blair on "Java Driver: way to get schema versions"

When making many schema changes in a row I've gotten errors when the new column families haven't fully "settled." I work around this with the Astyanax client by using the following Scala code:

def waitForSchemaToSettle[R](keyspace: Keyspace)(body: => R): R = {
    var preSchemaVersions = keyspace.describeSchemaVersions
    while (preSchemaVersions.size != 1) {
      Thread.sleep(1000)
      var preSchemaVersions = keyspace.describeSchemaVersions
    }

    val result = body

    var postSchemaVersions = keyspace.describeSchemaVersions
    while (postSchemaVersions == preSchemaVersions ||
      postSchemaVersions.size != 1) {
      Thread.sleep(1000)
      postSchemaVersions = keyspace.describeSchemaVersions
    }

    result
  }

Looking through the Java Driver API I don't see a way to get the schema versions. Is there something similar I can do with the Java Driver?

Thanks,
Blair

PS Having a dedicated Java Driver forum/mailing list would be useful.