Douglass Attendance Proposal Divides Two Subdivisions in Catoctin; Keeps Leesburg Neighborhoods Intact

The Loudoun County School Board on Monday proposed dividing elementary school attendance from two subdivisions east of Leesburg -- Potomac Station and The Lakes at Red Rock – and keeping all other neighborhoods intact to create the population for the new Frederick Douglass Elementary School to open next fall.

Two schools, Leesburg and Sycolin Creek elementaries, will have no changes at all.

The staff proposal reassigns Beacon Hill, Brandon, Heritage Square, Old Waterford Knolls, Silver Oaks, Spring Lakes, and Stratford/Oak Lawn while maintaining their community ties.

The southern part of The Lakes at Red Rock would be reassigned from Frances Hazel Reid to Douglass Elementary. Potomac Station would also be a “split feeder” with some sections remaining at Tolbert Elementary and others moved into brand-new Douglass Elementary next fall.

Parents, including some of those whose children will not be moved, appeared apoplectic when the proposal was defined by Sam Adamo, LCPS executive director of planning and legislative services.

The two “divided” subdivisions are both located east of Route 15, while Douglass is within the Leesburg town limits.

That is not only a geographic division, but it also defines a socioeconomic schism between older Leesburg neighborhoods and trendy new subdivisions to the east that grew rapidly in the last decade, creating sometimes-glaring differences between their populations.

LCPS uses two metrics to differentiate the two groups: as Adamo defines them, children who “no matter where these kids are going to go to school, they are going to be successful, versus those with higher needs.”

LCPS views those with higher needs as the combined percentages of children who are English Language Learners (ELL) and the number who qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

Under Adamo’s proposal, the percentages of disadvantaged students would shift at three elementaries:

• Balls Bluff: from 37 to 25 percent
• Catoctin: from 38 to 21 percent
• Hazel Frances Reid: from 4 to 24 percent

“Lame duck” Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run), who last week lost a race for the at-large seat on the School, said the opening of Douglass Elementary presents an unprecedented opportunity to “try something new” to balance opportunities for “the kid who just got here from Guatemala and doesn’t speak English” with another student “who has two parents at home, and they both have master’s degrees.”

He said LCPS should address the problem with curricular programs, Saturday school and smaller classes, to help children assimilate faster without holding back students who speak English fluidly and have enriched home environments.

Some parents from Potomac Station questioned why part of their neighborhood was moved from Tolbert to Douglass when a neighborhood under construction at Festival Lakes that is not yet populated was placed in the attendance zone for Tolbert.

Lisa Amazigo, a resident of Potomac Station, said her children won’t be moved, but “the fact that it doesn’t affect my kids doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about the kid from Guatemala,” she said. “We have to get beyond [thinking just about our own children]. This is a global country.”

School Board member Brenda Sheridan (Sterling) had comforting words for parents from the two divided neighborhoods.

“I am trying to appeal to the overwhelmed faces” in the board room, she said Monday night, citing the experiences of parents in the Sterling area where there is a large ELL and reduced-price lunch population.

When attendance areas balanced the populations for a new elementary school, she said, “Immediately, there was a school community. Immediately, there were new friends.”

“The children adapt much faster than we do as parents,” Sheridan said.

The eight existing elementaries in Leesburg are all within a three-mile radius of the town; when Douglass opens, there will be nine. This attendance plan, to be finalized Dec. 13, is expected to serve the area for 10 years.

A second public work session will convene today at 4 p.m. at the LCPS administration building, 21 Education Court in Ashburn.