The Loudoun County School Board meeting ended after 12:30 a.m. today. Here are some highlights from the six-hour event:

School Board Holds On to Wheatland, With Price Reduction

LCPS planning and legislative services director Sam Adamo presented the school board with two potential alternative school sites to the perhaps-doomed Wheatland edu-complex. The sites are less than ideal, however, as they each may require town annexation and county/town amendments, along with special exception permits to site schools there. (Click here to see more info and site maps.) The Schoene/Engle Track sits adjacent to Lovettsville, on the east side of the town. The McDonough Assemblage is 108 acres southwest of Lovettsville in an agricultural district.

After Adamo's presentation, the board met in closed session. Upon returning to the dais, members discussed the option of terminating the controversial Wheatland contracts. But the board ultimately voted to keep the properties - amended with a reduction in selling prices - as viable school site options. School board members John Stevens (Potomac), Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) and Joseph Guzman (Sugarland Run) voted against what they called "land-banking."

Stevens said that the Wheatland site was now "not a viable acquisition," adding that "several hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds" would be "put in jeopardy" by acquiring the property.

Pricilla Godfrey (Blue Ridge) supported moving forward with the Wheatland acquisitions.

"There's an urgency behind finding land out west," she said. "The economy will improve and there are wells already in place... Where are we going to educate our children?"

Vice Chairman Warren Guerin (Sterling) stated that the school board "has been told privately that [the Board of Supervisors] will take action against it . . . . Let's see what the supervisors really have to say (about the contracts) publicly."

Chairman Robert DuPree (Dulles) had the last word on the issue: "We need to show [the Board of Supervisors] the latest information and say, 'These are the options. If you still don't think this is the best option or something worth pursuing, then tell us on the record that you've changed your mind - don't just send us to do the dirty work.'"

Grade-Weighting Recommendation Delayed

Should grades earned in honors classes, college courses or study at the county's Academy of Science be weighted? A committee formed by the school system decided that additional points should not be awarded for completing these courses.

Last night, there was some confusion among school board members as to what, exactly, the committee was instructed to find.

Guzman argued that the committee was formed to determine how many additional points these classes were to award - not if, or if not, they were to be considered for weighting.

"It took a public outcry to get some motion [on changing to a 10-point grading scale], and here we are again leaving the job uncompleted," he said.

Given the lateness of the hour, the board decided to revisit this issue at a future meeting.

And a few more interesting tidbits:

GMU Shares LoCo Campus Study

Jerry Coughter, representing George Mason University, updated board members on the university's research into a joint campus/learning institution with Northern Virginia Community College. The colleges are exploring the construction of a suburban, urban or transit-centered location within the county, or possibly just expanding the NOVA facility in Sterling. Public input sessions are expected to begin in early June.

The Public Had a Lot to Say

Ashoka Rajendra was congratulated at last night's meeting. (By Erica Garman)

As expected, a majority of speakers during public input shared their opposition to the proposed Wheatland school sites in Western LoCo.

Also, several parents spoke of their outrage over the recent suspension of several Dominion High School students. Officials claim the students violated the school's zero-tolerance alcohol policy while on a school trip in France.

New Principals Announced

Pamela Paul-Jacobs will open the new Tuscarora High School in Leesburg this fall as the school's first principal. Paul-Jacobs is currently the assistant principal at Broad Run High School in Ashburn.

Frederic Gauriloff was selected to be the first principal of Purcellville's new Woodgrove High School, also opening its doors to students this fall. Gauriloff is currently the principal of Mercer Middle School in Aldie.

Academy of Science Student Takes International Prize

Ashoka Rajendra, a senior at Dominion High School and an Academy of Science student, was awarded first place in the Medicine and Health Science category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held earlier this month in Reno, Nev.

Rajendra's winning project was titled "Down-regulation of hTERT Sensitizes the Chemotherapeutic Effects of Docetaxel in Human Prostrate Cancer."

Wow. Now that's a project.