I have no problems with the plan to convert Belmont Ridge MS to a high school - as it stands now in the proposed CIP. Opening the new MS on the Newton-Lee site, then the replacement MS for Belmont and then the conversion to the HS is the right order. Any changes to this order will result in severe logistical problems and more "temporary" boundary changes.
Agreed. I think this is the plan that makes the most sense. Again, new middle schools first to relieve the overcrowding while we still have a high school that is not yet over capacity, then the conversion of Belmont Ridge to a HS.
I think it's the dumbest thing that I have ever heard in the 12 years that I have lived in the county and had children in LCPS. If the BOS doesn't like the way the school board places and builds schools then let the members of the BOS run for the school board. Belmont Ridge isn't even paid for yet! And who is going to tell the parents of athletes that there's not room for ball fields or a stadium?
I think those in favor of converting a relatively new [6 yrs. old} middle school to a high school will get the reason why this is a bad idea when the study comes back regarding the cost of the retrofitting the building to make it a high school. It is going to be out of sight!
What people don't seem to understand is that is much more complicated then just having classrooms available. The programs and designs of a middle and a high school are dramatically different.
I will hold off on a judgement until the study has been completed. I hope the study includes retrofitting the building, adding onto the building and demolishing/rebuilding.
I'd also like to know the alternative sites big enough for a high school - aside from the ISA site which is a bad location due to traffic and the close proximity to Broad Run.
According to Supervisor Burton, this cockamamie plan will cost taxpayers $75 million more than just building a new high school on the Farmwell site. I agree with many supervisors that the Farmwell site is just about as bad a site for a high school as there could be, so I don't think it should be built there.
Why not trade the Farmwell property for a 50+ acre site in North Ashburn? Pick a site and threaten eminent domain condemnation if the owners don't cooperate. Even if the county has to include a few million in cash to sway the owners, it is much cheaper and less disruptive than converting an existing building.
My Thoughts? As one of the 80 technology assistants about to get axed per Dr. Hatrick's "Option 1" list - I really have NO thoughts about converting a middle school. Frankly, I'm more concerned about finding new employment, paying overdue personal property taxes and putting food on the table. If it wouldn't destroy what's left of our family, I'd pack up and bail out of Loudoun altogether.
My Thoughts? I wonder how long unemployment and the social services safety net will hold up.
My Thoughts? If over two thirds of the county's budget is for the school system, perhaps the BOS should take what table scraps LCPS tosses their way, instead of vice versa.
DISCLOSURE: I AM NOT A TEACHER, NOR AM I AN EMPLOYEE OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM AND NO ONE HAS BRAINWASHED ME, TOLD ME WHAT TO SAY OR ASKED ME TO COMMENT.
I am sickened by the potential job losses for so many LCPS employees!! I will be letting the School Board and the BoS know again that I think it is a terrible thing.
I am sickened by the cavalier way some taxpayers discuss our LCPS employees - how dare they express support for themselves, their employer, the school system? How dare they want to keep their jobs? How dare they say they care and that's why they teach? They just want to get "rich" off the taxpayers dime!
Some say they are going through a hard time, they can't afford to pay more in taxes. Well, if these job cuts go through, we will now have THAT MANY MORE taxpayers who can't pay any of their taxes, mortgages, who can't support their families, and the list goes on.
Our school system and the county government as EMPLOYERS. What kind of employers are they?
Yes, thanks to the "increased taxes" my family's real estate tax will go down this year. The smart mouths will say - go ahead and send the balance if you care so much. They are missing the point. It is not up to any one group to pay for the services that benefit our society. Whether you have a child in school or not, our public education system is benefitting you. It is at the core of our democratic way of life and it is the foundation for a thriving society and economy.
We are all about to lose so much if these employees lose their jobs. Will you join me in supporting them and telling the SB and the BoS that cutting jobs is not the way to go?
The thing that really ticks me off is the fact that all the sports player fees do not go to pay for their sports. They go into a general fund. Seems to me to be more of a tax, than a fee.
I'd be more accepting of the fees if they actually went to pay for uniforms, field upkeep etc. And to make matters worse, most of the field upkeep is done by the coaches, players and the assistant ADs.
And what about all the summer travel teams that use the high school fields? Do they pay a fee to use the fields? No, they don't.
Bottom line, Hatrick is threatening the taxpayers, students, parents, etc with higher fees, but he is unwilling to cut anything from his own budget. He keeps his car allowance and his personal travel expenses - and he has the #$%$# to tell us we need to pay more.
Again, I'd be more accepting to pay the fees if I thought they were actually used to offset costs associated with the sport and that frivolous expenses like car allowances and personal travel expenses were eliminated as well.
Thoughts- here is one, today I watched as the Spanish teacher in my child's school conducted a "review" lesson for the "big" end of year Spanish test they would be taking in the 5th grade. Well, several students were playing with things in their desks, some were coloring, some were reading a book- not related to Spanish, a couple were having their own conversation and maybe one or two were actually paying attention to the lesson. Not a single student in the class was able to answer all the questions correctly about a "story" that the teacher had read. This is the biggest waste of time, effort and energy and needs to go AWAY!! Yet what is on Hatricks cut list- READING teachers and technology assistants. How stupid. And by the way- the elementary school just got new promethean boards that the teachers have not been fully trained on using and who was running around educating these teachers- the tech assistant. Good thing she was there or we would have expensive boards that no one could operate! Just MY thoughts.
During the Joint Committee meetings on the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on new school designs, I NEVER heard any official speak of 3+ story facilities or design-build construction to reduce the footprint of new schools (and additions) so smaller, more readily available, sites could be acquired in areas where long-term savings of bus transportation costs can be realized by increasing walk/bike access.
Could the facility be modified to provide both middle and high school seats (e.g., 1000 MS + 1200 HS in lieu of 2000 HS seats) if stadium and other large athletic fields were located on a nearby site? I understand BRHS and LVHS athletes do this, perhaps others do as well.
While I believe strongly in the tremendous benefits of school-based athletic and marching band programs, I don't understand why these programs, which serve a subset of students, dictate space needs for the entire student population.
Someone once mentioned a property held by Loudoun Water in Ashburn. Is that option off-the-table?
...and Fairfax County Public Schools' South County MS and HS (circa 2005) are 1000 and 1500 students co-located on a 69-acre site. So why does LCPS need so much more room (35-acre MS and 75-acre HS)? Why is it that neighboring districts are able to come up with creative solutions like these but LCPS can't operate without sticking to a limited number of templates?
The proposed conversion is a horrible idea. Why take a fully functional middle school, dismantle it to produce a sub-standard high school while simultaneously needing to build a replacement middle school? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep the middle school intact and find a suitable site for a 2 to 3 story high school?
The opposition to the ISA site seems contrived. Traffic problems and proximity to existing schools? Lessons learned from the transfer of Lansdowne students to Tuscarora indicate that proximity is not an important part of the boundary process. Traffic problems will always exist around any high school site. What are the traffic considerations for the proposed "Belmont Ridge High School", with its single access road?
It seems that communities are always jockeying for position, each trying to get the two boards to see their way for which schools are needed, where and when. Numbers and charts are thrown around, always seeming to change as they suit the different communities.
Clearly there is a need for additional seats at all school levels by 2013. Given that the planning, purchasing and building processes take 2-3 years at a minimum, how can we possibly wait until the 2 boards are able to find the "perfect" sites for each school?
HS-6 is ready to go....build it. The ISA site is county owned...build a 2000 seat HS and an ES on it. Keep Belmont Ridge a middle school...you are going to need all of those seats. Newton-Lee MS...build it. Then we will be done building and boundaries will finally be permanent for all communities and then we can all stop fighting over every decision.
Mag - The opposition to the ISA, AKA Farmwell, site is not contrived. Are you familiar with that area at all? The site is surrounded by commercial development; it is less than a mile from another high school; and the traffic in the area is unbearable during rush hours. That intersection there at the Ashburn Ice Rink has the highest accident rate in the county.
Location should be the number one consideration when building a new school and the Farmwell site is a bad location.
The HS 6 site is also not a solution to overcrowding in north Ashburn.
Sarah - Yorktown high school in Arlington also recently added a 3-story addition. Looks very nice. It is beyond me why LCPS does not consider such sensible solutions.
Anyone know the 411 on a Loudoun Water site? I heard an Ashburn school activist mention it, but nothing since.
Their website states BOS created the entity in 1959 by a resolution, through the Water and Waste Authorities Act, for the sole purpose of providing water and wastewater service to residents of the unincorporated areas of Loudoun County.
Assuming it's NOT a wastewater treatment plant, why not co-locate a school on some of their properties? Woodgrove HS is co-located on the Fields Farm water supply well field (and former Mtn View ES wastewater treatment plant) which was operated by Loudoun Water until it was transferred to the Town of Pville. So what is the difference?
Or is the County's legislative approval process too cumbersome to convert the landuse quickly?
Please share this story with your school board member. FLES is a waste of money. Students do not receive a grade or feedback and it has not made any difference in the students' ability to be successful at the high school level in foreign language ( I would know, I teach Spanish!).
18 comments: