Pre-K students attending Arlington’s Integration Station program could be moved to neighborhood-based classrooms next year.
Last week, parents were informed that Arlington Public Schools’ new budget proposal will include moving students currently attending Integration Station — at 4770 Langston Blvd — “closer to their home schools” within the district.
Children would be incorporated into the school system’s existing Community Peer Program.
“Our priority remains to provide the best possible experience for all students and families and to continue to provide students with an integrated, inclusive learning experience,” said Gerald Mann, the school system’s chief academic officer, who penned the letter.
The Integration Station serves students with disabilities aged 2 to 4 years old. A partnership with The Children’s School, it is designed to fully integrate those students into a general-education setting.
The notification arrived as Superintendent Francisco Durán and School Board members are gearing up to release a joint draft fiscal 2026 budget on Thursday, March 13. Mann’s letter confirmed that those putting the budget together are considering eliminating Integration Station for the 2025-26 school year.
The public will have several opportunities to weigh in once the budget is released, and Mann said input on the topic will be taken at [email protected].
On the school system’s website, Integration Station’s curriculum is described this way:
“Children engage in enriching educational play-based experiences, explore learning materials and new concepts and ideas, while also building their motor and social skills as they prepare to enter into kindergarten … pre-math and literacy skills are integrated into the curriculum as students enter the 3-year-old classrooms, and become a greater focus at the 4-year-old level.”
The Children’s School, which partners with the school system on Integration Station, is a non-profit childcare and early education provider established by APS employees. Many students from Integration Station attend classes with Children’s School students, while others receive standalone support.
Teachers in the Integration Station program are school-system employees, while those at The Children’s School are not.
Kate Towne, board chair of The Children’s School, told ARLnow the board was “disappointed” by the proposal to move students.
“We’re hoping we can continue the partnership,” she said.
Together, The Children’s School and Integration Station serve more than 200 infants to pre-kindergartners. The Integration Station program has a capacity of 48 students.
Shuttering the program was one option suggested in a recent analysis of the school system’s fiscal situation, conducted by the consulting firm Baker Tilly.
The report concluded that changing the way services were provided to students currently at Integration Station potentially could save the school system $1 million annually.
While a small amount compared to the school district’s $826 million current budget, school leaders have been searching for ways to save every penny they can.
Throughout Northern Virginia, school systems are being warned by their county and city governments to expect funding levels in the coming fiscal year that might not meet their desires.
Because Virginia school systems do not have independent taxing authority, they rely on local governments for upwards of 80% of their budgets.
Photo via APS
