With 12 days of school cancelled for weather, Loudoun kindergartners already have missed too many days to meet state requirements.
The Department of Education agreed to give the school district a waiver if corrective action is taken during the 2003-04 school year. The school district plans to extend the school day by 12 minutes, an extension that reduces the time between morning and afternoon sessions from 25 minutes to one minute.
"It puts our kindergartners on par for the school day," said Edgar Hatrick, superintendent of schools, at the May 27 School Board meeting.
The one-minute exchange will save on transportation costs and efficiencies, since the same buses will be able to drop off and pick up students, Hatrick said. The school district used the exchange for 21 years, lengthening it over time to give teachers and aides more release time. "We believe we can implement it again," Hatrick said.
LOUDOUN PARENT Kai Tifcher requested a part-time kindergarten teacher at Sanders Corner Elementary School in Ashburn, a request backed by another 13 parents who attended the meeting. "We would like to keep our kids close to our school," Tifcher said.
"Our two greatest concerns for our kindergartners are instruction and public safety," said Loudoun parent Mary Radford about losing a full-time kindergarten teacher at the school and subsequently two kindergarten sessions. "To a kindergartner, school is an unfamiliar place. It’s important to keep class size manageable. There’s a big difference between 25 and 22.5 students."
Other parents commented on the enrollment projections for Farmwell Station and Eagle Ridge middle schools. Farmwell station is projected to have 1,352 students for the 2003-04 school year, including 382 students from South Riding. Eagle Ridge is projected to have 568 students, but with the South Riding students shifted to the school for one year could have 950 students and even out enrollment numbers for both schools.
"How can this happen?" asked Susanne Patterson, a parent of a sixth grader at Farmwell Station, about one school being "empty" and the other "overcrowded." "How can you justify this at a time when resources are scare?"
"A different school doesn’t impact the educational quality students receive," said Dan Snow, also a parent. "The classroom size does have a huge impact."
School Board member Thomas Reed (At large) said the board wanted to prevent moving the South Riding students two years in a row. "I don’t think we anticipated this much growth," he said.
"When we’re doing boundaries, the biggest issue is having to move," said John Andrews (Broad Run).
IN OTHER BUSINESS, the School Board approved seeking funding for two elementary schools in Leesburg and the Belmont Country Club development scheduled to open in 2005, along with land for a future high school in an undesignated location. Construction of the two elementary schools is estimated to cost $15.565 million for each school and the procurement of land, $3 million, for a total of $34.13 million. The three projects are listed in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2004-08.
The board supported a resolution to request a November 2003 special election question to issue general obligation bonds or to request Virginia Public School Authority funds.
Before the vote was taken, Andrews asked for a friendly amendment to separate out the land purchase from the elementary school projects, saying that the split is a consistency issue for him. During CIP discussions last year, he did not support building two high schools in Brambleton and South Riding to open in 2005 when he thought only one school was needed.
"I don’t know why we would want to separate these. If we want to cherry-pick it, that’s a bad thing for us to do," said Harry Holsinger (Blue Ridge), adding that the Board of Supervisors already voted in support of the CIP.
Frederick Flemming (Leesburg) said the split will indicate to the Board of Supervisors the School Board wants the question split on the ballot, which would be issued in November 2003. "Then the public can vote against [it]," he said.
Andrews’ motion failed 2-7 with Andrews and Warren Geurin (Sterling) voting in favor. Andrews had to leave before the conclusion of the meeting and did not participate in the second vote to approve the resolution, which passed 8-0-1.