Dulles Schools Newsletter Dulles Schools Newsletter 17Th Edition January 2018

Dulles Schools Newsletter Dulles Schools Newsletter 17th Edition January 2018

Welcome to the Dulles Schools Newsletter. In this edition we reflect on the recent boundary changes, address the budget process, and celebrate some successes in the Dulles District To be added to the electronic distribution list, please contact me via email: [email protected]

Important Dates: Jan 18th 6:30 Admin Bldg School Board Public Hearing and Work Session - Budget Jan 24th 6:30 Admin Bldg School Board Public Hearing and Work Session- Budget Feb 1st 6:30 Admin Bldg School Board Budget Work Session and Adoption

Boundary Changes adopted for Dulles South Elementary Schools

The School Board approved new boundaries for the Dulles South Elementary Schools on December 12th, 2017. The Changes will be implemented for the upcoming school year, and take advantage of the opening of Goshen Post Elementary School and classroom additions to Liberty, Arcola, and Pinebrook.

The approved plan, found below, provides immediate relief to Aldie, Arcola, Buffalo Trail, Cardinal Ridge, and Liberty while simultaneously seeking long term stability for the region. Hutchison Farm and Little River will increase base enrollment, but will no longer serve as overflow for other overcrowded schools, which means there will likely be fewer total students. Pinebrook will continue to serve the same population with no changes in boundaries.

The continued growth is expected to occur to the south and west in the Dulles South area, which means growth is expected in the Goshen Post, Buffalo Trail, and Arcola service areas. The final elementary school to be built in two to three years is perfectly located to provide relief to these three schools. ES-29 is located west of Northstar Blvd off of Braddock Rd.

More information on the new boundaries can be found at: https://www.lcps.org/Page/104704

Newly Adopted Elementary School Boundaries in Dulles South

Superintendent Proposes 2018-2019 Operating Budget

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) Superintendent Dr. Eric Williams presented his Proposed Fiscal Year 2019 Budget to the School Board on Tuesday, January 9th, at the LCPS Administrative Offices in Ashburn.

The superintendent-proposed budget represents an increase of $88.9 million (8 percent) over the current budget. The current budget is $1.113 billion. The proposed budget $1.202 billion.

A breakdown of the major expenditure changes is as follows: • Enrollment Growth (1.8% projected): $34.3M • Salaries and Benefits; bus driver compensation increases: $29.8M • FDK expansion, Differentiated staffing, counselors, etc. $16.7M • Operations and Maintenance $ 8.1M

The School Board is responsible for reviewing the budget, listening to constituents’ concerns, making desired adjustments, and then forwarding the Adopted Budget to the Board of Supervisors for funding. If the request is not fully funded, the School Board will revisit the budget in reconciliation and make necessary adjustments.

Meetings and public hearing dates are posted in “Important Dates”, above. Each speaker will be given between 1 and 3 minutes, depending on the number of speakers and the length of the Board’s agenda that evening. The Superintendent’s presentation can be found at:

https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/files/AUXMHV582E00/$file/REVISED% 20FY19%20Supt%20Proposed.pdf

Changes in our Dulles District Leadership There have been several changes to the leadership at our Dulles District Schools this past fall, including a cascade of changes due to new school openings.

In addition to boundaries, Goshen Post Elementary School now has its 1st Principal: Ann Hines, Principal at Rosa Lee Carter Elementary, was selected to lead Loudoun County’s 56th elementary school, opening in the fall! We look forward to meeting the entire Goshen Post staff when the school opens its doors this fall.

Principal Ann Hines Moving From Rosa Lee Carter to Goshen Post

In order to maintain the high caliber of student performance at Rosa Lee, the Superintendent has selected and the School Board approved Diane Insari as the school’s new Principal. Diane brings a wealth of experience and a heavy “STEM” background, having completed five years at Liberty Elementary under the tutelage of Principal Paul Pack.

Principal Diane Insari leaving Liberty to lead Rosa Lee Carter

Completing this shift, Alex Gray (former Dean at Liberty) has been selected to replace Ms. Insari as the new Assistant Principal at Liberty. Great to see all of the promotions going on in the Dulles District Elementary Schools!

New Assistant Principal Alex Gray moves up at Liberty

Middle and High School Changes are happening as well, moving familiar faces into leadership positions at our newest Secondary School: Willard Middle School. This fall, Willard will open its doors to eighth and ninth graders until the adjacent high school, Light Ridge, opens in 2020. When Light Ridge opens, Willard will become a traditional middle school, hosting students in grades six through eight.

Jeff Rounsley was approved by the school board to bring Loudoun’s newest middle school to life. Mr. Rounsley previously served as the Assistant Principal at John Champe High School under the leadership of John Gabriel. He and his staff will open the doors to Willard this fall.

Jeff Rounsley moves from AP at Champe to become Willard’s Principal

Jonathan Bonner, formerly from Dean at J. L. Simpson Middle School (and previous member of the Lunsford staff) has been selected to replace Jeff Rounsley as Assistant Principal at John Champe High School. Welcome back Jonathan!

Jonathan Bonner (l) returns to the Dulles District as AP at Champe

Kara Drinkwater, formerly a middle and high school Art teacher for Fairfax County has moved up to Loudoun as the new Assistant Principal at Mercer Middle School. Welcome Kara!

Kara Drinkwater joins Mercer as the newest AP

Excellence In Education Banquet Honors Students and Teachers

325 Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) seniors were honored at the 35th Annual Excellence in Education Banquet on Sunday, December 10th, at the National Conference Center in Leesburg. The seniors honored are those from the county’s 15 high schools and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology who have ranked in the top 5 percent of their class academically during the first three years of their high school career. 40 students were recognized for their selection as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists and 14 for selection as a National Hispanic Recognition Scholar.

While the Excellence in Education Banquet focuses on student achievement, there is another set of honorees that don’t make the headlines. Each student honored at the banquet is asked to invite the teacher who most influenced their success: whether a classroom teacher, a band director, a coach, or a counselor. Adjacent to the students’ names are the names of the teachers who were selected by their student for this distinct honor:

Briar Woods High School

Student Honoree Teacher Honoree Pragun Ananda Duane Minnick Daniel Beverly Michael Bladel Nicolas Burbano Nigel Tangredi Brandon Dimitri Tracy Nichols Amy Fiorellino Michael Silliman Meghana Kapa Lisa O’Donovan Meredith Levene Marlynn Goren Catherine Liu Amber Poniatowski Sydney Maloney Sundar Thirukkurungudi Thomas Moore Laura Noselli Kaleigh Moran Justin Lewis Nilay Neelaveni Kimberley Pond Lindsey Norberg Heather VanDyke Grace Roberts Amber Poniatowski Natalie Rothrock Whitney Loy Vasiliki Shinas Timothy Willmot Leah Sibay Lauren Lillestolen Daniel Valerio Montero Margaret McDyre Alexis Van Lenten Tracy Nichols Alec VanLandingham Kimberly Berger Tanvi Vippa Daniel Buchanan Tyler Worthley Lynn Gibson Carolyn Wyman Meredith Schimmel

John Champe High School

Student Honoree Teacher Honoree Matthew Betsill Larry Messner Rashmi Bojja Evelyn Salinas Simon Cha Duke Writer Shaalini Desai Purvi Bhatt Aatmika Deshpande Christine Moye Lauren Ford Jonathan Phillip Peter Forstner Shelly Zappia Sanika Gupte Bruce Buskey Raymond Hang Jodi Pelak Vandana Keshavamurthy Sofia Pollock Moorin Khan Juliet Kenny Vivek Khatri Christine Moye Christine Kim Stephanie Lima Quang Lam Steven Clegg Amanda Lee Stephanie Marut

Madeleine Luberecki Michael Gurlea Manas Mantha Ramesh Aniroodh Gustavo Moreira Ryan Girard Naresha Namana Amy Fisher Samuel Oh Amy Fisher Emily Pham George Wolfe Sophia Seo Angela Vipond Rachel Stec Jeffrey Randall Madeline Tsoutis Jason Lucus Lydia Vlasto Jeffrey Reed

Freedom High School

Student Honoree Teacher Honoree Isha Bhatia Charles Alcorn Aaron Chai Jennifer Flynn Caroline Chen Jackie Curley Kristina Chong Damian Tremblay Elizabeth Comeau Karen Richardson Jackson Garber Greg Northart Erin Hall Ann Schmidt Zuhaad Hameed Ramesh Aniroodh Anoop Hariharan Ramesh Aniroodh Shuhao Lai Charles Alcorn Catherine Lam Katelyn Chadwick Jamie Lee Colleen Hurley Hailey Ngo Melissa Hertema Isaani Patnaik Susan Nigro Caitlin Phan Iliana Chioariu Michael Stopper Carl Giesy Megan Thomas Colleen Moore Zachary Tyler Carl Giesy Taylor Weigand Ann Schmidt Emiliana Wood Ben Gibson Matt Yorkilous Jessica Legnini

Rock Ridge High School

Student Honoree Teacher Honoree Elsa Katarina Acosta Susan Smith Sarim Ansari Monica Leiva-Moore Giovanni Artiglio Deodato Obregon Sahiti Baddula Melissa Pruitt Ramya Bhaskara Jordan Markwood Keerthi Dasoju Anibal Avalos

Javid Fathi Kimberly Greer Michael Fuhrer Aaron Kunk Daniel Joo Peter Kim Megana Kasavaraju Susan Smith Santosh Krishnan Harold Hawks Rasvik Kudum Sundar Thirukkurundgudi Surbhi Mathur Andrew Lynch Saimanga Sreya Palnati Mithra Marcus Khushboo Patel Yaroslav Mayewsky Harshita Pathipati Jessica Berg Rishika Randev Eric Maeshiro Gwyneth Schloer Mario Saavedra Uday Sidhu Mithra Marcus Lauren Yun Kathleen Hackett Farhan Zaman Monica Leiva-Moore

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology

Student Honoree Teacher Honoree Naman Baraya Hadan Kauffman Saket Bikmal Barbara Wood Karthik Budharaju Adam Smith Sachin Jain John Struck Minna Kuriakose Linda Hough Mia Lei Mary Beth Kochman Jessica Ly Jim Dunning Varun Mosur Jennifer Rosenblum Akhil Rekulapelli Thomas Wickett Kamron Soldozy Szilvia Oszko Arvind Srinivasan Jonathan Osborne Tarunikha Sriram Maria Gilbert Neil Thistlethwaite Shane Torbet Rohan Valluri Maryann Guillen Pranav Yanambakkam Drew Pavlock

Loudoun County’s Rich African American Heritage explored in the Edwin Washington Project

Larry Roeder is a South Riding resident, a researcher, and the Lead Investigator of the Edwin Washington Research Project. The Project is an effort by Mr. Roeder and his team of volunteers to capture and preserve the history of African American public education in Loudoun from 1846- 1968. Three years of research has uncovered significant information about the schools, communities, teachers, students and families who supported and attended the “colored schools”.

More information is available at the Project’s website: www.edwinwashingtonproject.org or the Edwin Washington Project Page on Facebook. This effort is a wonderful collaboration of community members and is supported by LCPS.

The Old Conklin Colored School, located near Braddock Rd

Moorefield Station Hosts the U.S. Secretary of Education

United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visited Moorefield Station Elementary School on Friday, December 8th to see the Computer Science Immersion program began in August. Moorefield Station is one of three Computer Science Immersion Schools in Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), referred to as a “lighthouse school.”

Teachers at Moorefield Station, Meadowland and Round Hill elementary schools are the first in Virginia to be engaged in the “Code to the Future” computer science immersion program, made possible by a $5,000 donation to the Loudoun Education Foundation (LEF) from Unanet and $20,000 from the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia/Chin Family Charitable Fund.

Students from Moorefield Station hosting U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos

First grade students in Kaitlin Thomas’ class showed Secretary DeVos how they were learning to graph using the scratch program. Fourth graders in Shawn DeLuca’s class demonstrated animal robotics by programming a robot dog to get past a robot snake and safely into a doghouse.

Moorefield Station teachers said English Language Learners and students without access to a computer at home have shown a keen interest in coding and this interest has translated to subjects across the curriculum. Nicole Morris, who teaches a moderate-to-severe disabilities class, said coding has helped her students with their verbal skills. “We’ve seen a lot of students who struggle with language suddenly explain to someone else about code…I didn’t expect to see that kind of development.”

Comments:

I was honored this month again to be selected as the Chairman of the School Board by my fellow board members, and will continue with Vice Chairman Brenda Sheridan to lead the Board for 2018. I will simultaneously continue to serve as your Dulles District Representative, and Beth Huck will also continue to serve as the At-Large Board Representative.

We begin the year focused on adopting our School Year 2018-19 operating budget. The Superintendent has requested an 8% increase over last year’s budget, which is $5M less than last year’s requested increase. However, with enrollment projected to grow by only 1.4% next year (3.8% was last year’s projection), I am concerned with the $88.9M increase requested.

Clearly there are additional factors affecting the request: 2.04% annual inflation (YOY: Bureau of Labor Statistics 1/12/2018); competitive pay adjustments (based on our new competitive compensation report); increasing FDK to coverall kindergarteners in the district; disproportional increases in Special Needs and English Language Learner populations; increased health care costs; and the opening of Academies of Loudoun.

Feel free to contact me with your concerns: my email link is provided at the School Board webpage on the LCPS website – and on the webpage of each school in our district – lower left or right hand corner. Also, take advantage of the public hearing dates listed above.

Along with the other eight Board members, our Superintendent, and the entire LCPS staff, I will continue to aggressively pursue our mission: to enable all students to make meaningful contributions to the world.

Sincerely,

Jeff Morse

Jeff Morse Chairman & Dulles District Representative Loudoun County School Board [email protected]