<Gasp!> Rational Debate Erupts in the Loudoun Blogosphere!

John Stevens and my own Stevens (Miller, that is) have an interesting set of posts up. Read John's first at Our Loudoun Schools, and then read Stevens's response at Without Supervision.

Logic! Reason! SCIENCE! Well, maybe not science.

I am excited to see something that is rarely seen in the Loudoun blogosphere, a calm rational substantive debate based on thoughtful interpretations of the facts.

Dear School Board (edited for a clarification)

So you say you want to keep high school enrollments under 2000.

Board member J. Warren Geurin (Sterling) said the School Board believes high schools operate best with a maximum of 1,800 students. Schools with more than 2,000 students are not desired for educational reasons, he said.

I hate to bring this up again, but have you never heard of
Stuyvesant High School? Enrollment: 3300. How's about Bronx High School of Science? Enrollment: 2800. Brooklyn Tech? Enrollment: over 4900.

These are schools parents glory to have their children go to.

Stuyvesant:

According to a September 2002 high school ranking by Worth magazine, 3.67% of Stuyvesant students went on to attend Harvard, Princeton, and Yale Universities, ranking it as the 9th top public high school in the United States and 120th among all schools, public or private. In December 2007, The Wall Street Journal studied the freshman classes at eight selective colleges (Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Williams College, Pomona College, Swarthmore College, U. Chicago, and Johns Hopkins), and reported that Stuyvesant sent 67, or 9.9% of its 674 seniors, to them...
...Stuyvesant has contributed to the education of several Nobel laureates, winners of the Fields Medal and the Wolf Prize, and a host of other accomplished alumni. In recent years, it has had the second highest number of National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists, behind Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Alexandria, Virginia...
...Stuyvesant, along with other similar schools, has regularly been excluded from Newsweek's annual list of the Top 100 Public High Schools. The May 8th, 2008 issue states the reason as being, "because so many of their students score well above average on the SAT and ACT." US News & World Report, however, included Stuyvesant on its list of "Best High Schools" published in December 2009, ranking 31st.

{Note: Wikipedia doesn't have the current college acceptance rate overall for graduates, but in my year (1987), only two of the 791 graduates did NOT go straight on to college. Of the surviving members of my class, to my knowledge only one has not graduated from a university at this date.}

Bronx HS of Science:

Bronx Science has developed a worldwide reputation as one of the best high schools in the United States, public or private, ranking fourth in U.S. News and World Report's 2008 list of America's "Gold-Medal" high schools. It attracts an intellectually gifted blend of culturally, ethnically,[7][8] and economically diverse students from New York City.
Every year almost all Bronx Science graduates go on to four-year colleges; many attend Ivy League and other prestigious schools. Bronx Science has counted 132 finalists in the Intel (formerly Westinghouse) Science Talent Search, the largest number of any high school. Seven graduates have won Nobel Prizes — more than any other secondary education institution in the world — and six have won Pulitzer Prizes.

Brooklyn Tech:

Brooklyn Tech is a founding member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Brooklyn Tech is noted for its famous alumni (including two Nobel Laureates), its academics, and the large number of graduates attending prestigious universities. Routinely, more than 98% of its graduates are accepted to four-year colleges with the 2007 graduating class being offered more than $1,250,000 in scholarships and grants. It appears as #63 in the 2009 ranking of the annual U.S. News & World Report "Best High Schools" list.

I'm not saying that large schools always work, or that they are appropriate in every situation, but large schools can be educationally rigorous and can, in fact, beat the pants off Loudoun County's schools academically.

So, my dear School Board, you're going to have to come up with something other than "educational reasons" for why you won't even study the FEASIBILITY of expanding the size of the existing schools. Because I just gave you a total of over ten thousand reasons why that won't fly.

All my best wishes,

Liz Miller
The Doorbell Queen

Drug Court open thread

Opening a thread to discuss Drug Court so as not to hijack other blogs on it.

LC BOS is talking school budget.

Sounds like they are taking a hard stand on how much they're willing to spend.

You can watch it on the gov't access cable channel, or streaming online here.

Hatrick sounds a little miffed.

3:22: So far, total cuts to LCPS, with a mix of flat-out cuts, cuts to balance state transfer, and temporary deferral of retirement expenses, now stand at $75,000,000. Tax rate implied is $1.295.

So, if a beautiful campus and a football stadium isn't necessary for a good school, what is?

Teachers.

Good teachers.

A focus on academics.

A belief in the value of learning.

Parental involvement.

Good principals.

Good principles.

Lastly, pointing out the connection between things kids enjoy and the things they are learning, which leads to joy in learning. For example: the most recent OK Go! video is "...a celebration of actual root-level physics." And is there anything more fun than this video?



My son, who attends a Loudoun County Public School, is getting exactly this joy in learning from his teacher (he's in 2nd grade). He also got it from his 1st grade teacher. The teachers and principals in Loudoun County are, bar none, TERRIFIC.* The second grade curriculum is strong and has room for children with differing levels of skills to succeed.

This would be the case even if they didn't have a baseball field outside. For instance, the most desirable public school in my home town neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, is PS 321.


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

See? No baseball field. Three story building. The fifth grade is in that "temporary" building in the backyard (second street view). That temporary building is older than I am. Yet they win awards.

To sum up: Good teachers, good principals, and a focus on academics. Are you telling me we can't get that done on less than 70 acres for a high school?

*Full disclosure: my son does not attend his zoned school. The after-school facility where he's been since age 3 doesn't pick up from there, so he has received permission to attend a school his after-school facility does pick up from. I would be proud for him to attend ANY school in the LCPS system.

Watch the BOS finance committee!

http://loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=1698

Impressions so far:

Is Lori Waters serious? SELL land in this market? Still focusing on building stadia for schools while we're having difficulty providing basic services? GET REAL. Where are her priorities?

YES, kids need places to play, but (at the risk of sounding very "get off my lawn-ish") my high school football team had to travel to the BRONX to play, and they were still division champs. They had to sell candy and get sponsorships to buy uniforms and pay for the bus to get them to the field and THEY WERE STILL DIVISION CHAMPS.

When I went there, our "ball fields" were Stuyvesant Park, a two-block-square city park down the street from us, that we shared with the Society of Friends School across the way.

And yet, we consistently ranked (and still do) among the top schools in the country.

And now they're housed in the bottom portion of a skyscraper, with an apartment building above them. Which is how they paid to get a state-of-the-art gymnasium with pool (at the old building where I went, no pool). The residents of the apartment building get to use the gymnasium facilities in the evenings and on the weekends - which pays for upkeep on those facilities.

Granted, Stuyvesant is a competitive admissions High School. Also granted, I got in by the skin of my teeth. HOWEVER, the point I'm trying to make is that you do not need a fireplacing FOOTBALL STADIUM to get a good education. You don't even need one to have a good football team.

You will NEVER EVER get me to agree that buying 70 acres to build a high school is reasonable. Not in this or any other economy.

Loudoun county has plenty of completely empty office buildings. Why can't we use one of them for a high school?

"In lieu of a raise". Edited for clarity

What would you do if your employer said, "in lieu of a raise, I'll pay your portion of contributions to our 401K."

Would you agree to that, on the understanding that it would be continued year after year after year, because you aren't getting an actual pay raise? Remember, a raise is an increase you also get year after year after year.

Would you be upset if, after 10 years, your employer said, "I'm going to stop contributing your portion to the 401K, but I'm not increasing your salary to reflect the raise that contribution was in lieu of, either."

Wouldn't you feel, just a little bit, robbed?

That's how the public employees of Virginia are feeling right now. Because that's exactly HOW it came about that the state and various localities began contributing the employees' portion of their retirement funds. It was in lieu of a raise.

And, revoking that promise is worse than an equivalent pay cut, because the promise wasn't just a contract, it was made into statutory law in the Code of Virginia. If the legislature changes that now, it's only because they are literally changing the rules via their power as lawmakers. No party to a contract could ever unilaterally do that.

I understand that under a fiscal crises, all things get put on to the chopping block, and I'm not going to argue about whether this is a good cut or a bad cut. But let's be honest about what this cut is: it is a broken promise and it is the rolling back of a years-old pay raise.

What does this mean for future workers' agreements? Will workers be willing to accept alternatives to straight pay-raises? Further, why should anyone ever do business in, with, or for Virginia if they do this? Hey, did we say we were gonna pay you for that? Oh, hang on! Sorry! we just wrote a new law that says we don't have to pay you like we said we would. Bye, bye!

Again, this is not to say that this cut is a bad one comparatively - choices need to be made. But we need to be clear about what the cut means and the larger implications.

At the very least, workers need to hear from legislators that they are aware that this is what amounts to a pay-cut - not merely the ending of a promised benefit.

$200 MILLION in health care cuts

Oh. My. God

The health cuts would reduce mental-health treatment beds by 232, take 5 percent in funds from community service boards that offer substance abuse and mental health treatment programs, and freeze enrollment for a program that provides insurance to low-income children...

...They include reducing Medicaid eligibility for those in long-term care, such as nursing homes, which could affect 2,000 Virginians.

Robert Vaughn, staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, said McDonnell has suggested reducing eligibility for Medicaid programs -- state- and federal-funded programs for low-income and disabled people managed by the state. Virginia already has some of the toughest eligibility requirements in the nation.

In other words, aside from the huge cuts to schools funding, which is being screamed about elsewhere, McDonnell is trying to balance the budget on the backs of the states most vulnerable, elderly, impoverished, and ill.

These also reflect funds that, in many cases, the federal government MATCHES. So for every dollar cut from the state, we lose two, and sometimes three times that amount.

That's mean, Governor McDonnell. Mean in both the cruel sense and the stingy sense. Others have called the Governor out on his not even having the courage to publicly discuss his budget, so I won't talk about it more here.

Normally, I'm a "okay! Let's roll up our sleeves and get 'er done!" sort of person, but this is looking a bit like the Hydra. Everytime we think we can keep providing services despite cuts, we see more cuts. And more. And more. Well, we've got a CSB meeting tomorrow evening. Maybe we'll come up with something.

Speaking of, the deadline to apply for Community Services Board vacancies is February 26. Come serve with me on the CSB!

Attention NOVA Residents!!!

Blast the Governer about freezing the Local Composite Index.

I am assured that , if they recalculated it this year as per usual, we would get $36,000,000 more than we will get under last year's, frozen number.

Calls are best. His phone number is 804-786-2211. His name is "Bob."

Goings on About Town

LCPS has bought the first hybrid school bus in Virginia, one of 12 in use nationwide. On the one hand, yay! Environmental responsibility! On the other, yow! Expensive! On the third hand (if you have one), we could expect to see a savings over 12 years due to efficiency. I'm leaning towards yay! but need to wait and see if we really do see a fuel cost savings.

The Virginia Senate passed a bill (37 to 3!) that prohibits HOAs from banning the use of clotheslines, though HOAs still have the ability to limit size and placement. I'm really happy about this, and hope that the House follows suit.

Cliff Keirce got sworn in as Dulles Planning Commissioner. Let me hear a WOO-HOO!!!

The LCDC will meet in the Board Room at the Loudoun Government Center on Thursday, February 4th at 7:00 (6:30 gathering for chatter and whatnot).

Town elections are coming up soon. I'm excited about the folks I know about who are running for Herndon and Leesburg. I need to buy a new pair of sneakers though. My old ones are walked through.

Write your delegate and your state senator

And ask them to raise the income limit on Medicaid eligibility in Virginia from 80% of the poverty level - which means that if a single person is earning $11,000/year, they're too rich for Medicaid (really! It's despicable!) to a more rational level.

Thank you.

I hate the Senate bill. HATE. IT.

It's worse than no bill at all. Really.

No help for people with pre-existing conditions.
Women's health? Not in this bill.
Public option? What's that?

Don't pass this crappy bill!

I'm with Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders

Scrap that POS and start over. Here's a good place to start! Amend the existing Medicare bill to change the starting age to "birth"! Raise the contributions from employers and employees by 4% and leave the rest alone. It'll get paid for, cover every citizen, and still be cheaper than what we have now.

You're welcome!

Thank you!

Thank you for visiting and for your kind words. I really appreciate them!

Where I'll be tonight: CSB program review task group meeting (talking about how to maximize our Medicaid billing - please join us if you've got insight into this issue!). And then on parent duty while Teh Spouse is at a town hall meeting in South Riding.

If you're going to be at the town hall meeting, please remember that the BOS gives a bucket of money to the School Board, but it's the School Board who decides how to spend that bucket of money. If they don't choose to spend it on teacher raises, that's not something the BOS can control.

I'll be at Joe's Pizza tonight for the Sterling Volunteers Appreciation Dinner

With my son. The husband will, unfortunately, not attend as he will be at a budget input session thingy. Go easy on him, will you? He's doing his best and he's just one of nine.

Edited to add:
Joe's Italian Restaurant
22360 Sterling Blvd., Sterling Park (next to Safeway in the Sterling Plaza Shopping Center)
www.joespizzaria.com