(Updated 12:45 p.m.) Tuckahoe Elementary parents are upset with a plan to place four new relocatable classrooms on the school’s playground blacktop.

Tuckahoe is one of the most overcrowded schools in a county school system plagued by a capacity crisis. Tuckahoe, designed to accommodate only 545 students, was projected to be at 130 percent capacity in 2012, with some 678 students. Enrollment is expected to balloon to nearly 150 percent capacity in 2017.

To temporarily help address the overcrowding, Arlington Public Schools is planning to add four new relocatable classrooms at Tuckahoe before the beginning of the next school year. That’s addition to the six mobile classrooms already in use at Tuckahoe.

Some parents are upset, however, about where the school system plans to place the trailers. The classrooms will be placed on a blacktop play area that students currently use during recess. With the blacktop no longer available, students will instead be led to a nearby county-owned tennis court during outdoor recreation time.

In a letter to parents, APS Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy says the blacktop was chosen after carefully considering five other locations on APS or county-owned property.

“APS staff believe that this option is the best because it retains the most site amenities for all stakeholders and because we believe this will be an option acceptable to the Tuckahoe community,” Murphy wrote.

Not all parents agree with Dr. Murphy. One group of concerned parents sent a mass email criticizing the decision:

Dear Tuckahoe Elementary School Parent,

Without consulting you, APS has decided to place 4 relocatable classrooms on the Tuckahoe playground blacktop and force the students to have recess and after school play time on the tennis courts down in the park.

This will dramatically change the character of the school, the amount and quality of outdoor recreation the children get, and their critical playground social development. Right now recess for the kids is something like 16 minutes long. How much time does it take to bring a class of kids to and from the tennis courts, and then how much time will be left for exercise and activity?

It will also eliminate the way that many parents get to know each other!

While the trailers may be needed to alleviate severe overcrowding, many of us believe it is imperative that APS find a placement solution that will preserve the blacktop play area that is so heavily used during school and by neighborhood families at other times. Other options exist.

Tuckahoe parents are being encouraged to attend a PTA meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday to make their voices heard.

Meanwhile, Arlington Public Schools continues to seek public input on more permanent plans to deal with the capacity crisis county-wide. On Wednesday, Feb. 15, a public forum will be held to discuss “next steps” in the APS capital planning process, which could result in the creation of new schools or major additions to existing schools. The forum is happening from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Kenmore Auditorium (200 S. Carlin Springs Road).

The public is also being invited to observe a School Board work session on capacity issues. That’s taking place from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. this Wednesday, Feb. 8, at the Washington-Lee Little Theater (1301 N. Stafford Street).

“The Board will be discussing the rankings of 60 possible options for additions and/or new schools to increase capacity,” officials said of the work session. “Members of the public are welcome to attend and observe the proceedings. The Board does not hear public comment at work sessions.”

A woman who was arrested for disrupting a children’s dance performance last spring is making accusations of racism and mistreatment against the dance company and one of its most prominent supporters.

Jackie Carter was charged with disorderly conduct following an incident on April 30, 2011, in which she booed a Bowen McCauley Dance Company performance at Kenmore Middle School. The incident was detailed by the Afro newspaper last week, and then picked up by the Washington City Paper on Friday.

The performance, which featured live music by a Kenmore Middle School band, included a dance number that Carter said she found to be “racist and offensive to African-Americans and African American women especially.”

“The skit involved a white child and her black mamee singing and dancing together to the song ‘Lil Rabbit where’s Ya Mamee,’” Carter wrote in a lengthy blog post. “The Mamee scene was a celebration of the many black women, enslaved and used as wet-nurses and the many other unspeakable crimes committed against their enslaved minds, souls and bodies.”

Carter says she booed a performance of the scene on April 29, 2011, but left peacefully after police showed up. Carter, whose daughter was attending Kenmore, then expressed her disapproval to numerous Arlington Public School officials, who listened but apparently declined to take any definitive action.

As Afro reported, Kenmore’s principal later defended the performance, writing a note to parents explaining: “The word ‘mammy’ used in the song is a colloquial affectionate term for mother or grandmother and was used historically and still today in some areas by both African and White Americans, especially in the south.”

On April 30, Carter again showed up to Kenmore to protest the performance. Carter says she handed out letters of protest to members of the audience before the show. During the scene, she started booing. That’s when she says she was assaulted by several people associated with the dance company, including current Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes, who’s also an honorary Bowen McCauley board member.

“Mary Hynes and 4 additional Bowen-McCauley staff members began hitting me and pulling my arms in many different directions,” Carter alleged. “I yelled out ‘get off of me’ … a man, representing Bowen McCauley put me in a head lock and squeezed my neck.”

“I attempted to return to my seat when another man also Bowen-McCauley staff member began pushing me in my chest and blocking my forward movements,” she continued. “I was able to get around him, I return to my set and continued booing the ‘Mamee’ scene.”

Carter says she left the theater after the scene, but was then confronted by police. She was ultimately detained and charged with disorderly conduct, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

“We had to arrest Ms. Carter at the school on 4/30/11 because she caused quite a disturbance,” Arlington County Police spokeswoman Det. Crystal Nosal told ARLnow.com in May 2011. The incident did not make the department’s weekly crime report at the time.

“It didn’t make the Crime Report because it was just a disorderly conduct charge released on summons,” Nosal explained.

According to court records, the next hearing in Carter’s case is scheduled to be held in Arlington County General District Court on April 23.

Update at 5:45 p.m. — Hynes declined to comment, citing the pending criminal charge against Carter.

Parent concerns have prompted Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy to delay consideration of a plan to institute “block scheduling” at Arlington middle schools.

The change, which has been in the works since 2007, would extend core class times — for subjects like English, math, social studies, science and world languages — while reducing the number of classes per day. Longer “block” periods for sixth graders would be 76 minutes, and would increase to 93 minutes for seventh and eighth graders. Electives would remain at the current, shorter length.

An APS staff presentation to the School Board on the block scheduling plan, originally scheduled for March, has now been pushed back to May. Murphy said the delay will “provide additional time to continue to our ongoing dialogue with families.”

At Thursday night’s packed School Board meeting, numerous parents expressed concerns about the proposed schedule changes. Although block scheduling is already in place at Yorktown, Wakefield and Washington-Lee high schools, some parents don’t believe it’s the right answer for middle school students. One concern is the attention span of younger students.

“The class length is not developmentally appropriate for 12 and 13 year olds,” said a concerned father.

APS cites research showing quality of instruction and student achievement as one of the main reasons for desiring the change. Students will spend more time delving deeply into core subjects and less time switching classes, school officials say. Research also referenced classes such as science labs that would benefit from fewer stops and starts due to time constraints.

While officials say block scheduling allows for more elective choices, opponents say it would decrease the amount of time students spend in individual elective classes such as music, physical education and arts.

Many speakers at Thursday’s Board meeting insisted that the block scheduling plan would have a particularly negative impact on music classes. In addition to less class time, some parents said the plan’s reported elimination of cross-grade classes will decrease the quality of music education.

“The proposal as currently presented is deeply flawed,” said Swanson Middle School Band Boosters President Katy Banks. “The new proposal doesn’t allow for cross-grade music programs. It’s a little like if the National Symphony Orchestra were asked to select their musicians based on their age and not their ability.”

With implementation scheduled for September 2013, in time for the 2013-2014 school year, APS has until the middle of next school year to revise its block scheduling concept. The school system, meanwhile, will hold five community forums in February to give parents a chance to learn more about the plan and to provide additional feedback about the proposed changes.

More information about the block scheduling plan and the community forums is available on special ‘Middle School Design Team’ section of the APS website.

Twelve Arlington Public Schools employees traveled to Apple’s headquarters in Cupterino, California to meet with the company’s top executives over the extended Veterans Day weekend last year. The two day information gathering trip in November cost taxpayers a little less than $11,000.

Some of the attendees included School Board Member Libby Garvey and Superintendent Patrick Murphy. APS Spokeswoman Linda Erdos notes that of the 12, Garvey was the only one who traveled on her own dime.

As pointed out by the Arlington County Taxpayers Association, some think the trip was an excessive expense, especially considering Arlington spends more per student than any school system in the region. But APS believes it was well worth it.

“The purpose of the trip is really to talk about what Apple is doing as a company,” said Erdos. “They talk to school districts about how they could possibly collaborate. Because we are using the technology, we are very interested.”

APS has received three grants to purchase iPads for schools. The devices are already in use at schools throughout the county, and are said to be particularly beneficial for students with autism. APS would like to see the use of iPads and other technology spread to more classrooms.

“As educators, we’re looking for every opportunity to find places to support kids,” Erdos said. ”It has changed the way kids are learning and how they’re doing their work, and they’re very excited about it.”

There is an Apple office in Reston where APS plans to send its staff in the future for discussing available educational opportunities. When asked why the group didn’t simply visit the Reston location instead of heading to Cupertino, Erdos said the local office serves a different purpose.

“They’re different meetings and different people,” said Erdos. “The people that were in California were really the CEO and top executives from Apple. The center at Reston is really for instructional people. Our instructional leaders will continue to go there.”

Yesterday, Apple announced its first introduction of new or updated products since the death of Steve Jobs, and they’re all educational programs for iPad. The apps are free and allow students to perform a variety of functions such as downloading textbooks, viewing presentations or lectures and receiving assignments or quizzes from teachers.

“It just has a lot of practical application and apps that are free to classroom teachers,” said Erdos. “Our students are young students of the 21st century and we need to keep pace with the learning style that best fits their needs.”

Some APS schools are using other brands of tablets besides the iPad. However, teachers say Apple currently has more learning apps available than other companies.

Two Washington Capitals players, a coach and the team’s mascot visited Randolph Elementary School last week.

Defensemen Mike Green and Karl Alzner joined assistant coach Jim Johnson and mascot SlapShot at the school for “Capitals Hockey School.” The players answered questions from students in the school’s gymnasium before conducting a floor hockey clinic for 175 third through sixth graders.

“Alzner and Green instructed the students on basic hockey skills such as stick-handling, passing and shooting,” the Capitals noted in a press release. “The students were then called on to try out the skills in front of their peers.”

A boys versus girls shootout competition was held, resulting in a 1-0 win for the boys. A subsequent scrimmage resulted in a 0-0 tie between Alzner and the boys and Green and the girls. Three school staff members then scrimmaged against Alzner, Green and Johnson — and won by a score of 2-1.

Following the hour-long event — the eighth Capitals Hockey School in the D.C. area this season — Randolph Elementary was presented with donated street hockey equipment and all participating students were given autographed photos, squishy pucks and Hockey 101 booklets.

Green is expected to undergo surgery this afternoon to repair a sports hernia suffered earlier in the season. Alzner, meanwhile, was involved in his first NHL fight on Friday.

Photos courtesy Washington Capitals

One of the top issues in the race for Arlington County Board is education and the capacity crisis at our public schools. With that in mind, what kind of education did each of the six candidates receive, and what experience, if any, do they have in the field of education? Per several reader requests, we looked into the educational background of each candidate.

Terron Sims (D) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, according to his campaign website. Sims has served on the Arlington Public Schools Strategic Plan Steering Committee and on the Committee  on the Elimination of the Achievement Gap.

Kim Klingler (D) graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelor of Science degree, according to her campaign manager. She majored in Health Services Administration and minored in Business Administration. Her campaign website says she has previously volunteered at a local elementary school.

Libby Garvey (D) graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, with a major in Politics and a minor in Economics, according to her campaign website. Garvey helped run Mount Holyoke’s Washington internship program in the early 1980s and has served on the Arlington County School Board since 1996.

Peter Fallon (D) graduated from George Washington University with Bachelor of Accountancy degree. He has served on Arlington County’s Marymount University Task Force and was appointed by the School Board to serve on the Yorktown High School building level planning committee.

Audrey Clement (G) received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and went on to receive a Ph.D. in Political Science from Temple University, where she also worked as a teaching assistant. Clement says she spent some of her time as a Congressional Fellow working on special education issues.

Melissa Bondi (D) studied Physics at the University of Rochester but did not complete her degree. She attended the university from September 1989 to December 1991, according to records at the National Student Clearninghouse. She has worked on local campaigns for Arlington County School Board, according to her campaign website, and has been endorsed by School Board member James Lander.

The Arlington County School Board is scrambling to decide on permanent solutions to the school system’s current capacity crisis.

Facing a burgeoning school population that has grown by 15 percent since 2006 and is projected to balloon another 20+ percent by 2017, school leaders are examining numerous options for new buildings, additions and renovations. Sixteen options for buildings or additions on Arlington Public Schools property were presented at a public meeting last week, and more options are on the way.

At a joint work session last Wednesday, County Board and school board members signed an agreement that will open up county-owned properties for possible school use. In the coming months, the school system is expected to add proposals for building on or renovating county-owned properties to the existing 16 conceptual plans for school properties — although only a handful of plans will necessarily be acted upon.

Among the school properties where feasibility studies have been conducted are: Abingdon, Arlington Traditional, Ashlawn, Carlin Springs, Drew, Glebe, Hoffman-Boston, Jamestown, McKinley, Nottingham, Oakridge, Taylor, Jefferson, Kenmore, Williamsburg, Reed. Proposals for those sites include adding on to existing school buildings, renovating buildings for classroom use, or adding entire separate, new schools onto the properties.

Among the county properties expected to be studied for possible school use are community centers like the Madison Community Center, among others.

Arlington Public Schools officials say they expect to add about 25 “relocatable” trailer classrooms per year “for the foreseeable future” in order to meet growing demand at schools across the county. The school system has just about run out of other options for packing more students in — by converting computer labs to classrooms and other creative “repurposing” techniques — without adding more bricks-and-mortar or further increasing class sizes.

“We’ve pretty much exhausted all our avenues of repurposing space,” said APS spokesman Frank Bellavia. “We’re going to be adding relocatables every year to alleviate some of that overcrowding, but those are just temporary solutions.”

Temporary solutions aren’t enough, administrators say, because the school system’s enrollment growth appears to be permanent. The recent growth in enrollment and the growth in the county’s birth rate point to a sustained rise in the student population that must be met with a permanent capacity increase, they say. By 2017, school enrollment is expected to surpass 26,000 students — nearly 3,500 seats over current capacity.

“This is not a bubble,” said Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy.”This is a realization… we need to go ahead and do it.”

Arlington County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman says that the trend of young couples starting families in Arlington but then moving further out into suburbs seems to have reversed — thanks to an increase in the desirability of living in Arlington and in the quality of the county’s schools.

“People actually see Arlington schools as significantly better than other alternatives, both public and private… we didn’t hear that 10 or 15 years ago,” Zimmerman said. “Then there’s the overall trend of people wanting to live closer-in… more transit-oriented, more urban communities, shorter commutes. That means there are people deciding they’re going to raise their kids here even if it means that their house isn’t going to be as big [or] their yard isn’t going to be as big.”

Criteria for choosing the sites where new school construction will take place include cost-effectiveness, parking and transportation considerations, and the use of green space. Already, residents near the Reed School site, in Westover Village, have organized and expressed opposition to the idea of using the site’s open space in order to build a new school building.

Tonight, the School Board will hold a work session to discuss the 16 possible expansion sites. More public meetings will likely be organized in January and February, according to school spokesman Bellavia. A final building proposal will be formulated this spring, and is expected to be incorporated into a new Capital Improvement Plan by the end of May.

See the Arlington Public Schools Capacity Planning Process website for more information.

A historic Yorktown High School football season came to an end Friday with a disappointing 37-13 loss to South County in the VHSL Class AAA Division 5 Northern Region championship game.

The Patriots finished the regular season undefeated (10-0) for the first time and reached the championship thanks to a pair of dominating playoff wins over McLean (20-16) and Lee (50-15), but they had no answer for the physical Stallion defense, led by Virginia Tech recruit Devin Vandyke, who had three sacks and a fumble recovery.

Vandyke and Oren Burks collapsed the pocket on what seemed like every play, coming hard up the middle and off the edge, and South County’s defense pressured Yorktown quarterback Smith into two interceptions and a fumble.

The Stallions came into the game with nine consecutive wins, including last week’s playoff victory over perennial region power Stone Bridge.

“Play by play, they outplayed us,” said Yorktown senior quarterback Jordan Smith, who scrambled for just 6 yards on 16 carries due to the pressure from South County. “It wasn’t that we weren’t ready. We just didn’t come to play. I don’t know…”

Smith threw one touchdown pass, but completed just 8-of-20 for 107 yards. The Patriots hadn’t scored fewer than 20 points all season and had scored 40 or more eight times. On Friday, they managed just one offensive touchdown, on a 17-yard pass from Smith to sophomore running back M.J. Stewart that cut the deficit to 37-13 in the fourth quarter.

“We just hadn’t seen any athletes like [Vandyke and Burks] all season,” said Yorktown coach Bruce Hanson, who won his 200th career game earlier this year. “They had a great scheme and we didn’t have any kind of field position.”

Vandyke’s fumble recovery led to South County’s first touchdown — which came on a two-yard run from quarterback Shane Foley with three minutes left in the second quarter – and made it 10-0.

The Stallions’ defense has been their hallmark all season, and Friday was no different. Timmy Hunt returned a Smith pass early in the fourth quarter 65 yards to make it 31-7, and the Patriots gave up a blocked punt that was recovered by South County in the end zone with 9:32 to play that made it 37-7.

“Our quarterback just wasn’t used to that type of pressure,” Hanson said.

South County limited Yorktown to just 195 yards of total offense, about half of what the Patriots had generated in each prior game.

“We treated these guys like the best athletes in the region, which they are,” said Vandyke. “We had a really good scout team this week, and we knew what they were going to do.”

Yorktown’s other score came when Stewart returned an interception 40 yards to cut the South County lead to 17-7 early in the third quarter, but the Stallions answered right back with an Andrew Rector touchdown that made it 24-7 just three minutes later.

Stewart, who had perhaps the best offensive season in Yorktown history, with over 1,500 yards rushing and 31 touchdowns, was bottled up by the South County defense, gaining only 35 yards on 17 carries.

“We played great this year, but we didn’t play so great today,” said fullback Austin Browne, who gave South County trouble with 28 yards on five runs up the middle. “I can’t be mad at how we did this year, but we aimed to go a little further than we did.”

South County, which will host Hanover next Saturday in the state semifinals, was clearly the toughest opponent the Patriots had face all season, and both Browne and Hanson said the team had trouble recovering from the early deficit.

“[It was] a lack of preparedness for a tough game,” said Browne. “We’d never been down this year so this was a new feeling for us.”

Hanson said he thought it might have been good for his team to have suffered a loss or played a couple of stronger opponents ahead of Friday’s game.

“You win them all, and you like that,” Hanson said. “But sometimes there’s something to be said for losing a game. We didn’t face a team like Centreville, for example, like we did last year.”

Along with the pressure, Hanson said his team was on the wrong end of the field position battle. The Patriots started nine of their first 11 drives inside their 26.

“We just couldn’t punch it out of there,” he said.

The Patriots reached the regional final for the first time since 2003 and won a playoff game for the first time in five years.

“We’ve had two other teams that have won championships, so I can’t rank these guys higher,” said Hanson. “But as far as most fun to coach, this was the one. We were really clicking.”

Hanson said it will be tough to replace Browne, Smith and Nick White, who helped the Patriots to a 21-3 record over the last two seasons. But the cupboard is not bare.

“We’re certainly not going to be dogmeat, that’s for sure,” Hanson said.

Browne said he’ll be happy to come back to see Yorktown play in 2012.

“They’re going to be strong and come out next year knowing that if we could reach this game this year, their goal is going to be to win it.”

Apparently the anti-drinking video made by Yorktown High School students last month didn’t quite get the point across to everybody.

A letter sent to parents and students last week reveals that a number of students were caught under the influence of alcohol at the Yorktown/Washington-Lee football game on Friday, Nov. 4.

Dear Parents and Students:

We have had a large number of school activities this past fall season and want to begin by mentioning what has struck us most: the tremendous good will, good spirit and cooperation of our students who participated in and attended these events. We appreciate that, admire it, and thank you for it.

At the same time, when there is a problem, we want to address it. Several students in attendance at the football game this past Friday arrived under the influence of alcohol. Even if this were the case with only one student, it is unacceptable to all of us who work as supervisors at school activities. Knowing you are concerned about your own student’s health and those of all fellow students, I am sure that this is unacceptable to you, as well.

At school and school events, we will continue to stress the importance of healthy decision-making for all our students. We will continue to contact you if there are any incidents involving your child’s well-being. While we believe all high schools across the country have an important role in educating students about the dangers of alcohol, we also know that parents are crucial in working with us to ensure that students are safe and alcohol/drug free.

Parents, please make certain your children understand your clear expectations regarding the underage, illegal use of alcohol and other substances. Know who your student is associating with and where they are going before and after a school event. If your house will be unattended on an evening, make sure your child knows who can and cannot be in your home. Optimally, you may want to have someone else keep an eye on it. Do not hesitate to pick up the phone and call the parent of another student, if you have a question or need to express a concern. The bottom line is the same for all of us: we want to ensure the safety and health of every single Arlington Public School student.

Thanks to each of you — students and parents — for communicating openly and honestly about this issue. It is important we communicate the same message and help all students understand that we will hold all students accountable for any violations of underage use of alcohol (or any other illegal substance).

Sincerely,

Dr. Raymond Pasi
Principal, Yorktown High School

Mr. Gregg Robertson
Principal, Washington-Lee High School

The Washington Area Boards of Education recently published the results of its annual survey of local schools. The survey revealed that Arlington is still spending the most money per pupil of any D.C. area school system.

Arlington spent $18,047 per pupil in Financial Year 2012, a 4.2 percent increase over the $17,322 per pupil spent in FY 2011. The latest spending figure is still 2.8 percent lower than the $18,569 per pupil spent in FY 2010, however.

Aside from Arlington, Alexandria was the next-highest spender in the region, with $17,618 per pupil spent in FY 2012. That compares to $16,309 per pupil in Falls Church, $14,776 in Montgomery County, $12,820 in Fairfax County, $11,014 in Loudoun County, $9,852 in Prince William County and $9,176 in Prince George’s County.

The most recent news article on D.C. Public Schools spending suggests a cost of $16,408 per pupil.

The Arlington County Taxpayers Association, a persistent critic of local elected officials, had this to say about the spending increase in Arlington:

So, the Arlington School Board hit Arlington taxpayers with a “twofer” — highest cost per pupil and the largest increase from FY 2011 to FY 2012. And imagine, the School Board candidate had no opposition in yesterday’s elections. Can things get any better for Arlington County’s elected worthies?

Yorktown High School beat cross-county rival Washington-Lee 55-33 on Friday to complete a perfect 10-0 season — the first undefeated regular season in school history.

The Patriots football squad dominated the scoreboard and the clock for much of the game, racking up a total of 343 rushing yards. Though Washington-Lee tied the game up at 33 down the stretch, Yorktown ultimately came back and emerged victorious. After handshakes were exchanged, students mobbed the field and celebrated the victory with the triumphant players.

“We’re excited about getting to the playoffs,” Yorktown coach Bruce Hanson said. “I thought our guys showed a lot of class at the end.”

With the victory, the team also captured the AAA National District championship.

Yorktown will face a playoff game against McLean this coming Friday night. If Yorktown wins that game, a semi-final playoff game will be scheduled for Friday, Nov. 18.

Over the weekend, 300 lucky Arlington elementary school students got a chance to trick-or-treat at an address that most kids could only dream of visiting some day: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Students from Abingdon, Arlington Science Focus, Campbell, Barrett, Barcroft and Key elementary schools went trick-or-treating at the White House on Saturday night. Students — including the two Key Elementary students pictured — were handed Halloween treats from none other than the President and Mrs. Obama themselves.

Photo courtesy Arlington Public Schools