Jennifer Bergel

Discussions, debates and disagreements have already begun as Loudoun County's elected officials begin to grapple with the yearly budget process and an even more dismal financial forecast. The discussions began at the Joint School Board/Board of Supervisors Committee meeting on Thursday, Oct. 8, one day after the Board of Supervisors Finance Committee adopted fiscal guidance recommendations, which sent shock waves through the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) administration building.

The Subcommittee on Capital Facility Needs of the Joint Loudoun School Board/ Board of Supervisors Committee has scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 6-8 p.m. in the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Administration building, 21000 Education Court in Ashburn.

The Loudoun County School Board is publicly advertising for land for three future school sites in western Loudoun County. The “request for public school sites” represents the efforts of the Joint School Board/Board of Supervisors Committee to develop a new and improved method for soliciting land from the public, including private landowners and developers. The deadline for submission of proposals is Friday, October 30, 2009.

“Without funds to purchase the land in Wheatland for public school purposes, staff recommends that the School Board terminate the contracts with Mr. Cangiano and Mr. Burgess.” Such was the lone agenda item on the special meeting of the Loudoun County School Board held on June 1. It passed 9-0.

The final official act of the months long–and now failed–effort by the Loudoun County School Board to secure a three-school site in western Loudoun on the Cangiano/Burgess property at Wheatlands will play out during a special School Board meeting on Monday, June 1, at 1:30 p.m. in the School Board Meeting Room at the School Administrative Offices, 21000 Education Court, Ashburn.

A motion to adopt the staff plan recommendations for Ashburn and Leesburg area high schools failed in a 4-4-1 vote with John Stevens (Potomac), Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin), Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) and Joseph Guzman (Sugarland) voting for the staff plan and Robert DuPree (Dulles), Warren Geurin (Sterling), Priscilla Godfrey (Blue Ridge) and Tom Reed (At-Large) voting against. Tom Marshall (Leesburg) abstained.

The recent debate on Ashburn/Leesburg high school attendance boundaries has been a difficult and sometimes rancorous one for the School Board. Here are comments from their most recent discussion: