Boundary meeting recap

BrambleDirt attended the Creighton's Corner ES boundary input meeting last night, along with a few other Brambletonians. But we were far outnumbered by folks from the Broadlands, who were well-organized against Plan 452, which ridiculously takes a small chunk of Broadlands and ships them down to Creighton's Corner. That's even sillier than sending Brambleton Westsiders there. There were also a lot of people from small Ashburn developments (like Carisbrooke) who oppose being moved to the other new school, Steuart W. Weller ES, which is in the One Loudoun subdivision.

Some good issues were raised by the crowd, namely:

• How long-term are these plans? (They seem like "band-aids")
• Under Plans 450-452, Weller ES is already overcapacity when it opens
• Are the growth projections modified to reflect the real estate market downturn?
• Why don't we expand current schools?
• How long is the bus ride going to be for kids who will have to be bussed across the nightmare of Waxpool Road to Weller ES?
• Why aren't trailers ("portables") considered as a short-term fix until neighborhood growth stabilizes?
• Where's the info on the psychological impact on kids who are moved?
• Why are buildings cookie-cutter? Why aren't they built to fit the needs of the surrounding communities?
• Why wasn't this process started earlier in the year so that candidates for School Board elections could weigh in on their positions?

If you've been to any LCPS boundary meetings, you've heard the party line:

• No one subdivision has any particular claim on any particular school.
• "Not everybody's a winner." (direct quote from Sam Adamo)
• Additions are costlier than new construction (by the time you factor in all the things you have to cover, you might as well build a new school)
• Capacity standards are: elementary - 875 students, middle - 1350, high - 1800
• Large planned developments shouldn't bully the by-rights, even if they proffered the land for the school
• Test scores show that kids don't suffer academically from being moved around
• Planning staff doesn't get involved in politics

Cliff Keirce, president of the Broadlands HOA, is the creator of Plan 454. It fixes the problems with Plan 452 (the Broadlands shift, and the division of Brambleton). So far, I think this is the best of the plans.

You don't have to create a whole new scenario to make your feelings known (although you can if you want). If you support one of these plans, e-mail your input/comments to lcpsplan@loudoun.k12.va.us. I encourage all of you to show your support for keeping DN33 (Summerfield) and DN36.2 (West side) at Legacy ES. You have until next Friday, November 2, to weigh in on this round of the process.

One last note: I spoke with Tom Reed, who is the Vice-Chairman of the School Board. He was very encouraging and emphasized that it is important to let them know how we feel and what we want from this process. All e-mails sent to lcpsplan@loudoun.k12.va.us are forwarded on to all School Board members and senior administrative staff.