New Ashburn Elementary School Boundaries

Broadlands residents we need more speakers tomorrow night at the Public Hearing. Please consider speaking for 2 minutes and voicing your desire to keep existing Broadland DNs in their current schools.

For those who are uncomfortable speaking just being there and showing support after our speakers, will speak volumes. Please consider coming to support your community regardless of which DN you're in or whether or not you have children of ES age. Thanks very much!

We're hoping to have everyone wear the same color, so we can easily be picked out... please check back for more details on which color shirt to wear.
...
Thursday, November 1, 2012 Staff Briefing & School Board Attendance Zones Public Hearing
All of the meetings will be held at the LCPS Administration Building, 21000 Education Court in Ashburn, and will begin at 6:30 pm.

Persons wishing to speak at any of the designated public hearings are encouraged to sign up in advance by calling the Planning and Legislative Services office at 571.252.1050, by 4pm on the day of the specific hearing. The earlier in the day you call the earlier your time slot to speak. If speakers are all able to call between 9:30 & 10:30 am you'll be more likely to speak early & follow in a row one after another which will have more impact. If you're concerned about making it on time, then just sign up once you arrive.

To our HOA Board, I sincerely hope you too will consider making a formal statement to the SB , as well as speaking at one of the upcoming public sessions. Thank you for your support on this very important issue to our community!

 

Speakers please make your calls to the SB later in the day (3:30ish) if your able to speak a little later. If this doesn't work for you, speak when you can!! Whether or not you're speaking please wear black to distinguish yourself as a member of Broadlands. Thank you again for your support!!

 

FYI per Eric Hornberger the work session will occur before public input tomorrow evening... https://www.facebook.com/tbtyo?ref=...story_fbid=486629238034515&id=202249939805781

 

See attached "Updated Q & A (Oct 31, 2012)", it appears pages 9-13 are the most recent updates to the document.

 

All 3 new plans have been released and DN32 is split in every one. Please if you feel strongly about keeping Broadlands together in their existing DNs tonight is the night to come out and support your community!! http://lcps.org/page/1094

 

Plan 2 has quite a bit of wacky stuff.

 

Steve, they've split up DNs and moved them from their existing schools. DN32 has been split, moving half to Hillside so VoW can be put into MR. DN32 has been at MR since the very beginning, they should not be getting ousted in order to accomadate another community.

 

Watching live....the first zinger comes from Eric Hornberger and it was good..."You put a plan together and we can put your name on it." Don't know the name of the person he said that to, but he deserved it. Really, we're arguing about how to name these plans so that you can have someone to blame? That's what that felt like.

 

He said that to at-large school board member Tom Reed. Tom is one of only two members who were re-elected from the last board. Tom is a bombastic blow-hard who tends only to speak when he thinks he has someone to blame for something. I was delighted by Eric's razor-sharp rebuttal. It says a lot that Tom didn't speak again after that.

 

Fortunately not everyone feels the same way Steve. The show of support for one another within our community was awe-inspiring!! Thank you to all the neighborhoods who turned out to support DN32 -- I'm proud to be part of this community!

BTW, there's more than 1 way to skin a cat... let's start thinking outside the box and find a win-win for everyone!

 

Is this gentleman against the Broadlands plan? If not, I would temper any personal negative comments on this public forum. You need a majority of board members to support you. JMHO

 

Personally, I found (and have found) Mr. Hornberger's treatment of Mr. Reed to be disrespectful of another Board Member. There are ways of stating your point without being rude.

 

Your points are well-taken, and I wouldn't want or expect Tom Reed to hold my remarks against the Broadlands. If he reads this forum, I apologize for going over the top, and would stand ready for a full blast in return if he is so inclined. I rather doubt that anything Tom and I would have to say about each other would be surprising to us, but fair is fair.

 

Well, I'm new to this world so I have "fresh eyes" as they say and by any measure Mr. Reed's point was just....well....silly. Seems as if everyone else thought so, to.

 

My comments at the School Board Public Hearing Thursday night:

Good evening-
My name is Cliff Keirce and I am a resident of DN32.
It is a pleasure to see Chairman Hornberger and Mr. Morse, two fellow community leaders who I have worked with on previous school boundary issues, now on the School Board. I would also like to thank Mr. Kuesters for the amount of time he has allowed me to chew his ear on this subject.

I am here to comment on the plan for Mill Run, specifically the beleaguered DN32.
A little history:
DN32 has attended Mill Run since it opened. I have had three children attend Mill Run, and have never heard concerns about how crowded it was, even in the year with 1400 students when part of the school was housed in Eagle Ridge and I believe it was the largest elementary school in the country.
When Legacy opened, staff proposed moving DN32 there. I worked with the School Board to keep it at Mill Run.
When Creighton's Corner opened, staff proposed moving DN32 there I worked with the School Board to keep it at Mill Run.
Now, finally, staff proposes keeping DN32 at Mill Run, and School Board members want to move part of it out.

I support the staff plan. It follows up what the plan has been in the past. When Discovery is built, the eastern DN's of Mill Run would be moved there and final stability for the Mill Run zone would be achieved. This has been done. DN32.2 has been moved in because staff has now determined it to be mostly in the walk zone, contrary to what they said when it was moved out a few years ago.

Mr. Kuesters mentioned that final stability will not be achieved until another school is built in the area. Let's wait until that site is determined before we make the final move. Mill Run will operate fine at its projected student population. Many years it has had more.

As a final comment, schools are more than numbers on paper. They are your staff, children and their parents working together to create a school community. Mill Run is a phenomenally successful large school. Please do not carve it up to satisfy numbers on a piece of paper.

Thank you,
Cliff Keirce

 

Cliff you left out the part where you got the laughs - that you, for the first time ever, support the staff plan.

 

You're right...that was an adlib. Forget to change my text.