As many of you know, the boundary setting process for Stone Bridge High School ended last April in a stalemate. There was not a majority of votes on the School Board to do anything at that time. From our understanding, this was the first time that the School Board was unable to make a school boundary decision in the history of Loudoun County.

During this process, documents were released detailing how the LCPS administration planned to send an increasing number of middle and high school students farther and farther south from schools in their own communities. Commonly known as the "Southern Shift," this plan was brought to the attention of the School Board and Board of Supervisors through your combined efforts. As of today, we believe that there is little support for the Southern Shift among our elected officials. Many have become eager to find an alternative that will keep this from happening throughout much of Ashburn and central Loudoun County, especially in the attendance zones for Stone Bridge, Broad Run and Briar Woods High Schools.

The bringing to light of this Southern Shift and the unprecedented school boundary stalemate for Ashburn led to the creation of two new official bodies to further investigate the situation and recommend further action. The Joint Committee of the School Board and Board of Supervisors formed a Joint Sub-Committee on Capital Construction Needs to investigate the school facility needs in the central area of the county (Ashburn, Dulles and eastern parts of Leesburg). Meanwhile an Ad Hoc Committee for Boundary Policy was also established within the School Board to recommend changes to the current boundary policy and process that may have contributed to their reaching a stalemate. These two committees have met on and off over the summer months.  Both committees have recently concluded their work and presented formal recommendations to their respective authorizing bodies. (See section 5 and 6 below).

AFPU representatives were in attendance at each meeting and frequently made presentations, trying to keep a broad perspective of the interests of not only our community but also the larger community of Ashburn as a whole in mind.   

Loudoun County needs to build a new high school, a new middle school, and a new elementary school north of the Greenway. Why? We need a new high school to pair with Belmont Ridge Middle School, a new middle school to pair with Stone Bridge High School, and a new elementary school to serve the children living in greater Ashburn There are far too many students in the attendance zones for Belmont Ridge MS, Stone Bridge HS, Farmwell Station MS, and Broad Run HS, and soon at Briar Woods H.S. and Eagle Ridge MS. We have run out of space, and many of our kids have already been sent to middle schools farther south. The number of kids currently residing north of the Greenway requires these new facilities, and the number of students only continues to grow.  Meanwhile student populations south of the Greenway are also increasing, creating a greater demand for the schools that are in their communities. 


Without these schools in northern Ashburn, Ashburn Farm and the larger community of all of Ashburn will forever be in flux. Without these schools, the Southern Shift is imminent, and literally thousands of students from many communities all across Ashburn will be moved out of schools within their communities and bussed farther and farther south.

The good news is that plans have already been underway to build these schools. The bad news is that current plans have them in the wrong locations - far away from the students that they need to serve and even farther south! The school population exists north of the Greenway, and we need to build the schools where the kids live.

The current tight budget situation in the county may mean that most schools in at least the central part of the county will have to endure overcrowding for the next several years until more schools can be built. However, steps can be taken now to insure that when these schools are built that they are built in the right locations to provide lasting educational stability for the kids in the central part of the county, enables them to attend the schools within their communities, and preserves the communal integrity throughout Ashburn.  In addition, this will also ensure that taxpayers for the next 20-40 years are spared the economic and environmental expenses of bussing students unnecessarily to great distances. When gas prices skyrocket, we will be thankful for wise investments in well-placed schools.

This particular body was charged with providing the Joint Committee of the School Board and Board of Supervisors with a formal recommendation sometime in October. This committee was chaired by Supervisor Stephens Miller (Dulles) and included Supervisors Lori Waters (Broad Run) and Kelly Burk (Leesburg) and School Board members Robert DuPree (Dulles), Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run), and Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin). Over the course of the summer, it became increasingly clear to the majority of the members of the committee that there is a sufficient student population north of the Greenway to fill an elementary school, middle and high school within the next several years. 

On October 14^th, the Joint Sub-Committee concluded its work by endorsing clear statements of need and priority of new school facilities at all three educational levels (elementary, middle and high) to be built north of the Greenway on a 5-1 vote (Bergel opposed). 

Final Recommendation of the Joint Sub-Committee