Arlington Public Schools students will have off during a statewide redistricting referendum following a divided School Board vote last week.
In a 3-2 vote last Thursday, School Board members voted to give students the day off on Tuesday, April 21. The decision represented a split between a majority who saw logistical and safety concerns in keeping students in class, and those who did not wish to lose another instructional day and force parents to scramble for daycare options.
In the end, Board member Kathleen Clark proved the swing vote, grudgingly joining Monique “Moe” Bryant and School Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton in supporting the closure.
Zecher Sutton, and staff, hammered home arguments that safety issues needed to be the first priority. Without closing schools, nearly all of which support polling in some way, “we will not be able to keep everything as safe and secure as we would need to,” the chair said.
“I care very deeply about student-learning outcomes,” Zecher Sutton said. “I care more about the physical health and safety of our students and our staff members.”
Unswayed by that argument were Board members Miranda Turner and Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, who voted to keep students in class that day.
Closing schools on April 21 “takes away another instructional day from our students … as Advanced Placement exams are approaching, end-of-year assessments are approaching, SOLs are approaching,” Turner said.
With adequate planning, “we will be able to keep our students safe,” Turner argued.
But with Bryant and Clark siding with Zecher Sutton and the staff recommendation, Arlington joined several school divisions across Northern Virginia — including Fairfax County and Alexandria — in closing for the election.
While Arlington students will not be in class, the day will be used as a professional-learning day for staff.
Despite concerns raised about disruptions and potential security issues at schools for the election, school-system leadership said they had received no indications any school facilities might be targeted.
“This is a proactive measure. We do not have any substantiated threats that have come to our attention — no direct and imminent threats,” said Kimberley Graves, the school system’s chief of school support.
But better safe than sorry, Durán said, despite the tradeoffs.
“Bringing changes to the calendar in the middle [of the year] is not something we like to do and look forward to,” he said.
“This is not being done lightly,” Graves said.
To ease the burden on parents, staff said they will consider using some facilities to house Extended Day program “hubs” where students could spend the school day.
“I’d be happy to look into that,” said Julie Crawford, the school system’s chief of diversity, equity and inclusion and student support.
But, she cautioned, “it’s a heavier lift than it sounds.”
April 21 will be the fifth day of the month that students will not be in class. Spring break wraps up April 1-3, and April 13 is a grading day for teachers. All told, students will be in class for 17 days in April.
Despite the loss of the school day, Arlington Public Schools still has 27.9 hours on the calendar in excess of the state minimum of 990 hours.
Should some event cause those extra hours to be eaten up in the final months of the year, the school system would move to online learning to make up the necessary time.
