Planned program changes at the new home for the Arlington Career Center are prompting anger at a parent group supporting Arlington Tech.
Concerns are being raised that a shift in proposed programming at the forthcoming Grace Hopper Center, detailed by Superintendent Francisco Durán and staff to School Board members during a Nov. 18 work session, could dilute the specialty program and the opportunities it provides to students.
“This plan appears to have been developed hastily, just before winter break, without any input from the relevant stakeholder communities,” said Jody Al-Saigh, chair of the Arlington Tech Advisory Committee (ATAC).
The November proposal offered “complete lack of clarity about when these proposals may advance,” she told ARLnow.
Under the plan laid out by Durán and staff, the Grace Hopper Center would become home to two separate “academy” programs when it opens for the 2026-27 school year:
- Arlington Tech, a Governor’s STEM Academy, which is planned to grow to about 1,050 students in grades 9-12, chosen by lottery, representing a continuation and expansion of the program currently housed at the Arlington Career Center
- Pathways & Progress Academy, focused on career pathways, specialized supports and smaller learning environments, that would incorporate existing programs currently housed at both the Career Center and elsewhere
Components of the Pathways & Progress Academy would include the Langston Non-Traditional High School Program, The Academy (an alternative program for high-schoolers), New Directions Alternative Program, Teen Parenting Program, English Learner Institute and Program for Employment Preparedness.
Consolidating programs at the Grace Hopper facility “maximizes the students’ ability to access resources,” said Darrell Sampson, who at the time of the Nov. 18 meeting was the school system’s executive director of student services. Sampson has since moved to a position in Prince William County’s school system.
Existing career and technical education programming would be moved into the Pathways & Progress Academy rather than remain with the Arlington Tech program, but “the [Arlington Tech] students would still be able, of course, to access all those CTE courses,” Sampson said.
ATAC is a nonprofit organization that effectively fills the role of Arlington Tech’s parent-teacher association. Members are slated to meet with school-system leadership tonight (Dec. 11) at 8 p.m. to discuss programming at the Grace Hopper Center.
In a Dec. 8 letter to School Board members and top staff shared with ARLnow, a number of current and former ATAC leaders called on the school system to put the proposal on hold:
Introducing a major structural shift at the last minute, without meaningful stakeholder consultation, and immediately before winter break is inappropriate, disruptive and inconsistent with APS’ commitment to safe, supportive learning environments and operational excellence. Arlington Tech was built publicly. It should not be reshaped privately.
Decisions of this scale should be made transparently, thoughtfully and in partnership with the community that created and sustains this program.
At the November work session, concerns about the proposed consolidation of programming at the Grace Hopper Center were raised by School Board member Mary Kadera. She focused primarily on students currently served by a program at the Langston-Brown Community Center.
Those students seem to thrive in a smaller environment, said Kadera, who said the idea of moving them to a much larger facility “gives me some amount of worry.”
“Being in a smaller environment means the staff at Langston knows them in a deeper way than is possible in a school of thousands of students,” Kadera said.
“Even if we’re talking about preserving it as a school-within-a-school or program, there is a material difference,” she added.
School Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton also questioned exactly how the physical space at the building would be divided up.
“I’d be very interested to understand how this is going to lay out,” she said.
At the conclusion of the Nov. 18 work session, it was left largely to Zecher Sutton to determine whether the changes proposed by Durán and staff for nontraditional secondary programs should be formally discussed at the start of 2026 or held until several months later, when the fiscal 2027 budget process is in full swing.
“If the chair would like us to have to bring this as an information item at the Jan. 22 and action at the Feb. 5 [meetings], there are elements to it that could be considered that way,” Durán said.
If any changes are to be made for the 2026-27 school year, “the next few months are really important,” he said.
Full text of letter from ATAC, signed by Al-Saigh, Heidi Gibson, Stefanie Cruz, Margaret Varona, Mary Elise Moran, Haywon Kim, Matthew Emery, Cloe Chin and Alisa Cowen:
Dear Members of the Arlington School Board and APS Leadership,
We write as leaders of the Arlington Tech Advisory Committee over the past six years and as founding community members who helped envision, build, and sustain the Arlington Tech Governor’s STEM Academy and the Grace Hopper Center.
For nearly a decade, Arlington Tech has demonstrated a consistent and remarkable record of success. Our students excel in college, career pathways, STEM fields, and civic engagement in the broader community. These outcomes are not accidental – they reflect years of deliberate planning, broad community participation, and a unified vision for a high-tech, future-ready Governor’s STEM Academy — one fully aligned with APS’ commitment to empowering every student to learn, thrive and graduate college- and career-ready.
Because of this proven history, we must express our profound concern and strong opposition to the recently proposed changes to the Grace Hopper Center — specifically, the creation of a second academy, the relocation of the Langston and New Directions programs to the site, and the separation of CTE programming from Arlington Tech.
These proposals are not only misaligned with the original community-driven vision; they fundamentally jeopardize the structural model that has made Arlington Tech successful.
A decision of this magnitude should not be made in haste.
The design of Arlington Tech — and the commitment to place 1,000 high school students in a purpose-built facility — resulted from years of transparent collaboration and extensive public engagement. The Grace Hopper Center represents a major financial investment and sustained partnership among APS, families, industry leaders, CTE experts, and the surrounding neighborhood.
Introducing a major structural shift at the last minute, without meaningful stakeholder consultation, and immediately before winter break is inappropriate, disruptive and inconsistent with APS’ commitment to safe, supportive learning environments and operational excellence.
Arlington Tech was built publicly. It should not be reshaped privately.
Arlington Tech continues to deliver extraordinary outcomes, including:
● High rates of Dual Enrollment
● Students earning 20–60+ college credits
● Real-world capstone experiences with industry partners
● High demand from families across the county
● A diverse student body, from the entire county, thriving in a rigorous, future-ready STEM environmentOur request is simple and reasonable: pause this proposal. Engage the community. Protect the vision that has already proven its merits and advances APS’ goals for student success and future readiness.
We respectfully ask APS leadership and the School Board to:
1. Suspend any decisions regarding restructuring the Grace Hopper Center.
2. Recommit to the original, community-designed vision of a unified STEM and CTE Governor’s Academy.
3. Engage parents, students, staff, industry partners, and the Advisory Committee before considering any structural changes.
4. Honor the years of work, advocacy, and investment that have built Arlington Tech into one of APS’s most successful and equitable programs.
Decisions of this scale should be made transparently, thoughtfully, and in partnership with the community that created and sustains this program. Our students, educators, families, and community deserve no less.
