The only problem? The email was a fake and was not actually sent by Dr. Murphy. According to a tipster, the email read:

Dear Staff,

Due to recent events, all Yorktown classes periods 7 and 8 will be cancelled. Please take appropriate measures and inform the sudents [sic] that they will be released early today, Wednesday May 22.

Have a nice day,

Pat Murphy

Unfortunately for students, Yorktown teachers and administrators didn’t fall for it. Yorktown was dismissed at its normal time, according to Arlington Public Schools spokeswoman Linda Erdos.

Erdos said the schools Information Services department is investigating the fake email. It’s unclear if the superintendent’s email account was hacked or if his email address was simply spoofed.

The School Board unanimously adopted “Variation B” of Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy’s recommended boundaries (left). The new boundaries will help distribute students to a new elementary school on the Williamsburg Middle School campus (see below) as well as to additions at Ashlawn and McKinley elementary schools.

The new schools and additions (there will also be a new choice elementary school near Kenmore Middle School and an addition to Arlington Traditional School) are being undertaken to provide an additional 1,875 seats of capacity by 2017 for Arlington burgeoning student population.

“Variation B” will shift elementary school boundaries and result in the reassignment of 900 students. The changes will take effect for the 2015-2016 school year.

• Reassign 67 students from McKinley to Ashlawn
• Reassign 56 students from Glebe to McKinley
• Reassign 164 students from Jamestown to the new school at Williamsburg
• Reassign 71 students from Taylor to Jamestown
• Reassign 347 students from Nottigham to the new school at Williamsburg
• Reassign 146 students from Tuckahoe to Nottingham
• Reassign 49 students from Taylor to the new school at Williamsburg

The School Board also approved the following grandfathering provisions:

• “Rising 5th graders and concurrently enrolled younger siblings (grades K-4 as of June 2015) may choose to remain at their current school for the 2015-16 school year only. Transportation will be provided for these students who remain at their school and who are eligible for bus transportation as of September 2015.”
• “Because the effective date of students moving to McKinley is September 2016, grandfathering for rising 5th graders and concurrently enrolled younger siblings (grades K-4 as of June 2016) will be in effect for the 2016-17 school year and will follow the procedures in paragraph a.”
• “A student currently attending Claremont or Key Immersion School, in grades K-4 as of June 2015, who resides in a planning unit being moved from one Immersion School group to another Immersion School group, may remain at his or her current Immersion School through 5th grade with transportation provided by APS.”
• “A student currently attending Arlington Science Focus in grades K-4 as of June 2015, who resides in a planning unit being moved to the New Elementary School #1, may remain at ASFS through 5th grade with transportation provided by APS.”

The School Board also directed Dr. Murphy “to recommend whether rising K-4 students residing in planning units reassigned to existing schools will be eligible to enroll in their newly assigned elementary school prior to School Year 2015 if seating space is available.”

On Saturday, the County Board will consider a use permit for a 26,160 square foot addition to Ashlawn Elementary School.

Construction on the addition is expected to begin this summer and wrap up by the summer of 2014. It will add 12 rooms, including 9 classrooms, at a cost of about $12 million, according to a project web page.

County staff is recommending approval of the use permit, as well as a use permit for temporary construction parking at the adjacent Dominion Hills pool.

Meanwhile, at its Thursday meeting, the School Board unanimously approved a schematic design for the new elementary school on the Williamsburg Middle School campus.

The new school will cost just over $43 million, according to an APS press release, with construction slated to start in January 2014 and wrap up in time for the start of the school year in the summer of 2015.

The field and lighting proposal was floated as an optional part of the Arlington Public Schools plan to build a new elementary school on the Williamsburg Middle School campus. The design of the school was approved in February and construction is expected to begin next year.

The proposal involves the construction of two synthetic turf fields next to the school, with lighting installed for the field farthest from the surrounding neighborhood. Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia says the school system currently doesn’t have the money necessary for the synthetic fields and lighting — about $2 million — so supporters are hoping to convince Arlington County to pay for the project.

A group of neighbors, however, has created a Change.org petition calling for the County Board to nix the field lighting component.

“We, as registered voters in Arlington County, strongly oppose the installation of sport field lighting on any of the soccer fields on the Williamsburg Middle/Elementary school property,” the petition says. “The neighborhood surrounding Williamsburg will be heavily impacted by evening traffic, light intrusion, noise and parking impacts.”

So far, the neighbors’ petition has attracted 125 online signatures.

The Arlington Soccer Association, meanwhile, has created its own Change.org petition, which has gathered 1,085 signatures so far. The association says the fields, and the lighting, will help meet growing demand for youth soccer in Arlington.

“We, the undersigned, support placing a lighted synthetic rectangular athletic field on the grounds of Williamsburg Middle School,” the petition says. “The Arlington Department of Parks and Recreation estimates that a lighted synthetic field can sustain five times the overall use of an unlighted grass field.”

“We are sensitive to the concerns of the local community,” the petition continues. “We believe that a lighted field at WMS should be limited to youth sports programming and have a curfew of 9:30 p.m.”

The fight is similar to the acrimonious battle over lighting proposed for the Bishop O’Connell High School baseball and football fields. After nearly 75 speakers weighed in on the O’Connell lighting proposal at a County Board meeting in 2011, the Board rejected the plan,

Before any possible County Board consideration, the Arlington Soccer Association is hoping to convince neighbors that a lighted field will not result in the light pollution, noise and traffic that many fear. The group wrote the following letter (after the jump) as a response to concerns expressed on the email listserv of a local civic association.

When discussions about sports fields and the lighting of sports fields come up, certain topics usually arise. With regard to the development of fields supporting the school development at Williamsburg, here are some of those topics and responses from the Arlington Soccer Association (ASA) for your consideration.

Generally, sports field lighting is opposed by local communities due to the notion that lighting = nighttime use of the fields = noise and bother for the local community. The phrase “property values will decrease” is often thrown around as if lighting is a de facto property value depressant. There may be cases where that is true, especially those with no special considerations in place to protect the local community. Arlington Soccer believes that, with proper controls in place, lighting one of the new fields at Williamsburg will have a positive, not negative, effect on the local community. ASA suspects that, as is the case near Washington-Lee and Yorktown high schools (where fields support nighttime youth and adult sports activities), property values in the Williamsburg school area will be supported and likely will rise while the residents’ quality of life will also improve.

First, Arlington Soccer recommends that the programmed use of the fields at Williamsburg be limited to youth sports groups; no adult groups should be programmed there. Related to this point is the recommendation that field use be cut off at 9:30pm. Most lighted fields in Arlington are open until 11pm and are used heavily in the later hours by adult sports groups. These considerations are suggested to help the local community maintain its quality of life while managing to address field use needs for a variety of youth sports groups.

Second, while two sports fields are planned for in the new school’s plans, ASA proposes that only one field be lighted. The field closest to 36th Street should not be lighted, whereas the one further from the street should be. Houses on 36th Street would be about 100 yards away from the lighted field. Using current lighting technologies, the lighting from a centrally placed field will visually impact few if any houses given the distance from homes in the area.

Third, a major concern shared by residents centers on parking by sports users. The new school site addresses this by adding a new parking lot near 36th Street on the site of a current playing field. This will remove cars and related noise from the street itself, and it will create distance between parkers and homeowners. Most if not all nighttime sports participants will use the parking lot, not the local streets, and that helps relocate any noise or trash factor away from houses in the community.

Fourth, a continual concern voiced by ASA parents is the relative lack of synthetic turf fields in North Arlington. We would be ecstatic if new locations for fields were available for development — but in North Arlington, they simply don’t exist. Development of the Williamsburg fields with artificial turf supports North Arlington residents, both those involved in programmed sports as well as those interested in more casual access to useful play spaces.

Given the student population increase expected when both the new elementary school is completed, as well as the projected enhancement to the middle school (together totaling about 900 more students), it is clear that any field space will be heavily used by the students. Natural grass fields won’t survive that kind of intense use, so the installation of synthetic turf fields means that the traffic will be sustainable, and the neighborhood will likely find such fields to be a desirable amenity to have nearby (more so than a muddy or dusty plot). Historically, Arlington County has always paired lights and turf fields in order to maximize the usage and thus the benefits of turfing fields. ASA feels that taking a more moderate approach by lighting just one field addresses the local community’s concerns while still supporting the County and local youth sports groups, all of which are growing at a steady rate. ASA believes that lighting one field at Williamsburg addresses Arlington field capacity issues while maintaining or even improving the quality of life for the local community. A win-win can be created during the development of the new school site and surroundings.

The arguments are unlikely to sway some neighbors, who vehemently oppose any lighting — including lighting technology specifically designed to prevent light pollution.

“The issue is the encroachment of field lights, traffic and noise upon our peaceful, lovely neighborhood,” one resident wrote the following on a local listserv earlier this month. “‘Dark Sky’ lighting technology, promoted by the Parks Department, will not mitigate these encroachments.”

“If these fields are lighted, against the wishes of our Civic Association and the neighborhood, a precedent may be set that may give Bishop O’Connell High School an opportunity to have lights installed on their field, within the Williamsburg Civic Association,” the resident continued. “If you do not act, the fields are likely to be have lights, and the peace of our evenings in this neighborhood will be shattered by traffic and noise until late evening hours, year round, and your property values along N. 36th Street will be altered.”

Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish says no decision has been made about the synthetic field proposal. The current plan, she said, is for the school system to reconstruct two existing athletic fields at Williamsburg — which will be impacted by the school construction — in the same format, using natural grass turf.

“County Board Members have raised the idea of installing synthetic turf on these fields and the community has been discussing turf options,” Kalish said. “County staff have not yet made a recommendation as to what type of turf to install on the fields, or if the fields should be lit… we are still in early stages.”

Williamsburg Middle School is located within the bounds of the Rock Spring Civic Association.

Image (bottom) via Google Maps.

Third graders from Glebe Elementary School in Arlington welcomed a special guest today: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Students at the school had written letters to the Vermont senator “about conservation and what the students are doing here at Glebe to help in conservation efforts,” according to school principal Jamie Borg. Leahy, the grandfather of a Glebe student, “decided to respond to their letters in person.”

Leahy personally delivered letters to each third grade student, then engaged them in a conversation about the branches of government — a topic they had been studying.

“Senator Leahy was able to talk to the students about it in depth and explain his role in government,” Borg said.

He also told students some personal stories, like celebrating his birthday with President Obama in Vermont and doing voiceover work for Batman: The Animated Series.

“The children were very impressed!” said Borg.

Leahy’s wife, Marcelle, joined him for the classroom visit this morning. Leahy, 73, was re-elected in 2010 to a seventh term in the U.S. Senate.

Courtesy photos

Lander won the Democratic endorsement by a caucus vote of 1,144 to 1,097. He will now run for reelection on Nov. 5. So far, no other candidates have announced for the race.

Via Facebook, Kanninen thanked her supporters.

“Congratulations to my opponent James Lander on winning a hard fought, positive election,” she wrote. “Thank you so much to all of my volunteers and supporters for your help, ideas and kind words of support. I hope you all stay active in our schools, community, and the political process.”

In a statement, Lander said he was “humbled” by the outcome of the caucus.

“This campaign has been a tremendous opportunity to re-connect with Arlington voters,” he said. “I appreciate Barbara Kanninen’s spirited and well run campaign, and I thank her for her work to engage the voters of Arlington on the important issues facing our schools. I am humbled to have another opportunity to be the Democratic endorsee for the School Board, and I hope to continue my service to the students and families of Arlington.”

Mike Lieberman, chairman of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, said the party will be “working hard” to fend off challengers to Lander, if there are any, in November.

“James Lander has been a strong voice for Arlington’s students in his four years on the board, and today’s vote is an affirmation of his record,” Lieberman said. “We are proud to again have James representing us as our Democratic endorsee in November, and we will be working hard to ensure he has four more years on the School Board. I also want to thank Barbara Kanninen for running a thoughtful and energetic campaign, and giving Arlington voters a choice of two superb leaders.”

Not to be confused with Walk and Bike to School Day in October, which has a similar name and a similar mission, Bike and Walk to School Day “encourages students to bike or walk to school while teaching them about the health and environmental benefits of biking and walking.”

“Bike and Walk to School Day also helps to raise community awareness about the importance of bicycle and pedestrian safety education, safe routes to schools, well-maintained walkways, and traffic calming in our neighborhoods and around our schools,” says Bike Arlington, on its website.

The event, held in conjunction with National Bike and Walk to School Day, is a partnership between Arlington Public Schools, Bike Arlington and Walk Arlington.

“APS encourages all families and staff to participate in this event,” said a school system press release. “This energizing event reminds parents and students alike of the simple joy of biking and walking to school while focusing attention on the importance of physical activity, air quality, safety, and bike-able, walkable communities.”

The event will be held in the morning. Students and parents will be greeted at their elementary, middle and high schools by county and school officials and staff. At the schools, giveaways will conducted and “healthy refreshments” will be distributed, according to Bike Arlington.

Update at 3:50 p.m. — “Based on weather forecasts, some schools have opted to postpone their celebrations until Friday, May 10,” according to APS spokesman Frank Bellavia.

File photo

As expected, the School Board’s adopted budget restored funding to teen parenting staffing, elementary reading teachers, high school gifted teachers and other programs that were slated for cuts under superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy’s proposed $520.4 million budget. Proposed cuts to the school system’s minor construction/major maintenance fund were partially restored.

The budget also funds more buses to allow the school system’s transportation department to keep up with rising school enrollment. (A total of 23,725 students are expected to be enrolled at Arlington Public Schools next school year, an increase of 1,108 students — or nearly 5 percent — from 2012-2013.)

The Board amended its proposed budget to allocate $1.5 million from a $7.66 million reserve in order to fund $1,000 bonuses for teachers and staff at the top of the pay or longevity scale. The $1,000 one-time payments will be made to those employees since they are not eligible for receive a salary step increase in FY 2014.

The $523 million adopted budget is 4.3 percent higher than last year’s $501 million budget.

File photo

The new Washington-Lee High School softball field will open for its first game on Monday.

The $1 million field, under construction since last summer, is located on the corner of Washington Blvd and N. Quincy Street. It was built after parents of softball players threatened to file a Title IX complaint if the school system did not upgrade the no-frills field they were using at the time to include the same amenities of the boys baseball field.

The new softball field has “seating for 280 people, lighting, a press box and a removable fence so that the space can serve multiple uses,” according to Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia.

A short ceremony is planned at 5:30 p.m. on Monday to mark the opening of the field. The softball team, which has a 10-5 record, will then face the 1-11 J.E.B. Stuart Raiders at 6 p.m.

Building new schools may not be the only answer to overcrowding in Arlington Public Schools, School Board hopeful Barbara Kanninen said last night at the Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting.

Flexible scheduling, night classes in high school, and a school year that extends through the summer might ease crowding in middle and high schools without the expense and loss of open space associated building new facilities.

“We know right now that we have lots of kids coming… we’re building elementary schools right now but in five years they’re going to be heading to middle school and high school,” Kanninen said. “We need to think about where we’re going to educate them given that we might not have the money to build and we might not have the green space to build.”

Kanninen’s stance on building was one point of contrast between her and incumbent School Board member James Lander, who she’s trying to unseat. Kanninen and Lander debated at the ACDC meeting in advance of next week’s Democratic School Board endorsement caucus.

On school capacity, Lander emphasized the School Board’s existing construction plan and his “county-wide vision” — an apparent contrast to Kanninen’s north Arlington campaign focus.

“We’re growing by almost an elementary school per year,” he said. “We have a strategy in place, we’re building new facilities and we’re adding additions to existing facilities. We’re looking at and evaluating both middle school boundaries. This is something that takes experience and a county-wide vision.”

During the debate Kanninen spoke of her priorities: expanding STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programs, individualized education and adult mentorships, and using analytics and her PhD in economics to help make “smarter, more efficient choices with taxpayer money.”

On many of those key campaign points, Lander echoed his own stances. He said students need STEM skills so they can grow up not to be workers, but “employers and entrepreneurs.” He touted a mentorship program he created for minority students. And he also emphasized the importance of a learning environment that adapts to the strengths of individual students.

“My approach to student achievement and student success is responsive education… and that mean meeting the needs of all groups,” he said. By way of an anecdote, he joked about how his sister was a bookworm while we was more likely to fall asleep while trying to read school books.

Both Kanninen and Lander said they support arts education and the use of school buildings by members of the community. Both also said that standardized tests have become too pervasive in schools and are detracting from the overall education of students.

Answering a question about bullying, Lander said APS has a “zero tolerance” policy toward bullies. Kanninen said adult support of “students’ social and emotional health” is paramount, and that students should always have an adult mentor to approach with issues like bullying.

Asked about Arlington students going to Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in Farifax County, Kanninen said she supports the status quo of allowing some Arlington students to attend. Lander said he opposes the $14,000 per-pupil cost and would rather Arlington invest in science and technology in our own schools.

“I don’t think I will be supporting [the school] moving forward,” he said.

In opening and closing remarks, Kanninen said she was committed to making decisions that benefit students and the community.

“Right now more than ever, you want leaders on the School Board who will dig in and bring fresh, creative ideas, who will engage the full Arlington community, and who will make the tough decisions always based on our Democratic principles and values,” she said.

Lander emphasized his commitment and service to the community and the country (he is a Gulf War veteran).

“I’m focused, engaged and excited about the potential opportunity of serving another term on the Arlington School Board,” he said. “Relationships matter, experience matters — we don’t make decisions in a vacuum. We’re all stakeholders in student achievement.”

The Democratic School Board caucus will be held May 9 at Drew Middle School and May 11 at Washington-Lee High School.

The new trailers at Washington-Lee will be grouped together to form four classrooms, plus common spaces like bathrooms. They’re located in front of the W-L swimming pool, a short distance away from existing trailer classrooms at a nearby parking lot.

APS spent some $2.2 million to buy 20 additional relocatable classrooms this past fiscal year. The new FY 2014 budget, which is up for School Board approval Thursday night, is expected to include $1.9 million for 24 new trailers.

The trailers are necessary to deal with a burgeoning school population. Washington-Lee, which was renovated in 2009, is projected to be at 109.1 percent capacity next school year, with 2,023 students enrolled.

While new elementary schools and elementary school additions are on the way to relieve crowding, no such plans are in place at the high school level — only a vague commitment in the school system’s capital improvement plan to start adding permanent middle and high school capacity 5 years from now. In the meantime, that may portend high school boundary changes, since Arlington’s other high schools have some capacity to spare.

Yorktown High School, also recently renovated, was projected (as of Nov. 2012) to be at 97.5 percent capacity next school year, with 1,815 students. And the new Wakefield High School, expected to open in time for the new school year with space for more than 1,900 students, will only be at about 75 percent capacity with 1,460 students.

(The H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, a “choice” school without boundaries, is projected at 99.7 percent capacity with 389 high school students.)

Shifting students from Washington-Lee to Wakefield, should it come to pass, promises to be a contentious process, thanks in part to the big difference in regional school rankings (W-L ranked #10 and Wakefield ranked #62 according to the Washington Post “Challenge Index.) For now, however, APS says there’s no firm plan to change high school boundaries.

“The School Board has said that all boundaries need to be looked at in the coming years because projections continue to change,” said APS spokesman Frank Bellavia. “However there is no timetable as of yet.”

Shifting boundaries will not be a panacea, however. By the 2018-2019 school year, Wakefield is projected to be at 100 percent capacity, while Yorktown is projected to be at 122.4 percent of capacity and Washington-Lee at 137.9 percent capacity.

The School Board, meanwhile,  is expected to approve a final plan to shift elementary school boundaries on May 16.