Comments on Our Loudoun Schools: Tonight at the School Board meeting

Some may feel squeamish about eating it, but rabbi...

2010-03-04T23:10:48.066-05:00

Some may feel squeamish about eating it, but rabbit has a fan base that grows as cooks discover how easy they are to raise — and how good the meat tastes.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have started a...

2009-11-13T10:50:54.829-05:00

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have started a new thread about long-term solutions for the Dulles North high school overcrowding problem.

Here's a question I haven't seen addressed...

2009-11-13T10:03:39.199-05:00

Here's a question I haven't seen addressed. Currently, some students in Lansdowne (the town center and the Camdem apartments) attend Belmont Station Elementary in Ashburn and Belmont Ridge Middle. Will these kids also be moved to Tuscarora or will they stay in the Stonebridge feed? What about other kids who get overflowed from Seldens to other elementary schools (as is likely to happen in

To the 9:26am poster - go back and read the post a...

2009-11-13T09:41:03.232-05:00

To the 9:26am poster - go back and read the post again.

The kids that were proposed to move last spring were separated from their friends at BRMS starting in 8th grade. THEY WENT TO ERMS FOR 1 YEAR (8th grade)! THEY WENT TO BRMS FOR 2 YEARS (6th & 7th grade). NOW, THEY HAVE BEEN GOING TO SBHS FOR 2 YEARS.

Thus, they were reunited with the friends they started at BRMS

I've been away - Wow, you guys have been busy....

2009-11-13T09:26:40.707-05:00

I've been away - Wow, you guys have been busy.
Back to business.

To the post starting "This is a terrible situation" which states "It is about 20 minutes if you go on roads that are actually finished.".

Three words, "take a car". If you do that, you'll see that it's only a few minutes, similar in fact to the shorter distance

What does happen to "Treat communities equall...

2009-11-13T08:37:42.528-05:00

What does happen to "Treat communities equally?" From John Stevens web site April 30, 2009.
"There are many other factors that many people are debating: Past Ashburn Farm moves, contiguous communities, travel distance, walkability, dangerous roads, overcrowding, fairness, the feeder system. These are all legitimate concerns. In my mind though, the question of Lansdowne's

I am open to suggestions....what would you like to...

2009-11-13T08:12:35.484-05:00

I am open to suggestions....what would you like to label an elected official (chairman, no less) that publicly disparages a community the way he did during the April 28 boundary meeting? And, along with the responsibilities of his position, he should be setting a respectful example for the entire community. He did not do this. And to make matters worse, he hasn't apologized or shown any

Hey John Stevens, If you are so concerned about n...

2009-11-12T18:16:00.066-05:00

Hey John Stevens,

If you are so concerned about name-calling why not delete the entry that calls your colleague, Robert DuPree "unprincipled". Nothing could be further from the truth.

One of the difficult side effects of living in a r...

2009-11-12T15:47:42.410-05:00

One of the difficult side effects of living in a rapidly growing community is FREQUENT school boundary changes and lack of permanence in those changes.

This is not an issue unique to Lansdowne. Ashburn has felt these growing pains for the past 20 years.

So far, Lansdowne has lucked out and not felt the impact of school boundary changes. Now - it seems the growing pains

Even a blind squirrel gets lucky sometimes and fin...

2009-11-12T15:01:36.305-05:00

Even a blind squirrel gets lucky sometimes and finds an acorn.

I must add that Dr Adamo presented attendance proj...

2009-11-12T14:52:55.731-05:00

I must add that Dr Adamo presented attendance projections for Lansdowne that have turned out to be correct. That school board chose to use the projections provided by the developer, causing much of the problem that we face today.

Adamo can't plan what he doesn't have. He&...

2009-11-12T14:12:29.937-05:00

Adamo can't plan what he doesn't have. He's only the messenger. And when you have an entire puzzle to solve optimally BUT only one piece is allowed to be moved, you can't really get to the optimal solution. This isn't Adamo's fault. Adamo as we saw in the spring would have approached this problem differently.

Thank the BOS and the school board politics for this

Please, Adamo's planning "expertise"...

2009-11-12T13:19:51.601-05:00

Please, Adamo's planning "expertise" is what got us into this mess to begin with!

Given the projected growth in the Ashburn area I d...

2009-11-12T13:15:19.823-05:00

Given the projected growth in the Ashburn area I don't know how Ashburn can avoid future boundary changes. From today's Leesburg Today:

"To highlight the level of growth expected in the near future throughout Loudoun, Sam Adamo, director of planning and legislative services, presented statistics on the number of approved homes that have yet to be constructed in the county,

This is a terrible situation. One that could have...

2009-11-12T11:51:35.838-05:00

This is a terrible situation. One that could have been planned for. When Lansdowne was built, there had to be a place for them to attend school. That was never considered. Now there is no place to go. Ashburn Farm will crowd out Broadlands in Briar Woods and Brableton too. While this is all "Ashburn" they are separate communities too. Lansdowne has been given an opportunity to stay

I think people are forgetting. LVE land will be n...

2009-11-12T11:02:13.835-05:00

I think people are forgetting. LVE land will be needed to provide a HS to the growing populating there. It will be fed by Stone Hill MS which currently feeds I believe two other local HS. They will not have room for the rest of Ashburn to come to that school becuase that area will fill it. Even with the LVE property, we will ne ANOTHER HS school.

If we didn't already own land, looking for &qu...

2009-11-12T10:27:54.474-05:00

If we didn't already own land, looking for "new" land in northern Ashburn would make sense. It isn't there to buy but it would be worth trying to buy there "first" before moving on to purchase land where it is big enough and for sale.

The fact is that we need a new high school in the Ashburn-area, it doesn't have to be in the northern-Ashburn area. We&

Who said anything about Lansdowne (or anybody else...

2009-11-12T10:18:38.117-05:00

Who said anything about Lansdowne (or anybody else) fighting against a new school? Everybody wants that. New schools should cause a redrawing of the attendance zones contiguous with the new school, not distant neighborhoods, that's all.

THS is in a very bad location for Ashburn-area kids and should cause redrawing of the lines in the Leesburg area, not the Ashburn area. It might

Does that mean, then, that you agree there needs t...

2009-11-12T10:04:30.925-05:00

Does that mean, then, that you agree there needs to be another high school in the northern Ashburn area? Regardless of whether it's in the budget or not.

If do agree, then why are you not fighting to get it put into the budget, talking with the school board, the board of supervisors to let them know it's needed?

Just sitting back and saying the only school in our

Who thinks that Lansdowne is against having a high...

2009-11-12T09:59:05.968-05:00

Who thinks that Lansdowne is against having a high school built closer to our area? The idea to have Belmont Ridge MS feed into a new high school north of SBHS came out a Lansdowne community meeting that Lori Waters attended. Since that meeting a lot of action has taken place with the apparent result that there is no parcel large enough for this to be accomplished. This is a perfect long term

We will continue to "agree to disagree" ...

2009-11-12T09:46:11.000-05:00

We will continue to "agree to disagree" on this unfortunately. And as for your conclusions about Lansdowne fighting against a new school...don't know where you're getting this. Lansdowne, just like Ashburn, would love to have schools in the right locations. From what I hear though, this is not in the budget in the forseeable future. Didn't Dr Hatrick say this the other

Let's talk about compassion. If you remember ...

2009-11-12T09:22:36.546-05:00

Let's talk about compassion. If you remember from the spring, the sections of Ashburn Farm that were proposed to move are the same sections that were moved 2 years ago from Belmont Ridge to Eagle Ridge.

So, what that means is those kids were separated from their friends in middle school only to be reunited with them at the start of high school. Had the plan been approved, those

The lack of compassion for the Lansdowne residents...

2009-11-12T08:40:22.854-05:00

The lack of compassion for the Lansdowne residents by Ashburn Farm residents is extremely frustrating and divisive. It's especially wrong since the kids that are being cast away are the friends of the Ashburn Farm parents leading the charge. But then, we don't care about the kid's community, it's all about the HOA. Kids have no political power. The school board should not be in

I just deleted two comments, something I've ne...

2009-11-11T23:09:53.938-05:00

I just deleted two comments, something I've never done before. One was in favor of the Lansdowne-to-THS move, the other opposed. Each went for namecalling and I deleted them in an attempt to discourage further escalation.

2009-11-11T19:09:41.273-05:00

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