sense of the School Board" CIP motions
  

Information Items

• Elementary school boundary change recommendation
• Elementary school grade-level planning day
  

LCPS Board Should Take Charge of its Goal-Setting

This Board began a goal-setting process last June at the Capon Springs retreat with a series of discussions led by staff and an outside consultant. Notes from those discussions were assembled by staff and sparked another night of discussions in October, again led by staff and the consultant. Conclusions from those sessions were compiled by staff, which developed a number of metrics under each heading and presented by staff in January.

The School Board is scheduled to meet again to discuss its goals on April 1st, again with staff present.

The Loudoun County School Board has not taken a leading role in this process and has not followed the MGT recommendations for SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realsitic, Timely). The final result is a document that makes our Board no more focused than before, no better able to evaluate the Superintendent’s performance or steer the direction of LCPS.

Just as the Board, of its own initiative, adopted a set of budget priorities for FY10, so our Board should be able to adopt clear and concise goals for the corresponding school year... without needed consultants or staff to lead the discussion, assemble notes or make presentations.

No Representation without Taxation?

From this morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Back To School

The headline, "Budget Process Divides Boards," made us think. According to a Times-Dispatch story by Juan Antonio Lizama:

"Some members of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors feel frustrated by what they see as a lack of cooperation and ineffective communication with the school administration and School Board in this year's budget process."

Economic turmoil has complicated budget writing throughout Virginia, as jurisdictions struggle with fewer dollars from the state and with lower-than-anticipated revenue from local streams. Perhaps there is a serious rift in Chesterfield; perhaps not. But the commonwealth's approach to school boards increases the likelihood of friction.

Virginia's school boards lack taxing power. Although they draft spending plans, responsibility for completing budgets rests with boards of supervisors and city councils. Supervisors and council members must take the heat (1) for raising taxes to pay for the school board's recommendations, (2) for shifting funds from other governmental functions, such as law enforcement, to keep the schools whole, or (3) for cutting spending on education. The potential for mischief diminishes when supervisors and council members appoint members to school boards.

If "no taxation without representation" belongs in America's civic catechism, then "no representation without taxation (and spending)" belongs there as well. Elected school boards ought to have the power to tax -- which would ensure that they took direct responsibility for the fiscal and political consequences of their actions.

Virginia has been spared much of the institutional bloodletting that has afflicted other states. It is a credit to our political culture. Chesterfield's boards seem unlikely to exchange ICBMs, or, for that matter, to slip whoopie cushions under their competing board's seats. We're not calling in the Marines. The issue here relates to principle. By their very nature tax-free school boards mock standards of democratic accountability.

Lansdowne vs. AshFarm in Boundary changes

The LCPS planning staff revealed its recommendations for new secondary boundaries on Tuesday night. Plans were unveiled for Mercer, Stone Hill Middle Schools in the southeast of the county but all of the attention is being given to the Ashburn & Leesburg Middle & High Schools. Boundaries were recommended for eight schools for a swath of land sweeping from Lucketts to south of Leesburg and nearly all the way to the LC Parkway in the east.

With all of that, the focus (judging from email traffic and discussions with citizens and Board members) seems to be on just two areas: Lansdowne and Ashburn Farm. The residents are lobbing rhetorical grenades at each other across Route 7. I'll make an attempt here to understand the disagreement at a very general level.

If Ashburn Farm is kept together at one school (Stone Bridge), Lansdowne has to be assigned to Heritage HS South of Leesburg. If Lansdowne students go to Stone Bridge, Ashburn Farm is split between Stone Bridge, Briar Woods and Broad Run High Schools. Neighborhoods closer to Stone Bridge than Lansdowne will go to a different school.

There are other elements to this, including extra capacity in Leesburg-area High Schools and the opening of a new High School in Ashburn in a few years. I won't get into those now, but they are critical to the question.

This is an even more emotional issue than taxes, rising to the level of the four small western schools that perpetually feel threatened with closure. The emails we receive from both sides make a variety of accusations that aren't worthy of repeating. Few acknowledge the merits of the other's side's argument, or the true complexity of the question.

I wish a previous Board had managed to secure a High School site in Lansdowne.

Public hearings are on March 23rd & 25th, with a School Board meeting in between that also includes public comment time.

Superintendent Recommends new Grading Scale

Just released this afternoon...

Recommended Ten-Point Grading Scale for LCPS

Key points:

• "Minus" grades are restored (A-, B- etc.)
• Top GPA grade available: 4.3 (for A+).
• Full 10-point D (60-69). Some districts have a 5-point D, F is below 65.
• Retroactive implementation is not recommended
  

The Superintendent will present this recommendation to the School Board at tonight's meeting. The Board will vote at a future meeting.

EDC Reasserts Support for Full Funding

Following up on a letter written by Chairman John Wood last that had unanimous consent but no formal action, the Economic Development Commission unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday morning supporting the Supervisors' "Tier 1" (0% funding growth) option, which includes the School Board's full proposed budget.

Full EDC FY10 Budget Resolution

Exerpts:

...the Economic Development Commission strongly believes the County Administrator’s recommended Tier One County budget for Fiscal Year 2010 retains an appropriate level of core services mixed with a modest amount of needed infrastructure at a proposed tax rate that is affordable...

...the proposed budget supports education and the growth in our student population...

...as your advisors, we strongly urge the Board to "Please adopt the County Administrator’s recommended overall County Tier One budget." (original emphasis)

Agenda for March 10, 2009

Recognitions:

• Youth Arts Month
• Principal of the Year Announcement

Information Items:

• Secondary School Attendance Boundary Recommendations
• Presentation on Reduction in Force process
• Staff Recommendation for 10-point Grading Scale implementation
• Update to Policy 5-7, Selection and Review of Library Media Center Instructional Materials

Countryside WATCH D.O.G.S.

DOGS = Dads of Great Students

Neat story about the CES program getting Dads more involved in schools.

Counting Speakers

Somebody counted all of the speakers at the public hearings last week. I didn't get a full explanation of how the numbers were compiled, but the percentages are in line with the count that I did at the hearing I was able to attend on Saturday.

Topic	Favor	Oppose
Full Funding for County Budget Only	103 (99%*)	1 (1%*)
Full Funding for School Budget or Both	180 (93%)	13 (7%)
Total Speakers	283* (95%*)	14 (5%*)

*(numbers corrected after a commenter kindly noted my error)

Choosing to be a minority

From Policy 8-20:

A student who is attending a school in which his or her race is in the majority may, upon request of the parent or guardian, choose to attend another school in which his or her race is in the minority. Any students transferring under these conditions shall be provided with free transportation and space must be made available in the school the student desires to attend.

Open enrollments

For what it's worth, I favor an open enrollment system for our schools. Under the LCPS management model each school is distinctive and some parents would like to take advantage of that. There are four elementary schools within easy reach of my house and four high schools as well. As both a Dad and a Step-Dad I have kids in two clusters. It sure would be nice for them to go to school together. (Would I qualify under the "undue hardship" exemption clause?) Open enrollments have limitations as well, such as LCPS-provided transportation and school capacities. Nevertheless, other districts have developed successful open-enrollment models, complete with transportation.

Just something to think about.

Boundary changes update

Many parents are writing to the School Board regarding the boundary process, where the attendance zones of literally dozens of schools are being changed to adjust to new schools opening in the fall of 2009 and the fall of 2010. I receive a couple of dozen every day, and I don't even represent the areas affected. Most are form letters, though some folks put considerable time into making their case.

They all begin and end with the same theme: "Don't send my kids to a different school."

This carries with it an unfortunate but always unstated consequence: "Send somebody else's kid to a different school." (Or as one observer put it, "If you change my kid's school it will ruin his life. Don't ruin my kid's life. Ruin that kid's life.")

My daughter attended three elementary schools in all, so I certainly understand the apprehension. She was also happy in all three of them. I could say that this fervent attachment to schools is a sure sign of an excellent school district, but parents in DC have also been fiercely defensive of their childrens' schools this year amid closings, and it is clearly not a good district. It's actually a sign that education is an extremely personal experience, and people are averse to change.

Of course adjustments must be made. The system has overcrowding at some schools and excess capacity at others. School construction has not kept pace with enrollment growth. Result: lots of folks who don't want to change schools will need to do it anyway. I will give heavy weight to the recommendations of the representatives of the affected areas, but even that won't be simple because the breadth of changes this year creates a cascading effect across representative districts.

Both LCPS staff and Board members have put forward proposed plans, and staff will make recommendations to the Board this month. After that we'll have work sessions, lots of public comment. Then, we'll need to vote.

Review of Gifted Programs

The Curriculum & Instruction Committee conducts a review of LCPS Gifted programs on Wednesday morning (3/4/09) at 8:30AM.

Bergel Letter #1 on Wheatland Contract

Catoctin School Board Representative Jennifer Bergel sent the following letter to her constituents last week. I'm publishing it here with her permission.

Good evening,

Tonight the board voted to authorize a contract for land acquisition for ES-25 (elementary school), MS-10 (middle school), and HS-10 (high school). This land acquisition is the result of many months of talks, but I want to share with you a few things:

1. This contract is for the purpose of conducting studies on these properties - water and soil evaluations must be done. We plan to conduct these studies to make sure the groundwater supply is not being compromised in this area - and that the soils can support the schools. The study period is 120 days - and that time frame may be extended if necessary. As your elected representative, I vowed to look at greener construction when I campaigned. I intend to help continue the schools' track record of the last 15 years of being environmentally conscious. Furthermore, I intend to keep working farms from becoming school sites whenever possible. We have two willing sellers - Mr. Cangiano is selling 160 acres, more or less, ($9,925,000) and Mr. Burgess is selling 10 acres ($1,475,000).
2. The land is directly down Rt. 287. It is about 4.5 miles from Lovettsville. It is north of Rt. 9.
3. The following summarizes what I stated before the vote:
   I see this decision as one of prudence - a study period will look at water and soils. We can walk away from this contract if the water supply and the soils cannot accommodate the schools. Due to the recent Western Loudoun secondary schools' climate, it is imperative that we keep this episode from happening again by planning for the future. No one has experienced a middle, intermediate, and high school situation like the students currently attending Blue Ridge Middle School, Harmony Intermediate School, and Loudoun Valley High School. Furthermore, no working farm has been taken for school sites, and no condemnation has occurred to build schools. I opposed the Grubb site - I spoke alongside members of the Wheatland Alliance against the site. Schools with Rt. 287 direct access are very differently positioned than those that would have been accessed down a country road to the Grubb site.
4. At long last, students North of Rt. 9 will not have to cross Rt. 9 - sit at the light for minutes - in order to go to school.
5. There are many points I would like to make, but this final one for tonight is key - this property acquisition allows time to be on the side of those close to the sites. There is a planned subdivision on the Legard Farm; the properties that will be under contract are currently subdivided; and discussions can take place to plan for the future. For example, people have voiced concern about light pollution in the past. If you visit Mountain View Elem., you can see the stars at night though the safety lights are on... the technology will only advance further between now and when the elementary school might be built - if the site can support it.

I encourage you to forward this email to your neighbors. In case you are wondering, meetings took place over the course of 2008, a community meeting was held in Lovettsville about schools in May, an RFP was issued for land North of Rt. 9 for future school sites, and the land acquisition process being vetted by the Joint Committee of the School Board and Board of Supervisors has been followed. It is imperative for you to ask questions - I will respond to them. I may not be able to answer them immediately, but I will get back to you. The meetings mentioned above only recognize my role as the Catoctin District School Board Representative - they do not acknowledge those that began with a petition over three years ago asking for community support for a school North of Rt. 9.

I will send out other emails pertaining to tonight's meeting in the coming days.

Best to you all,

Jennifer
Jennifer K. Bergel
LCPS School Board
Catoctin District
Jennifer.Bergel@loudoun.k12.va.us
571-223-9724