Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Elementary School Attendance Zone Public Hearing & Work Session, Ashburn and Dulles North Planning Districts, Monday, November 24, 2025

Date: Monday, November 24, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 1h 50m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1136326876?rel=0

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-12. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:01:44] Good evening. I call to order this November 24th, 2025 special school board meeting and elementary attendance zone work session and public hearing. Yes, I have moved on to item for remote participation.

[00:02:12] I've been notified that April Chandler would like to remotely participate in tonight's school board meeting. Ms. Chandler, please state your location and whether this is a medical or personal matter. Good evening, Madam Chair. I am in Sterling, Virginia in my home.

[00:02:30] It is a personal matter, but I'm home with a sick child. So my daughter is here, but in another part of the house with the door closed. Okay, so this will be Ms. Chandler's second remote participation for this calendar year in a school board meeting using a personal exemption.

[00:02:53] Therefore, I will entertain a motion that Ms. Chandler's request to participate remotely be granted. Do I have a motion? so moved okay dr deans uh made that motion do i have a second i have a second by mr streffi it's been properly moved and seconded um is there any discussion seeing none we'll move forward with

[00:03:20] the vote clerk please open the vote board members please record your vote clerk please close and display the vote that motion passes uh unanimously with ms chandler absent for the vote ms vice chair donahue absent for the vote and miss labelle absent for the vote welcome to the meeting miss

[00:03:58] chandler okay i'll move on to item two disclosures at this time i'll read the disclosures i'll start as a member of the loudon county school board i make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interest may also be affected,

[00:04:35] of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Ms. Chandler? Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, as a

[00:05:12] school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest.

[00:05:30] This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Chandler. Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and our health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in the access of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected,

[00:06:09] of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public's interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Griffiths. Vice Chair Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[00:06:25] As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding employee salaries, the budget, and or health insurance, and any other discussion that may include or affect salary and benefits for LCPS employees. Specifically, my spouse, my minor children, and I are enrolled in LCPS health insurance that may be affected by any potential changes to employees' salaries, the budget, and or health insurance.

[00:06:50] Additionally, my sister-in-law is an LCPS employee who does not reside with me and is not dependent on me. These subjects include thousands of employees well in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may be affected, of which my spouse, my minor children, my sister-in-law, and I am included.

[00:07:05] I can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest. This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the Clerk of the School Board for five years. Thank you, Vice Chair Donohue. Mr. Streffi. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:07:31] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an LCPS employee. These benefits, however, affect thousands of employees while in excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected, of which I am included. I can and will participate fairly, objectively, and in the public interest.

[00:07:47] This disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years. Thank you, Mr. Streffi. And last but not least, Ms. Chernoff. Thank you, Madam Chair. As a member of the Loudoun County School Board, I make the following disclosure to the school board and to the general public in connection with the item on tonight's agenda regarding the budget and or health insurance and related benefits and any other discussion that may include or affect benefits for LCPS employees.

[00:08:11] Specifically, as a school board member, I am eligible to receive health insurance and related benefits as an lcps employee these benefits however affect thousands of employees well in the excess of the statutory three employees whose interests may also be affected of which i am included i can and will participate fairly objectively and in the public interest this disclosure will be reflected in the public records of the clerk of the school board for five years thank you ms chernoff we'll move on to item three a staff briefing um and department of support services ashburn dulles north elementary school attendance zones with i believe mr lewis our chief operations officer and miss beverly tate our director of

[00:08:50] planning and gis services good evening i would like to briefly go through a few slides and i will refrain from going step by step through your meeting folders tonight but i will say that

[00:09:24] the folders include a copy of tonight's presentation a copy of the staff plan r11 staff plan R17 as well as two additional plans that Ms. Chernoff asked to move forward for discussion those were prepared through redistrict redistrict plan 280 and redistrict plan 533 we also included in your meeting folder an updated plan tracking chart so that you can see the planning zones that are recommended for moving with each plan and the ultimate number of students

[00:10:04] who would be moved if the plan were to take effect today so again we are here continuing the review of the Ashburn Dulles North elementary school attendance zones in this process we have notified 18 elementary schools and many of them are here tonight thank you this process is guided by policy regulation 6530 which identifies several factors that the board can consider in changing school attendance zones including facilities proximity community

[00:10:40] accessibility stability and cluster alignment other factors may be included and as many have observed sometimes these factors are in conflict with one another all of the information that we have shared with you board members as well as questions that we have received from both the public as well as school board members Ms. Chandler had asked a question last week that we post a response to that maps plans meeting agendas are all accessible on our web page and in the lower right corner here we've got a fall attendance boundary

[00:11:18] link that with the help of communications we have on all of the 18 elementary schools home pages to make it a little easier for families to access the information at any point throughout this process redistrict we are again partnering with Virginia Tech in the redistrict if memory serves I think we have 19 plans that have been created since we started this on October 28 to which have moved forward for discussion tonight but this platform provides the same information that staff utilizes when we created our two staff

[00:11:53] recommendation plans so it provides the user the opportunity to look at the staff plans if they want to tweak it a little bit or come up with their own plan for discussion with you as board members and with their neighbors so I'm going to briefly review these plans although I'm fairly confident the folks behind me are sick of them but I will go through them both just to kind of highlight the points staff are 11 does not recommend changes for nine of the 18 elementary schools in this process as I mentioned at the beginning it's called R11 because

[00:12:32] it is recommending a rezoning for 11 of the planning zones in this area we have provided you the change process if the plan were adopted feedback from your November 5 work session where we were talking about conditions without change The GIS team has improved our table a little bit, so the yellow columns provide the condition without change, what the attendance, if the attendance zone, it reflects the current attendance zones, I'm sorry.

[00:13:06] So it reflects the current attendance zones, the current enrollment based on the resident kindergarten through grade five students. The projected numbers are if the attendance zones were in effect based on projections we have done for each planning zone.

[00:13:22] The schools highlighted in blue are the schools recommended for change with this plan. So we have recommended change for Discovery Elementary School, Dominion Trail, Hillside Legacy, Madison's Trust, Mill Run, Moorfield Station, Selden's Landing, and Stuart Weller.

[00:13:39] At the very bottom of the table are the dual language immersion out of zone students that would need to be added back in. So we have the Sanders Corner number in the top that reflects the resident students, but the Sanders Corner number at the bottom reflects full implementation of the dual language immersion program with the 25 students per grade being fully implemented in the outer years of this plan.

[00:14:07] Plan R17 moves 17 planning zones in this process, our recommendation, again to provide relief for some of our schools, and five remain untouched with this. And so Belmont Station, Creighton's Corner, Discovery, and Rosalie Carter, and Waxpool are not recommended for change with the staff plan R-17.

[00:14:29] This plan, again, identifies those schools in blue that are recommended to have some change. Sometimes it's losing areas, and sometimes it's gaining. Sometimes it's both. And that is reflected with here, again, the yellow columns reflecting the conditions without change for comparison miss Chernoff had reached out to us in part because redistrict was down and so we were able to map the plan for her once it came back up so I will defer to you if you would like to speak to it and just tell me when to hit next all right thank you I thought I had to wait till later

[00:15:09] so I'll go ahead and dive in I do want to just clarify again for the audience that the main purpose of the meeting tonight and especially for me as I speak for myself is to make sure we have good options on the table moving forward. There can, when these go forward and no other plans can be added, my thinking behind this plan was to allow for several options should amendments be needed.

[00:15:34] So I want everyone to collectively breathe. And I wanna thank so much staff for sitting down with me for countless hours, working through these various feedback loops that I've been in. I see several of you tonight who have served Melanie and Jamie as you know specifically sort of the liaisons in your communities back to me and and thank you for helping disseminate that information back out because talking to all of you is would be very difficult so I just I thank you for sort of taking that on as the point people so for my fellow board members and for the people in the audience I think three different maps are relevant to my plan the first

[00:16:13] one is R11 that's the plan I sort of worked off of if you will to get to plan 280 so if you want to look at it I'm going to walk you through the various zones and my rationale for changing them from R11 so that's the base plan that I was working on and changing so if you'll start at the top in box number one on R11 DN 02 that was a community that had reached out that wanted to stay at Stewart Weller and not move with the rest of what is the Lansdowne community to go to Seldon's and with some

[00:16:48] other changes proposed in this plan we were able to move that without Stewart Weller being over capacity so that was a change I felt like we could honor in this process. The next one if you move down is our friends at Dominion Trail we have us we had two zones there DN 0 5.3 and DN 17.2 that were being moved to Stuart Weller and after visiting Dominion Trail a couple of times in the past couple of weeks and speaking to these communities and I have been honest with them about this I am not fully sold that we can keep everybody at

[00:17:27] Dominion Trail just given the capacity issues and we'll get into some questions I think later about title one status which I think are important but in speaking with that community and I'm sure they'll correct me if I'm wrong DN 0 5.3 had said we don't want to move but if we had to we would prefer to go to Ashburn Elementary because that is a pure feed then on to the middle and high so instead of sending them to Stewart Weller where it's more of what I would call a 70/30 split to go to the different high schools this one would be

[00:18:02] um more of a pure feed in the ashburn village area so in this plan i did move dn05.3 to ashburn elementary instead of stewart weller and i kept dn 17.2 which is a little bit more transient of a community i kept them at dominion trail so that was that move the next change um was dn 17.2 oh I just talked to that and they're staying in my in this plan and then the next area we move to is DN 30.2 and this is an addition this is a brand new

[00:18:38] addition and if you go to map 3b in section 2 in your notebook you can see this sort of zoomed in and you can see the section that we would be moving to wax pool again this came with a conversation about hillside being visiting and seeing that it is a very small school and every nook and cranny is being used and some nooks and crannies are being used by multiple people and spaces so that would give a little bit more of the relief I believe that Hillside Elementary is looking for so that section only 30.2 I would be

[00:19:15] proposing that that moves to wax pool and then the last one and my friends in red will speak to this I'm sure I did in this case want to see because Madison's trust is so far over capacity I wanted to see how much relief we would get if we moved both DN 36.8 and DS 8.1 through DS 8.3 so I left DN 3 36.8 to legacy I'm feeling like that's probably gonna be something that I'm gonna want

[00:19:48] see and then did move DS 8.1 through 8.3 to Elaine Thompson again just to see what numbers that would produce in terms of giving Madison's trust some relief because it is also extremely over capacity so that is my rationale for moving all those districts and creating this new plan wanted to add some new options on the table for us moving forward should amendments be required thank you next and so these are the projected students again kindergarten

[00:20:27] through grade 5 that would be reflected if redistrict plan 280 were to be adopted then again miss Chernoff asked for us to map the redistrict plan 533 that I believe was a collaborative work between a couple of the school communities it only involves the movement of six planning zones and leaves a number of schools untouched miss Chernoff did you wish to speak to this

[00:21:03] one or do you want me just to review it I appreciate it I think that it would be better if I think some of it will be addressed tonight in public comment I'm gonna guess that that's the case but yes this was a collaboration of a couple of groups of people one by the believe from Madison's Trust and one from Dominion Trail that were both sort of on the chopping block if you will and saw that maybe uniting in their cause could get them to a better result so this is that plan and I believe this is the only plan that addresses any portion of Sanders Corner is that correct Miss Tate um outside of the staff plan I will be

[00:21:39] quite honest I have not looked at all of the redistrict plans that have been out there I know that some have included and we have heard from residents in that area but this plan would move just transition to the next slide this plan does move the cross the Timber Ridge Terrace and cross crossroads Drive I believe it moves them out of Sanders corner into Cedar Lane it does not move any of any other areas out of Cedar Lane to provide some relief for Cedar

[00:22:17] Lane Elementary so Cedar Lane is at 89 percent but these are the numbers associated with that 533 plan at the bottom again we have provided what the dual language immersion with 150 out of zone students being in and Sanders would be at 92 percent so as has been shared with board members and I'm going to repeat again tonight for the next Tuesday's board meeting it's so soon December next Tuesday's board meeting is an information item and so any plan at the close of tonight that board members would like to move forward we would ask

[00:22:56] we will mark them as act of consideration and it will give you board members as well as the public a focus on plan or plans I know that we've had board members request that the two staff plans move forward for continued discussion and miss Chernoff you have asked that your plan 280 move forward for additional discussion.

[00:23:18] We will have those posted as part of the item. If there are other plans, if board members want to include Plan 533, certainly at the work session we can talk about this after the hearing, but I just wanted to state that the intent would be to provide more of a focus group instead of all of the Debris District plans.

[00:23:38] That does not mean that a plan can be brought forward when you come time to vote on December 16th, That could be one of the plans, and then you propose amendments to it based on planning zones that have been moved in one of the plans that's already been reviewed by the board.

[00:23:56] So December 2nd is the information item. We will have one final hearing on December 8, and then the board is scheduled to vote on the 16th. Again, we welcome comments. We continue to forward comments to board members as we receive them.

[00:24:11] If there are questions, we will post the question and answer anonymously as well. And that concludes the briefing, and you can come answer additional questions now or if you would prefer at the work session.

[00:24:29] Might as well do it at our work session. Okay, we'll move on to the public hearing part of our hearing today, the public hearing.

[00:24:46] Thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process. The school board welcomes comments from Loudoun County residents and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system. As a reminder, tonight's public comments should be limited to the subject of tonight's public hearing and work session, which is the proposed elementary school attendance zone changes for the Ashburn and Dulles North planning districts.

[00:25:12] Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted. Based on the number of speakers and the agenda this evening, all speakers have been allotted one minute each for public comment. Please be advised that speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a later time. All decorum and civility.

[00:25:28] audience members shall maintain civility decorum and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times please remain seated unless arriving departing speaking at the podium or during a break violations of civility decorum and respect include shouting heckling cheering applause or other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board and vice versa interrupting speakers attempting to speak when not called to do so by the chair and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate disparage or distract a speaker staff member or other meeting attendees speakers should refrain from vulgarity obscenities defamation profanity

[00:26:08] or other like breaches of respect nor may speakers target criticize or attack individual students and or individual division employees during public comment as a reminder school board policy 2520 states speakers may not target criticize or attack individual students during public comment. Speakers should communicate those concerns to their school principal or an appropriate school official. The school board requests that comments on an individual student or employee-related matter not be shared at public meetings where the disclosure could violate applicable confidentiality requirements. Speakers should face the dais and direct their comments to

[00:26:44] the school board. Per LCPS policy 2520, members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during the public comment period. Violations of decorum or civility by any meeting attendee may result in the chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting. Repeated or persistent violations of decorum or civility by the audience may result in, on the decision of the chair, public comment being tabled until a later point in the meeting's agenda, limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room during public comment for safety reasons, or the public comment period ending for the evening. Copies of materials for board

[00:27:21] members should be given to the public information officer in the media box at the back of the board room before the start of the meeting please provide 12 copies of the materials under no circumstances may a speaker approach the dais the public is reminded that access to school board meetings is available through lcps tv on comcast channel 18 and 1070 hd and verizon files channel 43 the live stream of the meeting may be viewed on the website we look forward to hearing your comments and we'll start with virtual public comment started by um xandra figuera figuera We don't have a caller by that name.

[00:28:01] Okay, we'll move on to our in-person, starting with Ryan Corcoran and Melanie Ross afterwards. Hold on a second. Good night.

[00:28:18] I'm so sorry, my English is not so well. I will try to do my best. Are you Ryan Corcoran? I'm so sorry. Are you Zandra? Yes, I am. Oh, okay. You were signed up for virtual.

[00:28:35] Oh, yeah. But both, actually. Both? Yes. I did it for both because I didn't know if I arrived on time. I don't see you. Doesn't mean...

[00:28:52] Okay, since you were doing virtual, I will go ahead and let that go. Sorry, Mr. Corcoran. Go ahead. Okay. Sorry. I'm a mother of a little girl who told me from the day one, I'm a wolf.

[00:29:10] That is our iconic symbol because she was proud to attend the same school where her cousins graduated years ago. From the very first day, she was made to feel at home and part of an incredible community that supports another and raises the children with values similar to ours.

[00:29:33] I believe the decision should not be made solely based on the area where the children live and this feels classist and discriminatory. I understand your point of view, but some kids may think they live in a bad area or may not understand the real reason behind the decision.

[00:29:59] The children's years of attendance should have been considered. The county should instead evaluate classrooms capacity. Thank you. I'm sorry. It was one minute. You can go ahead. For all of you, because one minute is not a whole lot of time, just go ahead and write to the school board afterwards.

[00:30:21] Thank you. Okay. Ryan Corcoran, followed by Melanie Ross. All right. Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you all tonight. I speak in support of the staff plan R17 because it's the only staff plan that preserves a walk zone, and that matters.

[00:30:46] My family lives in zone 36.8, which, if you don't live there, you might not understand that it's a neighborhood that is literally built for walking to school. We have tunnels underneath major roads for safe access to Madison's Trust Elementary, and each day we walk with many of our neighbors to school.

[00:31:05] Walking isn't just convenient. It's community. It reduces traffic, it lowers transportation costs, and gives kids a chance to get their sillies out before they start the school day. Policy 6530 reviews criteria such as proximity, community, and accessibility.

[00:31:26] Plan R-17 delivers on each of these as compared to R-11. Please prioritize walkers and vote for Plan R-11. Thank you. Melanie Ross, followed by Sarah Gabresis. She's crossed off, and I'm...

[00:31:46] Yes, and sometimes I get things and you guys don't necessarily. Good evening, board members. My name is Dr. Melanie Ross from Zone DN05.3, and I have a second grader and fifth grader at Dominion Trail. Dominion Trail, together with Madison's Trust, supports Plan 533, which balances utilization and aligns with zoning criteria.

[00:32:06] With Title I status likely ending, the base capacity should be restored to 674 students. Moving DN17.2 removes 62% of the economically disadvantaged population, raising equity concerns. DN 05.3 has already been rezoned once and now faces another move, fracturing continuity for just 42 children, which is less than 8% of the school's population, excluding current 4th and 5th graders.

[00:32:31] LCPS strives to minimize repeated attendance zone changes, and this zone should not be the exception. I respectfully ask you to support plans that keep Willowsford's grant at Madison's Trust and Dominion Trail intact. Keep us together, Huskies forever. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:32:47] Sarah Cabrises followed by Tara Greenwald. Please hold your applause. I have two girls at Madison's Trust, a first and fourth grader, and I am advocating to keep the Willowsford Grant at Madison's Trust. Our neighborhood has attended Madison's Trust since it opened 10 years ago.

[00:33:07] We are deeply connected with the school and the Brambleton community. My girls proudly call themselves Mighty Macaws. Removing them from this environment and community, their normal since they were little, would be truly shocking and devastating to them. The Arcola area is unfamiliar and far.

[00:33:23] After reviewing Plan 280, I'm concerned rezoning us to Elaine Thompson will result in an overcorrection. Madison's Trust would fall to 74% capacity next year, whereas Elaine Thompson would rise approximately to 92%. Shouldn't it also then be acceptable for Madison's Trust to have a capacity in the mid-90s?

[00:33:40] In collaboration with the Dominion Trail Huskies, we are asking for support of Plan 533 with an amendment that does not move Zone DN 36.4 to Creighton's Corner. This plan impacts fewer students and addresses parental concerns. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:33:58] Tara Greenwald, followed by Kay Hogan. I'm Tara Greenwald from Willowsford Grant. I have two kids at Madison Trust in kindergarten and first grade. Our community is here in collaboration with Dominion Trail families. Last week, I watched a school bus turn left from Everfield onto Route 50, and cars in both directions slammed their brakes to give it room.

[00:34:21] The same unsignaled turn our buses would use if we're moved to Elaine Thompson under Plan 280 or R17. Our kids will have to wake before 6 a.m. to catch an earlier bus that has to travel much longer to reach Elaine Thompson.

[00:34:38] R17 also leaves Madison Trust crowded and effectively a walk-zone school, even though many parents still drive, worsening a car line that already overflows. Plan 280 and R17 make grant the only non-contiguous elementary zone here and cluster alignment splits at middle school, breaking K-5 friendships.

[00:35:02] Please choose Plan 533 or... Thank you. Thank you. Please, please. Thank you. Kay Hogan followed by Megan Aloshan.

[00:35:20] Hi. My name is Kay Hogan, and I have two children that attend Madison Trust Elementary, a second and a fourth grader. will keep my plea focused and simple and directed to you elected officials but specifically to Lauren Sharnoff and Beverly Tate I respect your position I respect your expertise and most importantly I respect your time the time it took to put together plan 280 and I want to fully support that plan so I have one simple ask please make an amendment an amendment that keeps the hundred and eighty-nine Willowsford grandchildren at Madison Trust Elementary a school that they love a school they've been a part of for ten years the

[00:35:55] The adjustment would still result in Madison Trust being a sustainable capacity level already vetted by the principal as not sacrificing any school programs and would be consistent with Madison Trust was treated in original staff plan R11. And please leave Dominion Trail population consistent and at their existing schools.

[00:36:12] Please make this amendment and allow these large communities supported here who have been collaborating together over the past several weeks and allow us to be part of a local government process where our voices are heard. Please make that amendment. Thank you. Megan Eloshan followed by Rocio Caballero-Gill.

[00:36:32] Hello, my name is Megan Eloshan. I'm a parent of two LCPS students. My youngest is a second grader at Dominion Trail. My family hasn't been a part of the Dominion Trail community since 2019, and we live in planning zone DN 19.3. I'm asking you tonight to reject staff plans R11 and R17, excuse me, and support user plan 533 to keep Dominion Trail together.

[00:36:53] These staff plans are based on incorrect data using Title I numbers, even though we have it on good authority that Dominion Trail will not be a Title I school next year. Without Title I restrictions, our base capacity rises to 674 students, bringing our utilization to 85%, which is exactly within LCPS's desired range.

[00:37:09] If these changes move forward, Dominion Trail's enrollment would drop to roughly 334 students while our capacity rises, placing us at 49.5% utilization, far below LCPS's stated goals. Pushing major rezoning changes before Title I status is confirmed for next year is short-sighted and harmful to our school community.

[00:37:26] I urge you to reject R11 and R17 and adopt user plan 533 to keep Dominion Trail together. Thank you. Thank you. Rocio Caballero-Gill, followed by Jamie Wollert. Good evening. I'm Dr. Rocio Paola Caballero-Gill from Planning Zone DN 19.6 with a third grader at Dominion Trail and a sixth grader at Farmwell.

[00:37:48] Thank you for giving our Ashburn community meaningful ways to engage. This process brought families from Dominion Trail, Madison Stress, and Ashburn Elementary together in the spirit of one LCPS. From that collaboration, many parents support Plan 533. It provides the best balance of enrollment and capacity, affects only six zones, reflects November 5th feedback, meets annual capacity targets, and impacts fewer students and staff than R11 or R17.

[00:38:10] It also relies on accurate data that Dominion Trail will return to 674 student capacity in fall 2026 and avoids disrupting neighborhoods already zoned. Plan 533 keeps Landstown United and maintains Ashburn Village cluster alignment, something R11 and R17 do not.

[00:38:26] While strong, Plan 533 can improve by keeping Madison's Trust's walk zone from moving. We hope your decision carried forward, Plan 533, and what it represents, a data-driven, stable solution that keeps the Minion Trail community whole. Keep us together, Huskies forever. Thank you.

[00:38:42] Jamie Willard, followed by Sarita Carey. I'm advocating to keep the Willisford grant at Madison's Trust. We collaborated with the Dominion Trail parents to create Plan 533, which balances capacity across schools while minimizing disruption to students.

[00:39:00] I also appreciate Lauren Chernoff's efforts with Plan 280. I support it with an amendment to keep the Bulls for Grant and Madison's Trust. Lauren said she could be persuaded that only moving the Brambleton Zone out of Madison's Trust would be sufficient, so I'll try my best.

[00:39:18] So despite Madison's Trust being at 113% capacity this year and reaching a max 130% capacity historically, the school has been thriving. Students do great. We have high test scores, high attendance, and the administrators, teachers, students, parents are all happy and have great sense of community. I believe moving the Willisford Grant to Lane Thompson would be an unnecessary overcorrection, shifting Madison's Trust down to 74% capacity, and Lane Thompson up to 92%. So keep us... Thank you. Sarita Carey,

[00:39:54] followed by Lynn Alexander. No, Sarita Carey. Okay. Lynn Alexander, followed by Rosemary Zapata. Hi, I'm Lynn Alexander from Willisford Grant. My son's a second grader at Madison's Trust, and I'm here to fight for keeping Willisford Grant kids at the school they love.

[00:40:22] In collaboration with Dominion Trail, I urge you to adopt Plan 533 without moving DN 36.4. I also support Plan 280 since it moves fewer kids, but only if Willisford Grant and Dominion Trail stay at their current schools. The numbers don't justify moving our kids. Moving us drops Madison's trust is 74% capacity.

[00:40:39] There's no need to empty a thriving school. Moving only Bramilton keeps us in the mid-90s. If Plan 280 accepts Elaine Thompson in the 90s, that same standard should apply to us. This also violates policy 6530. Rezoning our kids puts our kids in a non-contiguous zone completely cut off from the rest of their peers.

[00:40:57] Finally, my son's ride to Elaine Thompson via Route 50 doesn't have the infrastructure to handle increased traffic. This dangerous intersection won't get a roundabout until 2029 and puts our kids at risk. Please see our children as kids who deserve roots and stability, not as capacity percentages. Please keep Willowsford Grant kids at Madison's Trust.

[00:41:14] Thank you. Thank you. Rosemary Zapata, followed by Tracy Marabella Evans. No, Rosemary Zapata.

[00:41:30] Tracy Marabella Evans, followed by Jane Kennedy. Hello. My name is Tracy Marabella Evans. I am a resident at the grant at Willowsford.

[00:41:46] The grant, in collaboration with Dominion Trail, are here in red and blue. As you all can see, we represent 19 of the 28 speakers tonight, and we are representing over 700 children who would be rezoned. Our neighborhoods work together to create Plan 533.

[00:42:02] We built this plan off of your existing plans R11 and R17 and believe it is the best of both plans. Lauren, we are taking your feedback, and we will happily amend this plan to not move Zone DN 36.4. We're also in support of your Plan 280. We understand how hard you and Beverly have been working on this, but only with the following two amendments. One, keep the grant at Madison's Trust, and also keep all of Dominion Trail at their existing schools. Neither of the amendments put schools over capacity. These amendments will impact far less students, resulting in over 250

[00:42:37] children getting to stay at their existing elementary schools. Thank you. Thank you. Jane Kennedy, followed by Michelle Stone. My name is Jane Kennedy. I'm the family liaison at Dominion Trail and a parent of two Dominion Trail students. I ask the board to support user plan 533 for the rezoning and keep our neighbors at Ashburn Meadows Apartments at Dominion Trail. Ashburn Meadows are classified as affordable housing by the 2025 Loudoun County Apartment Rental Guide.

[00:43:08] Our school has long-standing relationships with the residents of the apartments. We have programs to support and nurture them, like our food pantry that serves about 70 children per week, 52 of whom live in Ashburn Meadows and the 135 weekly meal bags we sent home, over 80% of which go to Ashburn Meadows.

[00:43:25] These families are deeply connected and involved in our school, as demonstrated by our incredible turnout at parents' educational partners. Last week we had 77 attendees, most of whom live in Ashburn Meadows. Some of these families are here this evening to show their support and their desire to remain a part of the Dominion Trail family.

[00:43:41] Dominion Trail is where families come together, and we urge the board not to break up this hard-earned and tight-knit community of ours. Please support User Plan 533. Thank you. Thank you. Michelle Stone followed by Carolina Serrano. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm Michelle Stone and I'm a parent of a third grader at Madison's Trust. In collaboration with the Dominion Trail families, I'm respectfully asking that all Willisford Grant students remain at Madison's Trust and that current students remain at Dominion Trail. The grant has been part of Madison's Trust since 2016 and my family has deep ties with the school and strong relationships with

[00:44:17] teachers. While Ms. Chernoff's Plan 280 addresses some earlier concerns, it moves both the grant and the Bramilton zone, which is an overcorrection and conflicts with several elements of Policy 6530. Overcrowding can be minimized by moving only the Bramilton zone, keeping the 189 grant students at Madison's Trust maintained stable, healthy enrollments through 2032. Plan 280 would create an underutilized school and a short-term fix that risks future rezoning as Elaine Thompson approaches capacity due to new residential development. It also makes the grant an isolated zone with significantly longer and potentially unsafe bus routes. I respectfully ask you to

[00:44:54] keep wills for grant at Madison's Trust without moving DN 36.4 by supporting Plan 533. Thank you. Carolina Serrano followed by Meera Patel. No, Carolina Serrano. Meera Patel followed by Brian Collarin. Good evening my name is Meera Patel I'm a parent of three children a fifth

[00:45:31] grader a third grader and an incoming first grader at Madison's Trust next year. I am advocating to keep the Willisford Grant community at Madison's Trust. I respectfully ask you to support one of two plans. First my neighbors and that are in collaboration with the Dominion Trail Elementary Huskies we are asking for support of plan 533 with an amendment that does not move the current walk zone attending Madison's Trust to Creighton's Corner. The plan addresses the parental concerns expressed while balancing LCPS's objective of streamlining capacity across schools.

[00:46:06] Alternatively, again in collaboration with our friends at Dominion Trail Elementary School, we are asking for support of Plan 280 with amendments that keep all current students at Dominion Trail and all Wolfsburg Grand students at Madison's Trust. This adjustment would still result in Madison's Trust being at a sustainable capacity level and would be consistent with how Madison's Trust was treated in the original staff plan R11. Thank you. Thank you. Brian Colloran followed by Philip Porter. Good evening. My name is Brian Colloran. I'm a parent of three students at Madison's Trust and we live in the Willisford Grant neighborhood. I'm going to focus tonight on

[00:46:46] an unanswered question related to the Elaine Thompson projections. I think this is an incredibly important point because it could impact the viability of Elaine Thompson as a release valve for Madison Trust. Everyone should have received a handout from me tonight. I'm going to focus on the first page, but the rest of the pages are supporting docs.

[00:47:04] As of today, there are three new developments in Arcola that will bring 157 new students to Elaine Thompson. If you look at scenario one, the new developments, if they're already in the Elaine Thompson projections, that implies that the current attendance zones to Elaine Thompson will reduce 266 students by 2032.

[00:47:25] That's hard for me to believe. If you look at scenario two, when you factor in the new developments and the Grant neighborhood coming into Elaine Thompson, that would put Elaine Thompson over 100% in four of the six years. I want to make sure we don't overcorrect. Thank you.

[00:47:43] Thank you. Philip Porter, followed by Kristen Wursell. Good evening.

[00:47:59] My name is Philip Porter, living at Rainsboro Drive with an Ashburn Elementary student. I'm a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, commuting daily to Bowling Air Force Base. I accept the long hours of my commute for one reason, to give my children stability. I can't always guarantee them elsewhere. Option R-17 threatens that stability. For a military family where so much life is already transient, destroying that sense of community is a heavy price to pay.

[00:48:19] This proposal fractures our community's feeder pattern, splitting our neighborhood. Fairfax County is spending millions to fix issues with feeders. Option R-17 creates a new one. Ashburn Elementary sits at only 72% capacity. Please do not uproot families from a school with ample room to educate them. Prioritize safety. My children walk to school safely in a neighborhood pass. R-17 forces them to cross high volume intersection.

[00:48:38] the county is flagged as dangerous. I asked you to reject option R17. Let me keep making the long drive to Bowling so my children can keep the safe walk to the school they love. Thank you. Thank you. Kristen Wursell followed by Kristen Lloyd. Hi, good evening. My name is Kristen Wursell.

[00:49:02] I am a resident of zone DN 36.8. I have a second grader at Madison's Trust and I oppose our zone being moved from Madison's Trust to Legacy Elementary. Our zone is in the walking zone to Madison's Trust and walking has become an integral part of our children's school experience.

[00:49:20] Walking has been crucial to building a sense of community within our neighborhood. This sense of community has allowed our students to thrive socially and emotionally by forging friendships among not only our students but also among parents. If we get rezoned our current walkers will become bus riders. Our neighborhood consists of high density housing that is filled with many cars, pedestrians, e-bikes, and e-scooters. We are also surrounded by commercial development and busy roads which have only become more busy since the completion of North Star Boulevard with the

[00:49:55] connection to Route 50. I am concerned where safe bus stops could be located for 240 students and thank you. Kristen Lloyd followed by Sarah Bozzi. Sorry no Sarah Bozzi.

[00:50:25] Okay Bridget Bench. Oh no Oh, I'm Sarah Bazzi. Oh, you're Sarah Bazzi. Okay, sorry. Not Christian. Okay, not Christian Lloyd. Thank you. Sorry. Okay.

[00:50:40] My name is Sarah Bazzi. I have an 8th grader who went all the way through Dominion Trail at Farmwell, and I have a 4th grader who is at Dominion Trail, and I'm here to speak for the heart. My daughter has problems reading, and Dominion Trail has been there for her, and she will not be affected by this change, but you will decimate her school.

[00:50:57] You're going to take away 40% of the staff and her friends and her heart. Dominion Trail has a heart. It's Mr. Joseph. He's the principal of the year. And instead of studying how we can make every school like Dominion Trail and how we can use this, we are going to tear it apart to 60% capacity, losing our friends and our neighbors and our school.

[00:51:17] Nobody here wants the plan. Thank you for making a plan that considered relief. But I don't think Dominion Trail asks for relief. We don't want any relief. We want to be together. And if you can look at everybody here, we want them to be together and we want the other schools to be together. Nobody supports the plan, so please follow your constituents in this crazy world.

[00:51:36] We are building community, and we built it here. Please let us stay together. Thank you. Bridget Vinch, followed by Helena Welsh. It's hard to follow. Hi, I'm Bridget Vinch.

[00:51:52] I have a third grader at Dominion Trail with an IEP. First, I want to thank you. You've heard the data, but you've created a golden opportunity, a dialogue. So in good faith, you all created a process and plans, and you've encouraged a community interaction. think it's safe to say you're getting it. We've communicated and we've partnered and we've planned with our fellows at Madison Trust. And the key here is the dialogue because words like empower and engage and enrich, they have meaning. But words validated with action, those have power.

[00:52:24] The power to change the narrative, the power to save time, to save energy, to save money, save aggravation, which let's face it is more time and money. The power to build a foundation of trust for true community of belonging. Here's what you're bringing home. Please, we implore you, continue this dialogue.

[00:52:42] Hear and act upon our collective suggestions. Amend the plans you've already seen, like 533, based on what you've heard today. We stand with you, and we stand with our fellow Ashburn and our Dulles families working to find a plan. Thank you. Helena Welch, followed by Bob Scheidler.

[00:53:03] Hello, my name is Helena Welch, and I support Plan 533. I have a second grader at Dominion Trail, and I'm here tonight to support keeping Dominion Trail together and united. I thought a lot about what I wanted to say tonight and found it challenging to find the words to convey how devastating it would be able to split up Dominion Trail and the other school that is here all still.

[00:53:24] A minute to speak to you is not nearly long enough to convince you to keep Dominion Trail together and to not move these zones that are so important to these children and the families. I truly appreciate the school board members that came out to Dominion Trail and took the time to understand and see what our school and community is about because that is truly important to see that.

[00:53:44] I ask that each and every one of you truly take the time to look at the facts and the data that have been given to you and listen to what everybody is saying to you and to work together to amend a rezoning plan that can truly help all the communities together.

[00:54:00] Dominion Trail is more than just zones on a map. Keep Dominion Trail together. Thank you for my time. - Thank you. Bob Scheidler followed by Megan Perry. - Hi, I'm Bob Scheidler, former PTA president, school sponsor, and I have two daughters at Dominion Trail.

[00:54:18] I'm here to urge you to deeply consider User Plan 533 to keep the Huskies together. Over my six years at Dominion Trail, I've worked endless hours with these families to host events for these kids to enjoy. In a crazy world, Dominion Trail is more than a community.

[00:54:34] It's become their family, a place they love and trust. They built trust with these teachers. They have friends there, families. If you ever attend or see one of these events, you would understand what we're talking about. It's an unbelievable place. I've never seen anything like it in schools.

[00:54:50] The community they've built from Mr. Joseph at the top all the way down to the janitary staff for the events. Like every person chips in, becomes part of this team, family. And so we really urge you to deeply consider User Plan 533 to keep the Huskies together.

[00:55:08] Thank you. Thank you. Megan Perry, followed by Anirud Ravakumar. Hi, my name is Megan Perry. I have two sons at Ashburn Elementary, 2nd and 5th grade.

[00:55:26] Thank you to the parents who invested their time in developing Plan 533, which meets your rezoning goals without dividing established neighborhoods like those in Ashburn Village. Under Plan 17, our Rainsboro neighborhood would be split. We would be sent from Ashburn Elementary to Stewart-Weller, a school that is farther away and already at a higher capacity.

[00:55:43] This move is unnecessary, and behind the change are children whose lives will be directly affected. My second-grade son is shy and sensitive. The beginning of this year was difficult as he was separated from many of his former classmates, but he has worked hard to make new friends. Moving him now would undo that progress and force him to start over, and Stuart Waller doesn't feed into FarmWell Middle, so he would face this situation again in a few short years.

[00:56:07] We constantly hear that LCPS seeks to help every student thrive academically and socially, Splitting neighborhoods like Rainsboro undermines that mission. Plan 533 shows there are ways to meet your goals without tearing apart communities. I urge you to consider it. Thank you.

[00:56:28] Anirud Ravakumar. Hi. Thank you for having me and all of us here. None of this is fair for any parent here. Every single plan that's been put out there, somebody's moving.

[00:56:44] There's going to be some constant, which is a change happening in everybody's lives here. I'm a parent of a first grader at Madison's Trust in a walk zone. That's in the zone D and 36.8. All plans, 75% of them, are unfavorable to that zone.

[00:57:04] There's nothing fair about it. Too bad. That's how I'm thinking about it as well. There was not one plan proposed that helps us or any of the communities around us. All I'm asking is just, you know, think about the kids that are in the walk zone.

[00:57:20] These are not just boundaries on the map line. These are children's lives, memories, friendships, we create through community. One of the main things that you guys are, I guess that the board's upholding is the principles around walking, making it safe zone for walking, so thank you.

[00:57:38] - Thank you. Thank you all for, and without, we're gonna end public comment, or the public hearing. So thank you all for coming today and providing your public comment. We'll move on to the work session. Item five, Department of Support Services, Ashburn and Dallas North Elementary School attendance zones miss Tate coming

[00:58:04] up here board members do you have any questions about what we heard today I'll have one um miss it was about miss Chernoff's plan was to to 80 I think you know something that concerns me about this is Sanders corner elementary like the only ones that are giving any relief to Sanders corner after you think about

[00:58:44] the dual language immersion program are it looks like are 17 I think I'm looking oh and 533 so that was it that was something that I was a little concerned about at a hundred and seven percent at Sanders yeah I mean so I'm looking at I don't know if y'all have this but what exactly building base building capacity

[00:59:22] is and we have something what is this it's the it's a big old book but it's the Loudoun County Public Schools a capital budget and capital projects forecast and i think this is on board docs but on page 73 i always hear oh we don't know what base building capacity means and on here it tells you exactly what it means how many students

[00:59:55] for title one schools how many students for um gen ed classrooms elementary middle and and secondary um something that i was wondering so we have regular class size classrooms let's say dominion trail there are 34 classrooms i guess and then two are put together for art and music one for gifted but i don't see any classrooms or anything for special education resource i don't see that that that any of that thinks about ot pt speech having classes for you know classrooms for

[01:00:34] them and is that that's not contemplated in the base capacity for classrooms or for school and that's on page 75 of our capital budget I was just looking at the classrooms there so in a school the size of Dominion Trail and Ashburn and probably Hillside as well we do calculate we pull out five classrooms for special education use as part of our base capacity calculation so they could be

[01:01:09] utilized and so that is noted there on the document you're looking at thankfully Mr. Lewis brought his laptop with him and I can look. So I don't see it on this document because I see eight students per classroom, but I think those are program classes, not resource rooms.

[01:01:26] That is true. So we designate them for special education. They could be program classrooms. They could be for pull-out services. They could be cross-cathed. It depends on how the school utilizes them. We do know that some of our more new schools have resource spaces that provide that opportunity without dedicating a classroom for it.

[01:01:46] Dominion Trail and this was a question that Ms. Donahue had asked as well why we were recommending changes to some of the schools when they were falling below that 90% we want to provide those collaborative spaces the resource spaces that's a lot of our older schools don't have and that was part of the reason when we brought both plans forward that we looked at different scenarios that did involve changes for Dominion and Ashburn and Hillside you are correct that we don't specifically pull out a room for otpt but we do provide the

[01:02:23] opportunity for special education classrooms how the principal may use them depending upon the programs in their building I'm not really probably answering your question I mean because I saw class yeah I saw for tutoring the kids in the hallway like a chair a desk in the hallway I saw educational diagnostician school psychologist in the hallway. I saw a classroom with four or five people and they have four or five groups going on at the same time in a classroom for tier two and tier

[01:02:58] three instruction. I saw a sensory room in a hallway with dividers. I mean, I know this is what we do to make do because our principals are awesome and our schools are awesome and they make do but I think it's hard to understand and I think of it like a tent like a four-person tent like a four-person tent is not really a four-person tent you can have four people you know all lined up but if you guys are all can any campers in here you know what I'm talking about a four-person

[01:03:31] tent is really a two-person tent or a worse one-person tent with a dog and so I just am I think we're looking at this base capacity thing kind of in a in an i don't want to say untrue way but it's not realistic way um so i just wanted to to let y'all know kind of my thought process behind what's really 90 capacity what's really 100 capacity for one school is probably not the best yeah miss shirnoff yeah i know what you're hinting at and and what you're what you're

[01:04:10] talking about i i feel pretty similarly actually in visiting our schools and especially looking at you know schools from hillside all the way to elaine thompson and having been to all of them in the zone and in the last couple of months it's there's definitely differences and so one of the things i was going to ask and i don't know if this helps clarify but 93 capacity doesn't equal 93 capacity somewhere else like for a smaller school and what that what you're allowed to do in that space versus like an Elaine Thompson that is massive whereas that 7% is a lot more students that's kind of the way that I've been thinking about it as I

[01:04:49] look at the numbers is that is that fair to say I mean I know that the math people that doesn't math for their brains but I'm not a math person so I can say that but I feel like that's where we're we're getting like 7% and Elaine Thompson is a huge difference than 7% would be at like a hillside or a dominion is that true yes i would agree with you yeah so with those spaces i mean when you walk into some of these buildings i mean even being at wax pool right like there's sensory rooms and other like there's special education rooms but then there's also rooms for those kids to go and

[01:05:27] have calm down time and you have this ebb and flow so i think the numbers on the page are not telling the whole story it's kind of i don't think it's an untrue story i just think they're not telling the whole story um and i would like to say that these communities are amazing like i being at dominion trail in particular for the spaghetti dinner and then also back again to have a follow-up conversation um with some folks every single person in that building looked at me and said we'll make it work we will make it work we want to be together we don't want you to move us we'll

[01:06:04] make it work. And I hear that, and I see them nodding, and I hear you tonight. What I want to consider, and what I'd ask for people to think about, is the long road ahead of a division being redistricted, and thinking about how will that change over time, and are we making the best decision in the now for the long term? None of us have a crystal ball, but I think that alleviating some capacity moves us in that direction versus staying exactly where we are and that's why we're having this conversation in the first place so my

[01:06:42] question I have two questions one is for our friends at Willowsford grant and one is for Dominion so my question about Dominion trail is title one and now we've gone back and forth a little bit with the school with the title one office we're hearing different things I what I want to understand is that they were Title I last year based off of the state and the county percentages. This year they qualify for the state percentage but not the county, but we're leaving them as Title I because we did not want to disrupt in and out of Title I and that maybe they won't be Title I next year or maybe they will.

[01:07:21] So I do think that's an important part of this conversation as we project out in terms of base capacity. So can someone speak to Title I status? Thank you, Ms. Chernoff. I'll start in the next take to help me but you and chair Mansfield have both hit on something that's more of an intangible thing that we're trying to accomplish here so even if the the base capacity goes up because we changed the way we calculate it we if we didn't make any changes to there we would still have all the things that mrs. Mansfield just described as challenges in the school because they don't have all those specialized spaces that a newer school would have to the

[01:07:59] point you made 93% at one school is not the same as 93% at another school so we really need to give Dominion Trail some relief to give them that flexibility for now for the things that they have in place right now and the things they're trying to accomplish with their students in these small breakout areas that other schools have defined spaces for that they don't they're trying to make make do with that so it is important that we do that and we're seeing that the chart we have in the capital budget is a chart that tries to make all things equal but things are not equal when the buildings aren't designed the same way so we are trying to accommodate those changes for now and in the future as you said we

[01:08:36] need to have some flexibility for those students to be able have a place to do those special classes and they just don't have them right now and then in relation to title one I guess my question really is is it fair to say that they're on the borderline whether they stay or not as we project out will remain uncertain I guess is the better question thanks mission off I can take that one so last year you may recall that Dominion Trail was one of two schools that fell below the LCPS threshold for title one identification

[01:09:13] and given the regulations provided by the state and the feds we were able to hold them harmless for one year for the reason that you described it's pretty disruptive to go back and forth in and out of title one status for a variety of reasons so they were held harmless this past year preliminary data indicates that they are not going to go back above the threshold in the future so it is unlikely that in the near term that they would they would be title one next year right that's super helpful should I ask my Elaine

[01:09:47] Thompson question also or you want to volley let me volley real quick no problem what I'm wondering and I we have habituated as a district as being overcrowded schools and this has come I mean I come from South Riding where everything was and still is overrun I mean my kids went to places that were 110 percent we're talking about kids who were also in rooms for closets for their specialized instruction we're talking about kids who had and Little River was really overcrowded

[01:10:27] for a real long time um i think we have to also think of the kids but we've habituated to we'll make do we're we're gonna do it we're gonna power through and i and i want to challenge people to think that maybe maybe we should think differently now um for the better of the kids and i hear the communities and i do and i have been i have been redistricted and i've had to move for fifth grade um so i do understand that so that's all i just want people to think about that a little bit okay

[01:11:00] ms shirnoff you want to ask about elaine thompson yes um i appreciate that uh so there has been some chatter tonight and i've gotten some emails i think you all have as well about an overcorrection at elaine thompson where would we move willows for grant to elaine thompson with projected areas and upcoming development that that would then push them to a place where then they would need to be rezoned because of their overcapacity issues. Do we believe that that is true? So we were asked

[01:11:35] that question at the outset based on the current capital budget that's before you now that you're reviewing simultaneously at the same time you're doing boundaries. We have revised our projections downward to reflect the declining birth rate where people are having less children the affordability of Loudoun County and that not only affects our projection forecasting but it also plays into our student generation factors where we calculate future students based on permitting that has been approved and

[01:12:15] so both of those reflect a decline and so we are reflecting that with the projections for Elaine Thompson last year our projection process did not we were anticipating growth but as we presented to you also on October 28 that was a busy night we were showing you that Loudoun County Public Schools is reflecting a decline in enrollment over the coming years as our population ages and as we're not getting as many students from new homes I appreciate

[01:12:50] that I will close out with just for the evening I know I've dominated a lot of the conversation but I want to just pose to my fellow board members as colleagues that I still feel pretty open on a few things so I'm researching those and seeing where we're at particularly with the Madison's trust we heard from both of those neighborhoods today and obviously in my plan I put them both in to kind of see what that would do to Madison's trust but I'm hearing from the walk zone and from Willersford grant like I think we have some thinking to do around there at least in my mind and then obviously

[01:13:29] Dominion Trail is still part of the conversation and then to your point about Sanders I do like what plan 533 does to those numbers so maybe being amenable to moving DN 29 that is moved in plan 533 amending plan 280 to include that could give the relief you're looking for there potentially miss man chair Mansfield so anyway I'll circulate all of this with you all as we get closer and again my goal tonight was to leave options on the table so that

[01:14:06] nothing is boxed out completely and I feel that in combination as we've heard tonight with these different plans with amendments, I'm hopeful we can get to a good result. So I truly appreciate you coming out. I appreciate the phone calls. I appreciate the meetings, appreciate the work with staff. We'll get there. Thanks, Ms. Chernoff. Ms. Chandler, did you have anything? I wasn't looking at you, so I didn't see if you had raised your hand or anything. No, you're good. I'm good. Thank you. Yes, Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you, Madam Chair. As far

[01:14:44] Sanders corner goes I did have some people concerned about being redistricted to Cedar Lane but I was curious about the dual immersion program because we have a lot of students I guess throughout the county that that go there for the dual immersion maybe I'm trying to understand how did we pick Sanders for that location because we have other schools like for example Stuart Weller we're trying to fill gaps in there would we be able to move that program if if we needed to I'm can you explain to me how Sanders was picked for the dual

[01:15:23] immersion program thank you looking at dr. Ellis we have two elementary schools right now that do have the dual language immersion program Potomac Elementary and Sanders I believe in the initial this is facilitate through teaching and learning believed that initially there had to be an interest of the school level and mr. Jacks indicated he was interested and that proceeded is it

[01:15:59] possible I was just curious if it's possible if we have overcrowding issues to move it to like a Stuart Weller that had dropped in enrollment is that possible I'm just curious that might help out as well but again I'm getting into the moving kids from Sanders to Cedar Lane and I have a lot of constituents they're not happy about that so I'm just curious you know we're all coming up with plans here so I'm trying to figure out if you know we

[01:16:33] could move that program because they're not all Sanders they're not set for that area zone for that area am i am i right there or i think i i think that's the case right we do do want me to jump in miss tate um thank you miss griffith so we do have a certain number of seats set aside for students not zoned for sanders corner and in terms of related to your first question about how sanders corner was selected for the program we have a very specific process that we use for the selection of any school for any special program that includes looking at

[01:17:12] transportation, capacity of schools, the number of students or families who showed interest in the survey that we provided a couple years ago. So there are many factors that we used in terms of picking up a program and moving it. I think that would be would involve much more discussion.

[01:17:32] Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Griffiths. Thank you, Dr. Ellis. Okay. Oh, Dr. Rashid. Thank you, Chair. You know, if there's any district that gets redistricted the most, it's Little River District. I mean, we've seen this with Heartland last year.

[01:17:52] We saw it with Madison's Trust last year, and now Madison's Trust is back here again with the same concern. And I don't want to go into a long spiel, but, you know, it hurts me to see that Madison's Trust always gets hurt time and time again.

[01:18:09] And then they have to, you know, really plead for their kids, and it's truly heartbreaking. I understand the numbers are large in their percentage. However, when I looked at, and this is one of my questions, for Plan 533, I just wanted to understand the relief.

[01:18:30] I didn't understand the concept of 533, although I did see a lot of support for it. I saw that Cedar Lane Elementary School goes from 89%, but then goes up to 101. Creighton's Corner goes from 84 to 92.

[01:18:48] Am I reading that correct? Once the staff plan comes in. You are. Not staff plan. I'm sorry. With the plan changes is what I meant. Correct. So with plan 533, Cedar Lane next year would be projected.

[01:19:06] Well, actually this year. If it were in effect today, it would be at 101%. And Creighton's Corner would be at 97, 92%. I'm sorry, I can't even read my sheet. If the attendance zones were in effect today. But then Cedar Lane would be 95 and follow through into the 80s based on that plan.

[01:19:26] Okay, and with this plan, the only relief is for Madison's Trust, am I correct, with the 533 plan? And for Sanders Corner and for Stuart Weller.

[01:19:42] So 533 does move the Lansdowne portion of the community that's currently at Stuart Weller. It moves them to Seldon's Landing to better utilize Seldon's, so it provides some relief for Stuart Weller. And then DN29, with this plan, is moved from Sanders to Cedar Lane.

[01:20:01] It does not provide further relief for Cedar Lane. Okay, so if we were to keep the 533 plan and we kept Willisford Grant at Madison's Trust, obviously this number would be still at 113.

[01:20:18] Would that number still remain at 113 or would it be higher? With 533, the Willisford Grant is at Madison's Trust. Okay. And so the projections reflect that and it reflects the Planning Zone D and 36.8, which currently walks to Madison's trust it has them reassigned along with planning zone 36.4 which also is within the walk zone of Madison's trust 36.4 is recommended to go to Creighton's Corner and 36.8 is recommended to go to Legacy okay I you know just as just to hear my thoughts to my my colleagues

[01:20:58] just I would love to see R11 go forward and 533 go forward especially for the sake of discussion I think it's definitely well worth considering especially with the constituents coming out with not moving you know certain parts like 36.4 and and keeping Willisford grant at Madison's Trust again it is something we would like to think about and keeping Dominion as is but those are my thoughts thank you chair may I seek clarification so we've had requests for the staff plan R11 and R17 to move forward as well as the plan 280

[01:21:36] So you are asking that our plan, redistrict plan 533 also move on? That is correct. That is correct. Thank you, Ms. Tate. Thank you so much. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. We still have lots of thinking to do. Thanks, y'all, for coming out.

[01:21:57] Okay. We will move on to our action item for the day. The human resources and talent development collective bargaining agreement with Lisa Boland, our chief human resources officer.

[01:22:21] This is coming up. Welcome Ms. Boland.

[01:22:43] - Good evening, thank you so much for having me. So tonight I am presenting the tentative collective bargaining agreements to the school board as an action item for consideration of ratification by the division. Ratification by both parties, the union and the school board is required under the collective bargaining resolution before agreements can take effect.

[01:23:08] This slide outlines the full ratification timeline for both collective bargaining agreements. The division and LEA reached tentative agreement on October 29th. The agreements were presented to the school board as an information item on November 11th.

[01:23:25] On Friday, November 21st, the Loudoun Education Association completed its ratification process for both the certified and non-certified units, voting in favor of both of these agreements, thereby ratifying them as far as the union was concerned.

[01:23:44] Tonight, November 24th, is the final step in this process, the school board's consideration of ratification by the division. Once both parties ratify, the agreements can then move forward into the implementation and planning phase.

[01:24:02] As a reminder from our November 11th presentation, these are three-year agreements running from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. The agreements include articles on wages and benefits, Safety, due process, union release time, and working condition provisions such as planning time and lunches for certified staff and lunches and breaks for non-certified staff.

[01:24:30] Copies of both tentative agreements are available in board docs for your review. They are quite lengthy. This evening, I will be focusing on wages and benefits, as these are the provisions that directly impact the fiscal year 27 budget and the division's long-term financial planning.

[01:24:48] The total cost of the three-year agreements is approximately $188.3 million. On average, employees would see cumulative increases of 15.5% over the life of the contracts, with a potential to reach 19.5% if revenue projections were to improve.

[01:25:14] For fiscal year 28 and fiscal year 29, the agreements establish a base 2% cost of living adjustment with the ability to add up to an additional 2% if the chief financial officer certified that our financial position was stronger than the current forecast when the superintendent's estimate of needs was presented. This structure gives employees predictability while maintaining fiscal flexibility for the school board. For the certified group, fiscal year 27 includes a 4%

[01:25:50] COLA increase plus a step advancement for an average total increase of approximately 9.5%. For fiscal year 28 and fiscal year 29, each include the 2% base COLA with the potential to increase to 4% again if the CFO certified available funding plus step progression that results in total annual increases ranging from 4.5 to 6.5%. For employees at the top of the salary scale who no longer receive step increases, the agreement does provide a 1% non-base bonus for

[01:26:30] each year. This model ensures that experienced teachers remain recognized even when they reach the top of the salary scale. The non-certified unit follows the same basic structure as the certified group but includes a slightly higher COLA in the first year to address both wage compression and parity concerns. Fiscal year 27 provides the 5% COLA plus step. Fiscal year 28 and 29 mirror the certified framework with a 2% base and potential enhancement to 4% plus step

[01:27:09] progression. As with the certified group, top of scale employees receive a 1% non-base bonus each year. The agreements include several benefit enhancements that were important to both bargaining units and reflect our shared focus on employee support and flexibility. First, a new bereavement leave benefit has been established, providing three dedicated days for the loss of an immediate family member. Employees may extend that time by using up to 20 days of their accrued sick leave

[01:27:48] if needed. This is the first time bereavement leave has been formally included as a separate benefit in our leave structure and it does carry a modest cost increase for the division. The agreements also extend flexibility around personal leave. Employees can now convert up to 10 days of unused sick leave into personal leave each year, up from five, and may use up to five of those personal leave days consecutively. Those adjustments are cost neutral since they rely

[01:28:22] on existing leave balances, but provide employees with greater flexibility to manage family and personal obligations. Together, these updates reflect a balanced approach, strengthening employee support while maintaining fiscal responsibility. The union leave article sets clear parameters around how employees may take time away from their regular duties to perform official union functions. Under this agreement, the union may designate up to three full-time employee representatives, the union president and two others, who can transition to a protected

[01:29:01] leave without pay status. These individuals retain the right to return to a position with the division once their union leave were to end. The agreement also establishes an allowance for professional leave days that may be used for union-related training, conferences, or representational duties. Those days are capped at 200 in fiscal year 27 and 150 for fiscal year 28 and 29. The higher number in the first year recognizes that much like the division, the union will need time to train its representatives and members on the new

[01:29:38] collective bargaining agreements, its procedures, and its expectations. The intent is to build capacity early on so that the implementation runs smoothly on both sides. There's a modest cost associated with these professional leave days as employees remain in paid status while on union leave. This could include substitute coverage costs in schools or coverage adjustments in departments to accommodate absences. However, by setting an annual cap, the division maintains oversight and predictability around that cost exposure. Overall, this structure promotes

[01:30:17] professional development for union leaders and supports collaborative labor management relations while ensuring the division retains control over scheduling, coverage, and fiscal accountability. From an operational standpoint, it also creates transparency around how leave for union activity is approved, tracked, and managed, helping ensure consistency across schools and departments as we move forward. So next steps. Tonight, we are asking the school board to take

[01:30:53] action to ratify both the certified and non-certified collective bargaining agreements. If the board votes to ratify this agreement, we will immediately begin the implementation phase. This work will occur throughout the second half of the school year and will include developing and delivering training for our leaders.

[01:31:14] We will spend the remainder of the school year creating and delivering training for principals, supervisors, and department leaders to ensure consistent understanding and implementation of the contract language, processes, and new expectations. This will be a heavy lift.

[01:31:32] Second is determining next steps in regards to policies. Because the CBA replaces some existing policies and significantly impacts others, we will need to evaluate which policies require revision, which may be retired, and how to balance this work with our ongoing policy review and update cycles.

[01:31:55] And last, launching the Labor Management Partnership. Following ratification, we will formally launch the Labor Management Partnership structure. This will support collaboration on issues that fall outside of the CBA and help prepare both the division and the union for effective implementation leading to the July 1st, 2026 effective date.

[01:32:19] These steps will ensure we are prepared to implement the agreements on schedule and in a consistent, transparent manner across the division. These agreements represent a significant milestone for LCPS and reflect the diligent, good-faith negotiations between the parties.

[01:32:39] The Board's action tonight is the final step necessary to ratify these agreements and incorporate their financial requirements into the fiscal year 27 budget process. We respectfully submit the agreements for the certified and non-certified employees' bargaining units for ratification.

[01:32:58] Before closing, I do want to note one point that sometimes does come up regarding future changes to collective bargaining agreements once ratification occurs. Once a CBA is signed and ratified, any change that alters the substance or intent of the agreement will require both parties to return to the bargaining table.

[01:33:18] However, that said, if the need arises, we will partner with LEA to make non-substantive edits, such as grammar, formatting, section headers, or clarifying verbiage, so long as those adjustments do not change the meaning of the agreement.

[01:33:39] and the agreement already includes a requirement that all provisions must comply with federal and state law. So if a legal requirement changes, the contract automatically defers to the law, and any conflicting language becomes void without the need for renegotiation. That's all I have.

[01:34:00] Thank you for your time. I'm happy to answer any questions. Board members, do you have any questions? Yes, Ms. Donahue, Vice Chair Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Boland, to you and everyone at LCPS, and thank you to everyone at LEA who's been working through this process. It's been a long time to get to this point. I appreciate very much you raising the question about potential need for changes if they arise in the future, and I just had a couple of follow-up questions for you about that. You mentioned non-substantive changes could be made

[01:34:40] without needing to go back to negotiating. Is LEA in agreement with that approach that non-substantive changes can be made in that way? So I believe so.

[01:34:57] We've had lots of conversations over the past week. Our legal counsel, their legal counsel, as well as our chief negotiator and the president of LEA to talk about once the ratification process happens, then what?

[01:35:13] And it's my understanding that this is a common practice once most contracts are done. You go back and you revisit, especially when they've been separate articles and you're trying to create a single document. You go back on section headers and maybe employees wasn't capitalized throughout and you want it to be capitalized throughout.

[01:35:33] There's also other areas where clarification may be needed but doesn't change the intent of the agreement and all of that can be discussed and changed without having to return to the table thank you for that clarification and if there if a need does arise to make any changes whether they are substantive or more format wise as you mentioned will the board be made aware of the need and will we have an opportunity to review and approve so if they're not substantive

[01:36:11] then they wouldn't it wouldn't be necessary to go back before the board it would only be necessary to go back before the board if they were significant or change the intent behind the agreement for example if we started to add section headers to clarify on the on the agreement the board would get the final agreement but we wouldn't need to re-ratify because it wouldn't change the intent of the agreement. Does that make sense? If anything changed the intent or if there were

[01:36:43] any substantive significant language, it could potentially require re-ratification. Thank you. I know this agreement, this tentative agreement is on board docs. Are we putting it on the website otherwise, like in facts or anything like that? So it won't go on the website until once it's ratified and it's agreed upon by both lea and the division as the final document so once we have

[01:37:17] talked about any um edits in regards to clarification language that type of thing once it's a final agreement it's no longer a tentative agreement it will go on the website just like the resolution okay so if there if it's been ratified by both parties then and and the changes right so if something happens and the code changes that and we don't have to ratify it again those changes will be incorporated and put in in the on the website as changes yes ma'am we would update the agreement both lea and lcps would acknowledge the agreement we would notify the board and then we

[01:37:56] would make an adjustment on the document that's online and indicate that it's been updated okay i just wanted to make sure if it was updated we would be forward-facing on it okay um any other questions yes mrs griffiths thank you madam chair now um we are voting on this tonight correct so we're voting on this and um i just it's not questions for you necessarily but i just wanted to uh be clear that i support teachers 100 um this was also a rezoning meeting and i'm not sure that

[01:38:30] the people of loudon county knew we were voting on collective bargaining tonight um there was no information for collective bargaining on the agenda up until a couple of hours ago. I kept checking. I'm uncomfortable voting for this tonight without the transparency to our constituents.

[01:38:49] I think the people of Loudoun County might not know the scope of what's involved with this contract. The final note, my final note is I'm concerned for the taxpayer that the cost associated with collective bargaining will outweigh the benefits. Total package cost is approximately 188.3 million, I'm also concerned that a union contract will render the citizens of Loudoun County powerless by giving away authority, a delegated to the board to a third party. So I have issues because we didn't have the information earlier for the people of Loudoun

[01:39:27] County to view it. And I understand you were having meetings, but if you want to speak to that as to why it was not public and explain that to the people of Loudoun County. Thank you. Vice Chair Donahue, did you have a question?

[01:39:46] Thank you, Madam Chair. I apologize, Ms. Boland. I just wanted to, and I'm sure Ms. Boland was going to say this, but I wanted to correct some of Mrs. Griffith's statements. This was presented as an information item at our previous board meeting.

[01:40:04] It was made clear that we would be voting on it, and hopefully, that if there were a proposal that was agreed upon and ratified by LEA, that we would be voting on it in the near future. We were aware that the deadline to reach an agreement was December 1st, and when the agenda for tonight went up on board docs last week, it did include item number six, action item, collective bargaining agreement.

[01:40:29] So I understand Mrs. Griffith's concerns about transparency and ensuring that the community had awareness of the steps that we were taking, but I personally feel that we have met our responsibilities in that regard and made sure that the community was fully aware that this was going to be coming before us today, and if circumstances were different and we were coming back here for a full board meeting tomorrow, the night before the Thanksgiving recess, then we could have voted on it then.

[01:40:58] But since we're up against a December 1st deadline, I'm glad that we're looking at this tonight instead of having to come back tomorrow or some other time on or before Monday. Ms. Boland, also, could you, so it's $188.3 million, but that's over three years, and then there's the addition if the chief financial officer certifies that the division's financial position,

[01:41:29] has is okay so it's we're not really giving that power away per se because it's still yes ma'am it would still be presented so in the event it would be the same thing as the the budget process so in the event during the initial stages of our budget process miss willoughby as the chief financial officer indicated that we potentially had funding to to increase the amount of COLA then she would communicate that to Dr. Spence and he would then

[01:42:07] include it in his superintendent estimated needs for the school board to then consider. Thank you for that. Any other questions? Yes Mrs. Griffiths. Can you clarify for me when the tentative agreement was on board docs in case I missed it because if I missed it then the people of Loudoun County may have missed it as well. Can you just clarify when that was? I could be wrong. Please give us the date. Thank you. Absolutely. So the tentative agreements, the actual agreements did not go live

[01:42:38] until today. If you recall, on November 11th, I shared with you that at that time, we could not share them publicly because LEA was working through the ratification process. And as part of the process, they need to have the opportunity to share that information with their members.

[01:42:58] And so that was us allowing them the ability to do that. Those agreements were shared with you as the governing body over the division to then ratify for the division. But LEA was charged with ratification of its members, which are ultimately LCPS employees.

[01:43:19] So basically the people of Lennon County did not see it, just the members. You basically said it was not public. So we did not have the ability to put it in board docs as a public item at the November 11th meeting because at that time, LEA had not met with its members to work towards or through the ratification process.

[01:43:47] As the exclusive bargaining representative, one of their rights is to be able to communicate and work through that with their members, which is essentially 91% of our employees, without us interrupting or interfering.

[01:44:06] Therefore, I could not put it in public documents and not appear to be interfering. If I remember correctly, I had asked for statistics when we received an email saying overwhelmingly they voted to ratify.

[01:44:25] And you had mentioned to me you did not have those numbers. How do you know it's 91%? So what I know is that the union represents 91% of our employees.

[01:44:43] 91% of our employees are in positions that currently sit either in the certified or the non-certified bargaining unit. How many of those participated in the ratification process, I do not know. LEA holds their own private ratification process.

[01:45:02] We are not privy to how it's conducted, how they manage their votes, how many votes there are. It is based on their bylaws who votes. That is not a process that we oversee, and I'm not privy to that information. Thank you.

[01:45:20] Vice Chair Donahue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Bolin, for that additional information. And I was just looking back to our board doc sentry from the November 11th meeting when this was an information item, number 13.03.

[01:45:38] While we were not able to post the agreements themselves at that time, there was a comprehensive presentation that Ms. Boland put together and presented that included some details regarding the points that would be in the agreement, including, my memory is including the price tag over the three years.

[01:46:03] So I don't think I publicly said the price tag, but it was in the information item under budget impact Thank you for that clarification again, Ms. Boland, I I would like to I move that the that Loudoun County that the Loudoun County School Board adopt and ratify the two draft collective bargaining agreements as have been ratified by the LEA I have a motion by Vice Chair Donahue. Do I have a second?

[01:46:38] Second. I have a second by Dr. Deans. It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there any more discussion? Yes, Vice-Chair Donohue. Thank you, Madam Chair. I won't take up a lot of time. I just wanted to say, again, it has been a long road to get to this point.

[01:46:56] I am very excited that we're here. When I was campaigning in 2023, this is one of the things that I was hoping to get done, was to get a resolution finished and approved and get an agreement put into place. And I am very grateful to everyone, to my colleagues on the board, to everyone in staff and everyone at LEA and everyone in the community who has helped get us to this point.

[01:47:21] I'm very excited to be here and I'm looking forward to the vote. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to clarify today that the ratification documents, I believe, were put on board docs around 3.41 p.m., the final documents.

[01:47:42] So I don't feel there was transparency there. They were put up too late. It was a private ratification process. Thank you. Okay, it's been properly moved and seconded. I echo Chair Donahue's thanks, Hugh, Vice Chair Donahue.

[01:48:02] I think I need to go eat. Vice Chair Donahue's sentiments and I also want to thank Vice Chair Donahue for all of her work on that initial work sessions. Who else was on that committee? And Dr. Rasheed. And Dr. Rasheed and Ms. Chandler for pushing this along. Yes. So thank you to all of you and thank you Ms. Boland for all your hard work and Cliff and LEA. Okay. All right. So let's move on. Seeing any more discussion? Let's vote. Clerk, please open the vote. Board members, is Ms. Chandler still on?

[01:48:40] Yes ma'am. Did you want to say anything? I'm okay. Okay. Let's vote. Clerk please open the vote. Board members please record your vote. Ms. Chandler would you please state your vote? Yes. Clerk please close and display the vote. That motion passes seven to one with Mrs. Griffiths in

[01:49:16] opposition of the vote and Ms. LaBelle absent for the vote. Did you get your picture? All right, and anyone new business no new business on the agenda. Okay, we go straight to adjournment There's no more further business this November 24 2025 special school board meeting and the public hearing and work session of the school board Elementary school attendance zone change process are now adjourned. Please drive safely home. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

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