The School Board’s policy subcommittee will open 2026 with consideration of new policies to combat waste, fraud and abuse while protecting those on staff who report it.
At its Wednesday, Jan. 7 meeting, subcommittee members will consider two separate but interconnected draft policy documents:
- One would, if enacted, detail what constitutes financial fraud, waste and abuse as well as conflicts of interest; would set up an advisory committee to oversee the process; and would require annual training of all school employees on the topic
- The second would formally set up the internal ethics hotline and a review team to follow up on reports submitted to it; would guarantee confidentiality to those making reports; would provide protections against retaliation; and would authorize disciplinary actions for those deliberately making false or malicious reports
The subcommittee meeting, to start at 8:30 a.m., is open to the public for observation at the Syphax Education Center.
School Board member Zuraya Tapia-Hadley and Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton constitute the policy subcommittee. Internal feedback on the proposals will run through Jan. 6, with both policies scheduled for public comment and Board discussion later in the month.
Supporters of Arlington Tech continue to press school leaders: School Board members at their Dec. 18 meeting were urged not to dilute the Arlington Tech program in the 2026-27 school year.
Public-comment speaker Liam Hadley, a 2023 graduate of the program, said a proposal from staff to remove the direct relationship between Arlington Tech and career and technical education (CTE) programming would be a mistake.
“They are so finely interwoven that any measure to separate the two would cause drastic and devastating changes to the everyday lives of the Arlington Tech students,” Hadley said.
“As alumni, we’ve benefited from Arlington Tech and CTE working hand in hand, and we want that same opportunity for the current students,” he added.
At a November School Board work session, Superintendent Francisco Durán and staff proposed a sweeping reorganization of non-traditional school programs.
Among the proposals was creation of a Pathways & Progress Academy, a new initiative focused on career pathways, specialized supports and smaller learning environments that would incorporate existing programs such as the Langston Non-Traditional High School as well as new initiatives.
That academy is proposed to be located in the new Grace Hopper Center, which also will be home to Arlington Tech students when it opens at the start of the 2026-27 school year.
The staff proposal to move CTE programming from under the Arlington Tech program to the new Pathways & Progress Academy drew criticism from the Arlington Tech Advisory Committee. But staff working under Durán say it would not undermine the ability of Arlington Tech students to take CTE courses.
In his remarks to School Board members, Hadley said it appeared school officials are now considering keeping CTE programs under the Arlington Tech umbrella while retaining their accessibility to all high-school students.
“That’s a step in the right direction, but it still didn’t fix the main issue, which is removing priority CTE access from [Arlington Tech] students,” he said.
School Board members did not respond directly to the concerns raised at the Dec. 18 meeting. They likely will circle back to the superintendent’s consolidation proposal in late January.
At the November work session on the topic, School Board member Mary Kadera raised concerns about moving the Langston program from its current, self-contained location at the Langston-Brown Community Center to the much larger Grace Hopper Center.
At the same work session, School Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton said that before moving forward, she wanted more information on how space in the new Hopper building would be allocated to the various programs.
The new facility is expected to be ready in time for the opening of the 2026-27 school year next August, but construction delays have whittled away the margin of error in getting it ready for occupancy in time.
