School Board member John Andrews drove the distance to every school in eastern Loudoun that faces a boundary change in 2004 and 2005.
"I looked at location. I looked at community. I looked at transportation. I looked at long-term communities," said Andrews (Broad Run) at the April 9 School Board meeting. He gave his support for the staff-recommended attendance zones for Mercer Middle School as well as Freedom and Briar Woods High Schools.
The staff recommendation, which received unanimous approval from the School Board, will draw new boundaries for Eagle Ridge, Farmwell Station and J. Lupton Middle Schools to accommodate the fall 2004 opening of Mercer Middle School in the Stone Ridge subdivision. The opening the following year of Freedom High School in South Riding and Briar Woods High School in the Brambleton subdivision will change the boundaries for Broad Run, Loudoun County and Stone Bridge High Schools.
"This is the best fitting one," said School Board chairman Joseph Vogric (Dulles). "We were able to accommodate everyone who came before us."
Under the new boundaries, the Ashburn Farm, Ashburn Village, Belmont Country Club and Lansdowne communities will be kept together in the same attendance boundaries for middle and high schools, allowing students from each of the communities to attend the same schools. The Ridges of Ashburn community, which also will be maintained, will be moved in fall 2004 from Eagle Ridge Middle School to Farmwell Station Middle School against the wishes of some of the residents of the 300-home community.
Andrews said that without the switch, the community would have been the only one along Ashburn Road located outside the attendance zone for Farmwell Station and Broad Run High School. "It's a very tight boundary you're starting to get in there," he said, adding that eventually the boundary will have to be altered to accommodate the opening of future secondary schools. "It's the most logical and commonsense boundary."
"It's really unfortunate infill projects, although Ridges of Ashburn is not a small project, give us this geographical difficulty that they do," said Warren Geurin (Sterling).
The boundary changes place the Dulles South area, South Riding, Aldie and most of Arcola into the attendance areas for Mercer Middle School and Freedom High School and the Broadlands and Brambleton developments in the Briar Woods High School attendance area.
"It gives our students long-term stability, which for high school is critical," said Thomas Reed (At large).
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the School Board:
* Agreed to have a work-session to discuss what budgetary items to return to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 operating budget. The Board of Supervisors plans to pass a supplemental appropriations resolution of $2 million to add to the School Board's budget. Last month, the supervisors appropriated a $388.211 million budget for the School District, $11.998 less than the School Board's proposed budget of $400.209 million.
The $2 million will be provided by the funds the county expects to save by refinancing the County Government Center in Leesburg, built in 1996. The Virginia Supreme Court dismissed John Grigsby and N.C. Donnangleo's appeal that challenged the refinancing, as approved by the Board of Supervisors in May 2002.
The Board of Supervisors earmarked any savings realized in FY-04 for the School Board's budget. The county expects to save a total of $4 million from the refinancing.
The School Board will be able to schedule the work-session after the bond sale is made.
* Heard comments on a proposed teacher transfer and a staff position cut at Middleburg Elementary School that may be included in the 74 new positions cut in FY-04.
At the last board meeting, the School Board increased the class size by one-half student and cut another 29 positions to help reduce the overall budget by $12 million. To accommodate the reductions, the Middleburg kindergarten class, which is expected to have nine students, will be joined with the kindergarten class at Aldie Elementary School, while the first and second-grade classes at the Middleburg school will be taught as one class.
Nine Middleburg residents voiced their concerns, some saying they were worried that the school will eventually be closed, while others said they do not want to see their children bused to another community.
"The community looks to that school and would be sad to lose that school," said Olen All, a Middleburg parent. "There has got to be another way to make this work."
"You're talking to the wrong board," said School Board member Harry Holsinger (Blue Ridge). Referring the parents to the Board of Supervisors, he added, "I think we need to try to hang on to all of our small schools."
Candy Cassell (Sugarland Run) agreed. "We on this board have valued our small rural schools," she said. "Unfortunately, every school is going to have some effect."
The School Board does not plan to close Middleburg Elementary School and will decide whether to combine the kindergarten class for FY-05, said Wayde Byard, school press officer. "It will be a year-by-year decision," he said.
* Approved grandfathering 40 rising fifth graders who want to attend their current schools instead of relocating to another school, as required by the opening of Countryside Elementary School and the change in boundaries.
"One of the things we hear continually during boundary changes is continuity in children's education. This is one small way we can do that," Cassell said.
* Received a copy of letter regarding inscriptions on tiles, bricks and other permanent attachments to school property, as distributed by Superintendent Edgar Hatrick to school principals on March 25. The inscriptions will be limited to the name and the class, grade or year of students and staff members, the letter said.