New Middle School Boundries

In a memo dated March 15, 2006, the Loudoun County School Board, in their infinite wisdom, has recommended new boundries for the middle school they are building in Loudoun Valley Estates. Most of you with elementary and middle school students should have gotten this home from your school this week.

I urge everyone to take a look at the map, particularly the subdivsions list on the back of the paper. They are recommending that parts of Broadlands and Broadlands South be moved to the new school. This means that some of the kids that live in Broadlands and Broadlands South very well may be moved out of our neighborhood and bussed to school in Loudoun Valley.

Additionally, they are zoning in Farmwell Hunt and parts of Ashburn Farm to come to Eagle Ridge. Now, I have nothing against those neighborhoods, but I'd rather see kids from Broadlands South continue to go to ERMS. They are splitting our neighborhood.

Please take a look at this map and see if your part of Broadlands will be affected.

 

FWIW ... this is nothing new around here ... as new subdivisions are created, boundries move. Ask some of the people in Broadlands North ... their kids were shuffled from Broad Run to Stone Bridge, and now some to Briar Woods ... fact of life in Loudoun.

 

No kidding. I've lived here a long time. However, the board seems to constantly try to reinvent the wheel here. They don't need to split Broadlands in two in order to disrupt Farmwell Hunt kids who now to go Farmwell MS.

 

Is this new School called "Stone Hill". Thanks for the tip. I never knew that this was going on. When is the school slated to open? Fall? My son has 2 more years of Middle School (Eagle Ridge) left. Per the "proposed" boundaries it looks like he is safe from switching schools. What high school will the new school feed into?

 

I am not a big fan of the term "fact of life in Loudoun" when we are talking about the latest school board boundary change. The school board is proposing that sections of the Broadlands go to Eagle Ridge while other sections go to Stone Hill. If you read the boundary proposal the Courtyard portion of Southern Walk goes to the new middle school while their neighbors across the street go to Eagle Ridge. I don't see the school board dividing up Farmwell Hunt into Stone Hill/Eagle Ridge sections so why are the Broadlands so lucky? Maybe it's because the school board thinks we in the Broadlands will say "Oh well, fact of life. Our kids in Broadlands North did it so now it's the Broadlands South's turn." Again, let's be clear. The school board is carving out certain Broadlands neighborhoods to go to the new middle school so that entire Farmwell Hunt community can go to Eagle Ridge and that's not right, in my opinion.

 

If our kids were being bussed, it would be one thing, but it seems really stupid to prevent kids from walking to school. What a crazy world!

 

I looked at the school boundary map. It looks like DN44 and DN45 are Broadlands, south of Waxpool and east of Claiborne. I couldn't find a street listing of these DN's to confirm this. This looks like what is being moved to Stone Hill.
NONE of the previously proposed plans moved any part of Broadlands out of Eagle Ridge.
There is a public hearing on this issue this Tuesday, 6:30pm at the School Administration Building. Show up and speak your piece!! I guarantee you Farmwell Hunt residents wil show up in numbers to support this plan.
I'm really getting tired of Broadlands suffering in Mill Run and now Eagle Ridge because of Farmwell Hunt and that area.

 

Thank you. I cannot support a plan that busses our kids OUT of our neighborhood in order to bus students IN to our neighborhood. If you look at the distances, it doesn't make sense - Farmwell Hunt is farther away that Broadlands South from ERMS, and yet our neighborhood kids can't go to the community's middle school? Stupid.

Cliff, why do you think Farmwell Hunt parents will endorse the plan? Are they unhappy at Farmwell MS?

 

It appears just DN44 is Broadlands. I will be in touch with the School Board to try and get this rectified. I am hopeful that it won't be too difficult for them to see the logic in moving DN44 back to Eagle Ridge.
I've sent the Chairman and Dulles District Rep. Robert DuPree a letter about this and will stop by the Admin. building tomorrow.
But if anyone in eastern Southern Walk is concerned about this, tell your neighbors and show up at the public hearing Tuesday night. It's right here in Broadlands, so it couldn't be more convenient!!

 

Any idea where Inglewood Ct. ended up with the proposed split?

 

hberg-
The section if Broadlands being moved to Stone Hill is South of Waxpool and east of Claiborne Parkway. Inglewood Ct. is not changed.

 

When I called the school board on Friday, I was told they chose Broadlands because it's so densly populated and they had to draw the line somewhere! I'm not thrilled about it. My daughter will wind up going to Eagle Ridge for grade 6 and then off to Stone Hill for 7th & 8th. I personally think their boundries are a bit on the inane side!

There will be 3 public meetings on this! So, we can all go and voice our opinion (good or bad) on it!

 

But they are adding Farmwell Hunt, so that's not really alleviating the problem. If they wanted to draw the line somewhere, why bring in another neighborhood while splitting ours in half?

I'm not buying the Board's line. I think they split it where they did because some of those homes aren't completed yet, therefore the people it will affect aren't around yet to complain.

 

I totally agree...it's just stupid!

 

Does anyone remember when Heritage HS opened and all of those homes immediately adjacent to the school were still sent to Loudoun County HS?

 

Hi folks-
I've said it before and I'll say it again.......I can't emphasize the importance of residents going to one of the three public input sessions and speaking your piece. The meetings are held right here in Broadlands, so it's easy to get to!
The three sessions are all at the School Administration Building off Broadlands Blvd. All three sessions start at 6:30pm.
The dates are tomorrow March 21, Monday March 27, and Monday April 3.

There is absolutely NO reason to move any part of Broadlands out of Eagle Ridge. They can put DN44 back at Eagle Ridge and the school STILL stays BELOW capacity through 2012. I think they moved it out because they need to send more kids to Stone Hill to justify opening it.

I will be the first speaker tomorrow night, and I'll be speaking on behalf of the Broadlands HOA to fix this situation. I will be submitting three options that will fix this problem, all of which keep both schools within their capacities through 2012.

Remember.....silence is acceptance!!! If Broadlands residents don't oppose it, they will assume we accept it.

 

Thank you for the info Cliff. Based on the information on the map that was sent home, I drove around the new school boundries today, as well as I could figure considering they don't list street names. Did you know that we are talking about bringing in neighborhoods NORTH of Ashburn Farm Parkway (over near Shoppers) and Farmwell Hunt. We are talking about neighborhoods located on the other side of Broad Run High School. And yet, they are cutting out a part of our neighborhood that is less than a mile from ERMS. It really doesn't make any sense.

This isn't even talking about how they hopped over DN50.1 and added DN10.1 which is located pretty close to Route 7.

 

Voices are heard!! Back in the early '70s the Fairfax County school board tried to move half of our community from Woodson to Falls Church High School. Parents came out in droves and shot that idea down in a heartbeat.

 

In their logic, they don't think it's "right" to drive kids past one school to get to the next. Therefore, in their minds it makes sense to move Ashburn Farm and Farmwell into Eagle Ridge and take part of Broadlands and move it farther away.
DN27, which includes Farmwell Hunt, should be moved to Stone Hill. This section gets bounced around every year or two. It used to be in Eagle Ridge, moved to Farmwell Station, now is being proposed to move back to Eagle Ridge. Moving it to Stone Hill will ensure that they don't need to be moved again for several years to come. It is also closer, drivewise, to Stone Hill than DN44.
DN50 and DN50.a move south to Stone Hill, and DN10.1 is adjacent to their proposed boundary alignment. The good news is that there are no students in DN10.1.
When I get home, I'll post a copy of my statement for tonight's meeting.