“If you may recall, Mr. Stevens, that was the very meeting during which the president of River Creek emailed you pledging financial support if the Balls Bluff parents agreed to drop our request for student redistribution.  You placed the email directly in front of me, to which my response was “It’s not about the money, rather the – academic inequalities“. And so you are already aware, that offer mysteriously disappeared after the parents of FHR won their lobby to keep FHR low-diversity and overcrowded. In the end, all we were left with was our underachieving school and a lot of wasted precious time and effort that greatly Impacted our Individual families.

It was a very disappointing period for all of us. I Immediately sought full time employment to prepare for the additional expense of a private school education for my youngest, who had some special needs of his own which most definitely would not have been adequately accommodated at t he already overburdened Balls Bluff Elementary.”

Email from a Balls Bluff ES parent to Frmr Chairman John Stevens dated 11/20/2011

My kids were rezoned for elementary and high school.  They did fine at both schools.  In fact, it turned out to be a blessing, as the newly-built high school had a lot more problems, than the one they ended up going to.  No easy answer here, but that’s what happens with continued growth, both planned and un-planned.  The well only holds so much water.

“River Creek has well over 1100 homes. The value of those homes is roughly $400,000,000. We pay well over $5,000,000 per year in taxes. If River Creek moves to a different elementary school it will negatively impact tax revenues and therefore funds for the schools we are seeking to improve”

Email date 10/27/11 sentto LCSB member Jennifer Bergel from Keith Howard, Keller Williams Loudoun Gateway Realtor

Just to clarify…there were 108 signatures representing approximately 50 students from Cl 19.0- not the 135 students like the article states.  Also, Potomac station Hoa was NOT split….less than 50 students were rezoned to the new school from the PS hoa.

brekkon.  It sounds to me the developer didn’t build enough schools. Since the current school is overcrowded, it is time for the HOA to cede more land and money if they want a second school to keep kids in the same neighborhood. Otherwise, LCPS has to make the hard choice to carving up kids to equal out attendance.  Or would you rather have 50 students to 1 teacher?

I agree completely with tot15. There were three “viable” plans for voting, and they took the worst of the three for sure. The whole idea for balancing Leesburg was to make it equitable for ALL the children - it wasn’t based on proxemics before, and sadly it still isn’t. River Creek must have something on LCPS - what other possible reason would keep them at a school across town, while closer neighborhoods get moved to accommodate them? Sadly, when all is said and done, and 8 of the 9 schools have better equity, DES will have the same problems as Catoctin and Balls Bluff. There is no magical administration that can rectify lower PTA dollars and fewer parent participation, and most importantly, the time and energy many of these children need so desperately.

JesusNut… Thats funny because Potomac stations developer was the one who proffered the land to build tolbert and Harper Park middle school so that the community would have a central school and now that HOA is split. Part of PS is being shipped off 3 miles away to the new school when many of cl19 can see Tolbert from their homes.  So according to you CL19 needs to build yet another school so they can stay?  I think its the fiefdom of River Creek that DIDNT build their own school when it was developed & pushed for themselves to stay at Francis Hazel Reid that cascaded this fiasco. If they had agreed to go to the CLOSER to them NEWER school, we would have had a better plan. Instead it is RIVER CREEK’S submitted plan we got stuck with. So whos the real fiefdom?  River creek..the richest HOA in this boundary process & creators of the plan that was passed? or a smaller community of town homes that was cut off from the rest of their HOA?

Judge Horne wasn’t even in the Court room.  He adjudicated on this hearing via telephone.  That seems highly suspect.  You’ve gotta wonder when the clerk brought a speaker phone (attached to a 20+ foot cord) over to the plantiff’s table. Judge Horne was on “vacation”, so why didn’t he give this case to another Judge or delay the hearing.

Shocking the local media is finally starting to cover this. LCPS board do your job, balance the boundaries.  They are not balanced, If they were Lessburg Elementary would not have grades in over flow, DES would not have 34%FRM. This is plan and simple.  The problem was moved form the old building “Catoctin” to the new building “Douglas Elementary”. Catoctin has been kicking and screaming for balance for the past eight years, they got it at their school. DES will have parents kicking and screaming too. Oh,  thats right Jennifer Bergel said Douglas had an administration that could handle it. More brilliant thoughts form Bergel. If it were that simple why didn’t Catoctin get an administration that could handle it eight years ago. There were plans out their that did balance everything, re-visit them!  This is not about Beacon Hill, Jesusnut (odd name choice given your comment) Catoctin’s numbers are better then Reid’s, and the staff at Reid are miserable because the principal treats them like two year olds. So, quit envying the haves and start really thinking about the have nots that have just been shifted over to Douglas.  Think about all the kids that will be moved again and again because the boundaries were not balanced in numbers, demographics, Sociooeconomics or anything else. This was not about balance or the kids,  this was about dirty unethical politics. Trust me the Beacon Hill kids will be fine, their parents have the resources to ensure that.  Jesusnut,  think about the ones that don’t have, sadly those are the kids that were done an injustice and that is what the suit is about. You should re-think your name Jesusnut I don’t think he would approve.

Why are there “transportation issues”? Will there be buses? Three extra miles seems close? Elementary students in Ashburn Farm were once bused 10 miles to Arcola.

Jesusnut - Interesting take for sure. So what you are saying is that if an HOA gives either land or cash proffers to the county for schools then that HOA should be guaranteed to go to that school?

Isn’t that “pay for play”?

Maybe the HOA should cede land to the county, along with a few million dollars, so d they can get a second school built for their fiefdom. Otherwise, deal with it.

Of O and Marshall testify, they best be careful…there were more redistricting episodes under their watch.  Evergreen Mill vs. Sycolin was one that O seemed to play games with to make another board member’s life miserable.  Life is not fair…your children will do fine at their new school in spite of what they have heard their parents say all this time.  Thank goodness children are so adaptable.