Setting Up a Boundary Battle
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Anxious Parents Question Moves Among High Schools
Originally published at 9:23 a.m., March 24, 2009
Updated at 12:00 a.m., March 25, 2009
As school boundary-setting season roars to a full pitch, anxious Loudoun County parents are skirmishing to prevent their communities from being shifted from one high school to another.
The effort was on full display Monday night, as dozens lined up to argue the finer points of boundary changes at a packed hearing of almost 300 people at the county school administration building. The proposal being debated would shuffle students in Ashburn, Lansdowne and Leesburg. A second hearing scheduled for tonight is expected to be just as contentious.
The plan proposed by school administrators would move a chunk of Ashburn Farm students from crowded Stone Bridge High School to Briar Woods High School, even though some of those students live within walking distance of Stone Bridge. But Lansdowne residents, who live a few miles from Stone Bridge, would remain within its attendance boundaries.
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Critics of the plan argued that it would leave Ashburn area schools crowded while three Leesburg area high schools — Heritage, Loudoun County and Tuscarora — would have hundreds of extra seats.
Heritage, which squeezes 1,800 students into its hallways, 200 more than its capacity, would see its enrollment plummet to 1,100 in 2010, according to projections by school staff members. Loudoun County High's enrollment would drop by more than 300, as students from that school and Heritage would move north to the new Tuscarora High. Stone Bridge's enrollment would remain about the same, and Briar Woods' enrollment would jump by about 450.
"We do not need to overcrowd Stone Bridge and Briar Woods," said Margo Fallon, an Ashburn Farm resident. She said that the three Leesburg area high schools had "more than enough capacity for the communities north of Route 7" and that a proposal to build another Ashburn area high school was unnecessary.
But others expressed support for the proposal.
"This process feels horrible. Everyone in this room has had to choose between being a good parent and a good neighbor," said Kirsten Langhorne, a Lansdowne resident. She said that she felt compelled to support the plan and that she hoped the planning process in the next few weeks would make all parties feel they had had a fair say.
Although the high school boundaries dominated discussion at Monday's hearing, middle school boundaries in Ashburn, Leesburg and the area around Dulles International Airport also would be slightly reconfigured, and school staff members were expected to present recommendations for elementary school boundary shifts at the School Board meeting Tuesday night.
The boundary adjustment process will continue with public School Board work sessions next month and a final vote April 28.
Some parents cautioned against too much vitriol.
"This boundary process pits neighbor against neighbor," said Courtney Taliaferro, president of the Parent Teacher Student Organization at Belmont Ridge Middle School. Belmont Ridge's boundaries would change, but Taliaferro said that a school is what parents and students make of it.
"If our parents keep that in mind, then where our children wind up doesn't matter all that much," she said.
Tagged: Ashburn, Briar Woods High School, Lansdowne, Leesburg, Loudoun County Public Schools, school board, Stone Bridge High School
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Heritage in Leesburg is just as overcrowded as Stone Bridge. Depending on which paper you read, they are 200-400 kids over capacity. Quit throwing Heritage into this mess!
Posted by GenuineRisk (anonymous) on March 24, 2009 at 11:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
While Heritage is currently overcrowded, with Tuscarora opening, kids will be shifted. The school holds 1607 students. Under the proposed plan, in 2010, Heritage would only have 1108 students! These are the facts and if you would like to see the plan and this data, below is the link! That is 499 seats. 1300 seats open in the three leesburg schools, keeping in mind, Tuscarora can hold 1800 seats, not the 1600 it says. 200 seats are being held for an UNFUNDED Academy. http://cmsweb1.loudoun.k12.va.us/5099051...
Posted by Curioustmf (anonymous) on March 24, 2009 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dear Curious - there are currently several developments in process in SE Leesburg and ALL those new high school kids will go to Heritage - ALL of them. If you shift Lansdowne kids to Heritage, along with kids from new sections of Oaklawn, Kincaid, Potomac Station, and from the housing in the WEgman's center, then Heritage ends up like Stone Bridge - 400 kids OVER capacity once again. Since Heritage is on a smaller piece of land than most other high schools, there is no option to bring in trailers/portable classrooms. The problem doesn't get solved, it just shifts from Stone Bridge to Heritage. No thanks.
Posted by GenuineRisk (anonymous) on March 24, 2009 at 8:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lansdowne and Tuscarora HS, perfect together!
Posted by yind2b (anonymous) on March 24, 2009 at 9:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Either Home school or move to a school district that meets your needs. The answer is HOME SCHOOL.
Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on March 25, 2009 at 9:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I urge everyone to remember that continual redistricting is a by product of extreme growth. While planned growth is not a bad thing, growth that runs over us and forces us to go through processes like this will tear communities apart. Please remember this when we elect officials who are in the developers pockets instead of advocates for us and our interests. We, the people, are the ones that fill the tax coffers over the long haul. There is no way around those economics.
Posted by adrienne.gardner (anonymous) on March 25, 2009 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
there is definitely a problem when you have communities NOT NEAR a school fight to stay at a school, causing students in the neighborhood of the school to get bussed away. It makes no sense for people who live right next to Broad Run to go to Stone Bridge or right next to Stone Bridge go to Briar Woods. But you have people who get up in arms to stay at school when another one would be better. Because people didn't want to go to Sycolin Creek ES, others who live right next to Cool Spring ES got shifted to another ES (and often had 1 kid going to one ES and another child going to a different ES). If they ripped up the boundaries and drew them smartly, they might get a solution.
And I find it stupid that some people "don't want a school in their neighborhood." You hear this in arguments against a school between Waterford and Lucketts, the Purcellville situation or around Briar Woods. Do people realize what a school does for them? Sports? Concerts? Activities. Or do they like being in over-crowded schools and like being bussed far away.
Posted by michael34 (anonymous) on March 25, 2009 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
michael34, well-said, I agree with you on all of these points.
Posted by momof2 (anonymous) on March 25, 2009 at 12:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a longtime Ashburn Farm resident, I wonder if we would ask that our middle school kids all go to Belmont Ridge MS in Lansdowne and Lansdowne kids should go to J Lupton Simpson? I don't think that would fly. Same deal w/ Ashburm Farm not being able to attend HS in our community. Like one parent said: We didn't buy our home for river views, mountain views, guard shacks and golf courses; we bought with the reasonable expectation of going to the community HS. Although all taxpayers built Stone Bridge , that proffered land ( 60 acres) was worth b/t $4-5 million in 1989. That cost showed up as atleast $2000 per AF lot--shouldn't it be a reasonable expectation that our kids get to go there? The zones s/b simplified--what you have in your community, then split feed, if necessary, to schools you don't have. We in AF get split fed to ESs and MSs, and expect it because we are above capacity (ES) and we don't have a MS. I hope it all works out for the kids sake.
Posted by VARATPACK (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 4:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Also Ashburn Farm has been thru the most moves/ changes, though we're the oldest / stable / built-out community. In other words, we've been waiting the longest for stability--we s/b the anchor community--not the boat. It is like a couple yrs ago I went to buy a Wii at Christmas-time. I went to Best Buy @ 7:00 am and there was already a line of 30 people-- I didn't get the Wii for my kids--I was too late. I didn't cut in front of the line, I didn't write the manager of Best Buy to kick those guys out of line, I didn't lobby to build a new Best Buy, etc. I just said to myself "They earned it cause they camped there all night and are 1st in line"
Posted by VARATPACK (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 5:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't understand all the resistance over the Eagle Ridge portion of the staff plan. My son will be going to Stone Bridge but his friends will be going to Briar Woods if things stay the same. Under the staff plan, he and his friends will all go together to Briar Woods. He is very excited about this. I know plenty of other parents in this same position. We have to decide between losing our friends if we speak up publicly and doing what we feel is best for our children.
Posted by dtxyzzy2 (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 7:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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