Stone Bridge wins appeal
By Jason S. Rufner
Stone Bridge High School won its appeal April 14 for its athletic programs to remain in the Liberty District of the Northern Region.
“Appreciative is an understatement,” Stone Bridge principal James Person said. “Grateful, thrilled, maybe a little relieved. This has been a difficult period for everybody.”
Two other Loudoun schools were denied their appeals.
Loudoun Valley had asked to move to the Concorde District but will remain a member of the Cedar Run District.
Heritage had sought to be alongside Stone Bridge in the Liberty District but will instead join Valley in the Cedar Run District upon ascension to Group AAA status for the 2009-10 school year.
The decisions came during a meeting of the Virginia High School League's Redistricting and Reclassification Committee. The three schools in January had appealed assignments the R&R Committee had made during its last round of redistricting decisions.
The Bulldogs were particularly keen to seek the reversal of the decision that had originally been made about their team, to place them in the Northwest Region. Stone Bridge wanted to keep the stability gained from three years of Liberty membership and continue to build relationships instead of being shuffled into their fourth district in nine years.
The Bulldogs also faced increased travel time and costs if the appeal were denied.
“We're very pleased,” Stone Bridge athletic director Dave Hembach said.
With a tie after the first 12 votes, David Melton, chairman of the R&R Committee, cast the tie-breaking vote in the Bulldogs' favor. Melton abstained from voting in the day's other schools' appeals, but was called upon to break the tie in regard to the Stone Bridge appeal. He did not return a phone call by deadline.
Person had addressed the committee prior to its final deliberations.
“Jim Person made a good plea that their county had never advocated having everyone in the same district,” said Mike Campbell, Northern Region chairman, who spoke in opposition to the appeal. “[The committee] saw that Stone Bridge has been a member of the Northern Region and they've had a good relationship.”
Hembach said, “[Person] looked at all the points, the three districts in eight years, the increase in travel in the region, the fact that we did not ask to be moved. He made a nice speech.”
Person appreciated the efforts of his athletic director.
“He's been the unsung hero,” Person said. “At times it's been intense and exhausting.”
Hembach and Person said they believe the R&R Committee grouped the three Loudoun schools into the Cedar Run District in response to the impending loss of three current district members.
“They looked at a map and they put the Loudoun schools together,” Hembach said.
Person said he is glad that his school's athletes will not have to miss more class time resulting from the need to travel on the busiest corridors at the busiest times.
“The Dulles Greenway is right in our backyard,” he said, noting that afternoon traffic eastward flows more easily than southward. “With drive time being what it is in this infrastructure, using Route 15 and Route 28 to travel is much more costly.”
Jon Stancik, president of the Stone Bridge Athletic Booster Club, said he is pleased that Bulldog supporters' concerns were addressed.
“The amount of travel we would have incurred in regional competition would have increased quite a bit,” he said.
“It's also nice to get some stability,” Stancik added. “It was a little frustrating that we could never get a home.”
Person said, “If you look at a map, we're kind of an outlier.”
The Ashburn school is positioned in Loudoun but near the Fairfax line.
With Loudoun County's rapid demographic shifts, Person understands the complexity of the R&R Committee's task in maintaining competitive balance throughout the whole of Virginia.
“They have an overwhelming challenge, given the changing nature of the state. We're just in a part of Virginia that's seeing a lot of change and therefore hard to organize.”
Hembach and Person said they expect Stone Bridge to remain classified in Group AAA “for the foreseeable future.” Eight Loudoun schools are in Group AA due to smaller enrollment, while counties to the east have more schools that are larger in size.
“We would love to have the old Loudoun County rivalries,” Stancik said. “But we're starting to develop good rivalries in the Liberty District. It's a competitive district, and we're competitive within it across all sports.”
Person said, “I feel in my heart that this is the right decision. The Northern Region is a good fit for us. We can stay in a place where we can continue to be contributing members.”
The R&R Committee's decisions will now be passed on to the VHSL Executive Committee, which is scheduled to meet May 7.
Unless there is a large discrepancy found, the Executive Committee is likely to accept the R&R Committee's votes.
Writer Dave Buschenfeldt contributed to this article.