Arlington Public Schools’ recent decision to stop posting on the social-media platform X is getting some scrutiny from a School Board member.
Miranda Turner at the Feb. 27 Board meeting sought clarification of the reasons behind leaving the platform — formerly Twitter — and the 21,000 people who followed APS’s main X account (among smaller school-level accounts).
School-system leadership in February announced plans to stop posting on Twitter and move to Bluesky, a rival site. As of the Feb. 27 meeting, APS had picked up about 900 followers on Bluesky since starting to post in December, Superintendent Francisco Durán said.
While not directly criticizing the decision, Turner tried to get a definitive answer on the thinking behind the change.
“Why not maintain both?” she asked. “The transition seems to be just leave the one. What was the analysis done?”
Durán responded that, in his view, Twitter had become an ineffective tool for communicating with the school community.
“The number of followers is important, but who are those followers?” the superintendent asked.
We’re moving! APS is transitioning to Bluesky as our primary platform for updates. Follow us there for the latest news: https://t.co/UlbgUgdbVQ. This account will remain open, but we will no longer post updates here. pic.twitter.com/IZMfpq8NHa
— Arlington Public Schools (@APSVirginia) February 19, 2025
Answering his own question, Durán said the “overwhelming” majority of those interacting with the school system via its main X site were negative in their tone and frequently were not part of the local community.
“We just want to make sure it stays positive,” the superintendent said of the school system’s online presence. He praised what he termed “healthier and more constructive interactions” on Bluesky.
No other Board members joined Turner in publicly questioning the decision-making of staff.
School-system leaders asserted that discussions about the use of X had been ongoing for two years, and were unconnected to the current political environment or the ownership of the X platform by Elon Musk.
APS’s main X account remains online but no posts have been made since Feb 17.
Catherine Ashby, the school system’s assistant superintendent for school and community relations, said another factor was cost.
X requires payment to verify accounts, something Bluesky does not, she said.
Currently, only the main school-system account and the one maintained by Durán have fully transitioned to Bluesky. School-based social media accounts and others connected to the school system will be doing so in coming months.
There has been no change to the school system’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The Arlington County government continues to post on X and has joined Bluesky, where on March 3 it had 256 followers. On X, which the county government joined in 2009, it had 34,300.
