Snow this week has nearly wiped out Arlington Public Schools’ snow days for the winter.
Two months ago, APS modified its winter weather plans to include six traditional “snow days,” in which school is completely canceled, followed by distance-learning days.
Your kids and your trash will be staying at home until next week.
Arlington Public Schools just announced that it will be closed for the fifth school day in a row, in anticipation of 2-4 inches of snow overnight. Students have not been in class since before the winter break.
(Updated at 8:55 p.m.) Arlington Public Schools will be closed tomorrow because, according to APS, other school systems are also closed.
In an email to families, APS said that local streets are clear of snow and school could open, but the already-announced closure of other Northern Virginia school systems — like Fairfax County, Alexandria and Prince William County — would have an impact on staffing.
For the third day in a row, Arlington Public Schools students — and those that follow APS closures, like local preschools — will get another snow day.
The school system announced the closure shortly after 5 p.m., with the possibility of freezing rain in the forecast and with many neighborhood streets still covered in snow and ice.
(Updated 2:35 p.m.) Some parents and students are pushing Arlington Public Schools to reverse its decision to temporarily halt sports and other extracurricular activities due to COVID-19.
After the snow clears, the majority of APS students will return to their classrooms for in-person learning, but their sports practices and games, band and choir classes and club meetings will be “paused” until Friday, Jan. 14.
A tweet correcting the grammar and style of a press release from the Arlington teachers union has gotten some national media attention.
A local homeschooling mom tweeted pictures of the corrections she says she and her children made to a press release sent by the Arlington Education Association, which represents educators and staff in Arlington Public Schools.
(Updated at 6 p.m.) Arlington Public Schools will be closed Monday, the school system announced Sunday evening.
The closure decision was made as Arlington is under a Winter Storm Warning, with heavy snow expected to start falling early Monday morning. Some 3-7 inches of accumulation is possible, according to the National Weather Service
Arlington Public Schools will open its doors for regular in-person instruction next week amid concerns about the Omicron variant and record-high rates of new Covid cases.
Buildings will open on Monday, Jan. 3 with normal schedules for in-person instruction and Extended Day programs, APS said in an email to families yesterday (Wednesday). Free COVID-19 testing at schools will resume Monday as well.
The future of Arlington Public Schools’ in-house Virtual Learning Program appears to hang in the balance.
The school system developed the program over the summer to give families an alternative to five days a week of in-person instruction. APS made in-person learning the default this fall after offering remote and later, hybrid instruction, last school year. About 600 students attend the VLP.
Starting this summer, Arlington Public Schools intends to pay its bus drivers the most of neighboring school systems in Virginia and Maryland.
Arlington’s bus drivers would receive the highest wages at all stages of their careers compared to other regional school systems, if APS leadership and the School Board stick to their pledge to improve employee compensation in the 2022-23 fiscal year budget, which is being developed.
(Updated 1:10 p.m.) Arlington Public Schools is applying to the state for more than $15.6 million in federal funds to tackle pandemic-era learning loss.
The school system says it would use the money to provide more specialized instruction, before- and after-school tutoring and expanded summer school offerings.
(Updated at 10:25 a.m.) Jamestown Elementary School is having an early dismissal today due to a “significant water leak.”
The announcement was made in an email to families.
