Meanwhile, in the school board races...

Items of interest from races I'm watching:

1. Joe Guzman endorses John Stevens:
   

   School Board Rep. Joseph Guzman (R-Sugarland Run)
   "The School Board is no place for partisan politics. John Stevens has been a fantastic Chairman. We both believe in putting children first. I am proud to have supported John and I would vote for him again!"
   
   Read more endorsements at StevensForSchools.org.

    Now, I'm no fan of Guzman, but him snubbing Debbie Rose to endorse John Stevens is definitely big news. Good work, John!


2. Bob Ohneiser has a terrific quote in Leesburg Today about the problematic LCPS discipline policy:
   

   School Board member Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run), an attorney who has been openly critical of the district's discipline process, said in the eight years he's served as a board member, the number of lawsuits and appeals has grown from "fitting on one page to eight pages long on both sides."
   
   "Those parents are spending hundreds and hundreds per hour to set the record straight out of principle," Ohneiser said. "People don't do that unless they feel wronged."

   Bob Oh! is outspoken and not afraid to face down his board mates and Hatrick.


3. The one really bright spot in the Loudoun Times Mirror's confusing endorsements was their endorsement of Joy Maloney:
   

   The Broad Run race is a difficult one. While impressed with Kevin Kuesters and the work he has done preparing for the position, we remain troubled by the accusations of assault which cannot be fully resolved by Election Day. Candidates have a time and a place, and perhaps the problem is that Kuesters needs to resolve these issues in his personal life before making another run for public office. While concerned about write-in candidate Joy Maloney’s ability to organize a successful write-in campaign and balance an elected office with her work life, we endorse her candidacy and are impressed by the level of commitment and involvement with the community that she has demonstrated.

As you all know, I'm going to be voting for Joy and Bob on Tuesday. I hope you will all join me!

Okay, so Plowman dropped the charges

That doesn't change the fact that you should still write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

My issues with Mr. Kuester's candidacy remain the same, I feel that people on the school board should believe in the value of public education, and should be fiscally responsible. Mr. Kuesters fails both those tests.

Mr. Kuesters sends his school-age children to private religious school. That's his right, obviously. But I think someone who wants to be in charge of our public schools, who has school-age children, should be invested enough in the schools to have his children attend them.

The School Board has fiscal oversight over the schools budget. Mr. Kuesters filed bankruptcy last year and is in more financial hot-water this year with his HOAs.

And then there is the arrest. I have volunteered with LAWS, the Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter, and I am aware of how common it is for abused spouses to withdraw complaints against their abusers. Mr. Kuesters may or may not have abused his wife, but whatever happened, it's clear that he has personal issues that are too complex to be completely dealt with before swearing in on January 1.

Meanwhile, Joy Maloney has a daughter at Eagle Ridge, her family is on a good solid financial footing, and she's not facing family turmoil. PLUS, she has a Masters in Educational Leadership and a Bachelors in Secondary Education. She taught high school for 5 years, and she works in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field.

Write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

Full-Day Kindergarten: The Broad Run Candidates Respond

Kevin Kuesters

Should Loudoun institute Full-Day Kindergarten in all elementary schools and, if
so, how can it be implemented?

Full disclosure: I read the responses on your blog from Bob Ohneiser, Debbie Rose,
John Stevens, Eric Hornberger, Debbie Piland, Priscilla Godfrey and Bill Fox before
submitting my response to you.

LCPS has 59 elementary schools right now and 12 of these schools already have full-
day kindergarten (FDK). Therefore we would need to add FDK to 47 existing schools to implement it in all elementary schools.

Mish-mashing the math (I’m a CPA, its what I do!) using figures from two of the
aforementioned candidate responses, if we would need the capacity of approximately
2.5 schools to go to FDK, and each elementary school (ES) is projected to cost
$25,165,000 (per FY 2013 CIP estimates), then it will cost us approximately $62,912,500 to build enough rooms to implement FDK just for the current schools. This is a low-ball estimate of the one-time construction cost to put FDK into existing schools.

Assuming most elementary schools only have 2 half-day kindergarten (HDK) classes,
we would also be adding at least 1 more classroom to each school at a minimum cost of
$200,000 (the cost of a trailer).

We would also be adding the cost of a teacher and teacher’s aide for each kindergarten
classroom with more than 15 students. Since the average class size is 22 kids, and
assuming the teacher and teacher’s aide earn the second lowest salary on the pay
scale ($43,815), we would add $87,630 for each new kindergarten classroom, before
considering the cost of benefits for each teacher. Let’s just round it up to $100k in
salaries and benefits for each new kindergarten class. (By the way, only 84.20 teachers
out of the 4,000 or so employed by LCPS make that low salary.) Multiplying $100k in
salary and benefits times 47 (ES that currently do not have FDK), gives us $4.7 million in additional salaries and benefits every year if we add FDK. This is a low-ball estimate of the annual increase in the operating budget

So the estimated cost to implement FDK in LCPS would be around $63 million in
one time construction costs, plus $4.7 million in increased annual costs for teacher
salaries & benefits in existing schools, plus $200k additional construction costs for each new ES, plus $100k in increased annual personnel costs for each new ES.

So what are the benefits?

LCPS runs a school system for grades K-12 and therefore it makes sense to look at
the end result – the finished student as he or she graduates from high school and goes
to college or to work. There are no studies that evidence an appreciable difference
between graduating high school seniors that went to HDK vice FDK. In fact most
studies that look at the difference in academic achievement between half-day and full-

day kindergarten students show that by 4th grade any advantage held by the full day
kindergarten students has disappeared. Therefore, from an academic standpoint FDK is
not needed. There is one exception to this rule though: at-risk kids. At-risk kids who
attend FDK are shown to perform statistically better than at-risk kids who attend HDK
through their entire K-12 careers.

My position: Ultimately the quality of the kindergarten experience matters more than the
length of the day. Full-day kindergarten provides measurable benefits to at-risk kids and
I would support FDK for at-risk kids. Since LCPS already has implemented FDK for this population, I do not support any further expansion of FDK in LCPS at this time.

Joy Maloney

Yes, Loudoun should institute full-day kindergarten. As a two working-parent family, we put my daughter in full-day kindergarten at the superb AOL Child Development Center. We wished she could go to her neighborhood school, but we simply didn't think it was fair to her to be bussed around from school to school when she already loved her childcare center so much. Still, she told me the other day that she wished she had gone to kindergarten at Mill Run, because all of her friends had that one extra year to get to know each other. Full-day kindergarten gives students the transition they need into their elementary school while also giving teachers time to really teach.

The hard part, of course, is implementing it. We are in a tough economic situation right now, and we are going to have a difficult challenge just maintaining the excellent education our schools provide, let alone improving on it. We can start by having a concrete long-term plan. We need to begin building new schools with the assumption that there will be full-day kindergarten in those schools. We need to add schools each year that offer full-day kindergarten to at least disadvantaged children. We can offer it at schools, but not make it required to begin with, possibly keeping enrollment lower to start.

Fairfax County began implementing full-day kindergarten over 10 years ago. They finally came up with a plan to rapidly expand full-day kindergarten in 2006. It took them two years longer than their plan to actually get it accomplished. We need a plan, and maybe it will take longer than we expect, too. But if we don't start, we won't finish.

How to vote for Joy Maloney using the electronic voting machine

How to write in your vote using the electronic voting machines

Write-in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board!

My friend and neighbor, Joy Maloney, is stepping up to run against Kevin Kuesters, who was recently arrested for assaulting his wife.

Check out Joy's website and, please, write her name in on November 8th.


Stevens has more at Without Supervision.

What I said

John Stevens sent out an email today asking for campaign donations.

My response?

John, if you were running for BOS, I'd be giving you money. But you're not. And I'm still pissed at you about that.

Because we all know that he could beat Suzanne Volpe. And yes, Susan Buckley could, too. As could Andrea (probably).

A picture's worth a thousand words

The Big Business of Educating Loudoun - A Guest Post by Ashburn Auntie

[Ashburn Auntie is a blogger who prefers to remain anonymous. She writes about her experiences living in Ashburn and watching her nieces and nephews grow up.]

My niece started kindergarten today! She is the apple of my eye, and I asked for the special privilege of purchasing her school supplies with her this year. When my sister handed me the list, I gulped loudly. I had volunteered to buy school supplies for my niece, not the whole kindergarten class. What started as a very special day, ended for me on a very sour note! After purchasing 12 boxes of crayons, two pairs of scissors, countless pencils, Kleenex, zip-loc bags (in two sizes), etc. I became further enraged that the items I purchased had to be very specific brands and colors - generic brands, or creative colors weren’t allowed!

Today, I saw this promotion by the Chamber of Commerce:

State of Education 2011

Date: August 30, 2011 Time: 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Event Description 2011 Policymaker Series: "The State of Education"
featuring Superintendent Dr. Edgar Hatrick
Dr. Hatrick is the “CEO” of the Loudoun County Public School system, with a $710 million annual budget, 79 schools, more than 60,000 students and an educational program that ranks with the nation’s best.  Loudoun's business and community leaders are invited to hear Dr. Ed Hatrick offer his annual report on the quality of public education in Loudoun, including his thoughts on the strong partnership between the Public Schools and Loudoun’s business community and how the county’s world class public schools supports a strong business climate.

Ok, now I am confused! Are our tax dollars being used to purchase stock in a large corporation? Are our schools being run for someone’s “profit”? And, why exactly is LCPS focusing on supporting a “strong business climate” as opposed to providing the best education that Loudoun taxpayers can afford? And, what the heck does the Chamber of Commerce have to do with how we educate our children?

I guess I could spend hours (and I have) debating all the issues surrounding how we look at education, but let’s just focus on the” business” aspect of LCPS. As “shareholders” we should be angry - our stock is decreasing in value every day. How many corporations do you know where the shareholders must provide the essential tools to conduct business, such as pens, pencils, scissors and paper? In such a corporation, would we allow the “CEO” to be receiving a huge salary as well as annual increases- as well as full benefits? Would we praise such a CEO for running the corporation into the ground, or would we demand the removal of such a CEO?

It sickens me that we are even looking at our schools like corporations, being run by a CEO, and influenced by the Chamber of Commerce. Parents are stuck with not only paying taxes, but also subsidizing the schools because LCPS doesn’t even provide the basic necessities such as crayons and Kleenex. Aren’t those things our tax dollars are supposed to be used for?

Yes, businesses are attracted to areas with great educational systems. However, our children and the quality of their AFFORDABLE education should be the focus, NOT attracting big business at the expense of taxpayers. It’s ironic that the big businesses that the Chamber and LCPS want to attract at taxpayer expense are the same big businesses the Chamber will demand tax breaks for while our taxes steadily increase.

As I remember my niece’s excited snaggle-toothed smile getting off the bus today, I have no doubt of the type of educational system LCPS should have. It should be one where SHE and other children are not treated as a commodity, or a statistic to bolster the “CEO’s” approval rating, or as a pawn to attract business to Loudoun, but one where our children’s education comes first and foremost above everything else, and where the quality of family life is not sacrificed to fund a failing business model.

Input please

I've noticed that, in general, the School Board candidates haven't got campaign websites. They've got facebook pages, and government pages (if they are already serving), and blogs; but only a third have campaign websites.

Which means that my campaign websites page seems woefully incomplete.

However, I'm not really willing to widen my definition for that page, since it would be a holy mess to keep up-to-date if I count every fb page and blog that anyone had (if I were running, for example, I'd be able to list 5 or 6, that's ridiculous.).

I could create a new tab for School Board Candidates only and ask each for the ONE and ONLY ONE link that they would like included.

But treating School Board candidates differently from the other candidates really bothers me. One particular candidate complained to me recently that School Board races are treated as less important than all the other races; that they are after-thoughts; that people think of it as a "starter" race. Well, my friend, it doesn't make your case when you're not putting up a campaign website. Domains are cheap, and a website doesn't have to be expensive to create.

So, dear readers, what do you think? Do I create a separate and DEFINITELY unequal space for SB candidates? Or do I treat them as at least one has asked to be treated, as equal members of the candidate pool?

<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