So this school was held up for 4 years and the solution was $2 million? In the richest county in America? Seriously? Wow!!!

Posted by hamilton (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 1:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Too bad Stevens Miller can't treat his own district the same way and get schools for Dulles South instead of being an impediment to progress. I guess in 4-5 years when the bond money for Dulles South schools won't be enough to buy a middle school site or a high school site, he can be in the same situation for Dulles South. Unfortunately at that point, it will probably be more like 10-15 million more that will need to be allocated. Way to go Stevens Miller, get the schools for other districts and forget about Dulles South.

Posted by deanzywicki (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 7:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This is great news for the students and families in western Loudoun. Perhaps now Mr. Miller can turn his attention to the overcrowding crisis in his own district and find sites in Dulles South for MS-5 and HS-7. Or will there be another nine-year delay before these voter approved schools are also built?

Posted by charsj (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 7:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

dean and charsj
You do realize how petulant and ridiculous you sound? Miller isn't ignoring his district. I hear that the county has already identified new sites and Miller intends to fast track the applications. He's managed to reject a bad deal and also accelerate the alternatives, all the while instigating changes to the land acquisition process that will make the whole process better. When MS5 and HS7 are under construction in the next year, in better locations, and the land costs a fraction, what are you going to be griping about then?

Posted by GR8PMPKN (anonymous) on November 19, 2008 at 11:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Setting aside for a moment that you didn't bother to address the point of the article, as charsj and deanz did, or issue any good wishes for the end of the hideous situation that NEVER should have come to this out west, do you have any idea how you sound, murphybrowngr8pmpkn?

Miller may not be ignoring his district, but he sure is screwing it. Maybe it would be better if he DID ignore it, instead of get negatively involved.

"You've heard"? Wow, I'm entirely sold!

The only alternatives at this point are the state delegate's kid's secondary interest sale in an even less dense and less-inhabited section of the sacred transition zone, or commercial in South Riding, neither of which will coat "a fraction" to bring online.

How exactly is he "accelerating" things the county doesn't own, unless you mean Mrs. Waters' hopes that we can just build it north of the airport and shift all the boundaries permanently?

Changes to the process? You mean the site search he had done for his commissioner before the report was even written?

Most people down here will probably be griping about exactly the SAME things next year, because we will be in the very same situation, maybe for years.

DeanZ and charsj have a right to their opinions, they managed to congratulate the relief of the western schools along with reiterating the lack in this area, and who the heck are you to read them off?

Oh, that's right..."you've heard".

Posted by BarbaraMunsey (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 7 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I, too, am very happy to hear about this breakthrough settlement. Hopefully, nothing will happen to mess it up. They need to move on and get the school built! They need to learn from their mistakes and improve the way our local government does business.

As for deanzwicki and charsz sounding petulent and ridiculous? No. They sound angry and discouraged. They sound like parents who are very concerned about their children. They sound like constituents who feel they have not been heard or that they have been ignored. They have a right to voice their opinions and have done so.

Now, for the content of your comment, gr8pmpkn. You make Mr Miller sound like an absolute hero in the Dulles South school situation. I hope you are right!! HOWEVER, the evidence of this is hardly apparent to those of us who are not in the inner circle, as you appear to be. Before the Lenah sites were voted down, we heard about available, cheaper sites. We heard that sites could be fast tracked. Now we have stopped hearing about any of this. Mr Miller has not made his constituents aware that he has any concrete solutions on the table.

Here is what I have heard. Mr Miller has met with some small groups of constituents in private homes. This appears to me that the people he is meeting with have been hand-picked. To be truly responsive to his consituency, he should meet with folks with a wide variety of opinions. Let's see, he could reach out to the people who have sent him emails, spoken at public input sessions, etc.

If he truly has solutions to the situation, he should make these widely known. What was that about transparency of government? Is that only required when certain people are involved?

We have also heard that Ms Waters has suggested using the bond money for HS-7 to build HS-6 in Loudoun Valley Estates II. We have not heard what our Supervisor Miller is doing about this. Let me review. Opposition to Lenah stated that the Lenah sites were too far away for our students. Um, is Ashburn (Brambleton) an acceptable solution? It was widely stated by the Lenah oppostion that the South Riding area needs a middle school and the Stone Ridge area needs a high school. Is Brambleton an acceptable location for the Stone Ridge high school? I emailed the Citizens for Community Schools to see if they would be taking a stand on this issue, since they were so vehement regarding the unsuitability of the Lenah sites. I have yet to get a response.

Mr Miller a hero. I will believe it when I see it. In the meantime, if he is really doing all these great things for Dulles South, he needs to COMMUNICATE with his constituents.

Posted by momof2 (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 8:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Wow, what're they going to do with the 5 mil settlement? Throw up some stoplights and call it good? Yeah, that'll fix the problem.

Posted by Hoqenishy (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 11:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)

GR8PMPKN If, as you predict, "MS-5 and HS-7 are under construction in the next year, in better locations, and the land costs a fraction", I will become a fanatical Stevens Miller supporter.

But, if no middle or high school is built in Dulles South in the next four years, will you still be calling parents who want their children to attend middle and high school in their own community "petulant and ridiculus" or will we be back to that other recent label "emotionally disturbed."

Posted by charsj (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 3:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I guess the Planning Commission hasn't "heard about" the accelerated, fast-tracked site, ready to go either. I seriously hope that Helena Syska is wrong in her foreshadowing about Dulle South. I guess GR8PMPKN should call her "petulant and ridiculous" too for even suggesting such an idea?: http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/200.... I won't grip about anything anymore if Miller gets a Middle School and High School under construction in the next year. Heck, I'll take just a Middle School starting in the next year. So where did you "hear" this great news? Do tell. the last communication the district resident received was a long email about Mr. Miller expediting "low cost, temporary structures" and expanding the "core services" at Mercer. I don't believe the admin staff at Mercer are yet aware that he is planning this for Mercer.

Posted by deanzywicki (anonymous) on November 20, 2008 at 7:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I have the misfortune to live near the-to-be built Woodgrove high school - the site is far from the intended student population and has lousy road support and should never have been chosen.

All the roads North of Purcellville near the site are dirt roads or paved rural roads. The nearby intersections do not lend themselves to increased traffic volumes. I think paving the dirt roads (Allder School Road and Purcellville Road) would be a mistake as this will permit higher speeds and likely more accidents. The intersection of Allder School Road and Purcellville road has limited site distances with blind corners. If a traffic light was placed there, a right on red would likely not be permitted for this reason - but of course all the planners says that traffic will mostly come from Hillboro Road onto Allder School Road (paved in that area), so I'm sure all the students, teachers etc. will do as the planners expect.

I also continue to remain concerned about Purcellville's plans to draw more water from the ground to support its growth and now the new school. Everyone in this area not connected to a town water system uses wells - if our wells run dry because of increased water demands, who will pay to fix our problem?
Finally, Purcellville already has too many schools in and about town - try driving through the town when the buses line up for pickup at Loudoun Valley High and some of the other nearby schools. The town police have to direct traffic, the town pays and the quality of life is affected.

Posted by ebersold (anonymous) on November 28, 2008 at 8:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)