The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a nonprofit education organization recommended a variety of uses for about 100 acres of county-owned land in Ashburn, in a meeting with the Board of Supervisors Oct. 21.
The panel, made up of eight experts, recommended that the county retain ownership of the land and that it be used for county government services, education and economic development. The panel recommended that 30 to 40 acres be dedicated to educational needs. It advised the county to consider building a science and technology academy, which would accommodate students in grades one through 12, and a limited university presence.
IN A SCHOOL BOARD meeting Oct. 11, board member Sarah Smith (Leesburg) read a letter from a parent of a Monroe Vo-Tech School student. The parent complained of a leaky roof in her son’s school. Smith stressed the importance of building a new vocational school in Loudoun County.
School Board member Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run) commented on the land recommendations at the last School Board meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 25. The School Board requested land for an elementary and a vocational school. ULI recommended land for a science and technology academy, only.
"It is just not enough," Ohneiser said.
Board member Joseph Guzman (Sugarland Run) said the School Board needed to discuss the results formally.
"We have an existing strategy for academies. The first of which was Dominion High School’s Science Academy," Guzman said. "I am not sure how their recommendations fit our type of academy. The institute is really crossing over, making School Board decisions, decisions we are in charge of making. We are going to need to talk about it as a board."
THE SCHOOL BOARD will meet with the Board of Supervisors, Monday, Nov. 21, to discuss the recommendations.
"Part of our confusion reading the recommendations is that we just built a new science academy in partnership with Howard Hughes Medical Center at Dominion High School," School Board Chairman John Andrews (Potomac) said. "We look forward to the meeting to discuss the recommendations with the Board of Supervisors to discuss our needs."
ULI’s final report is expected to be published in three months.