The School Board adopted Arlington Public Schools’ first ever equity policy during its meeting last week.
The policy, passed in a 5-0 vote, includes an overall equity belief statement and identifies governance, education, the workforce, and operations as key areas for APS to practice equity in.
Kellyanne Conway, senior advisor to President Trump, announced last night that she will be leaving the White House at the end of the month to attend to family matters.
Prior to her involvement in the Trump campaign and administration, Conway — a D.C. resident — was a consultant and pollster. Her financial disclosure includes prior work for organizations like the American Conservative Union, National Rifle Association, Tea Party Patriots — and Arlington Public Schools.
Arlington Public Schools says any in-person return to classrooms will be phased, bringing back certain student groups before others.
That was revealed in a School Talk message sent to APS families on Tuesday. Officials also announced plans to help connect working families in need of childcare during remote schooling with local options.
(Updated at 2:15 p.m.) Of Arlington’s eight private schools that offer a level of K-12 education, seven have announced plans to bring students to the classroom either five days a week or in a hybrid model.
Full Circle Montessori School is the only school that told ARLnow it is not planning on opening for in-person instruction.
Colton Poythress, a 2018 Wakefield High School graduate and former varsity quarterback, died on last week at the age of 20.
Poythress led the school’s football team to its first district championship in 40 years during his senior season, according to the Wakefield Chieftain student newspaper. He was also a pitcher for the varsity baseball team and helped to end a 20-season losing streak to Marshall High School in 2017.
Arlington Public Schools is expanding its “one-to-one” digital device program to students in kindergarten, first grade and second grade.
K-2 students will be getting Apple iPads from the school system this fall, helping to assist with remote learning. APS is also buying new iPads and MacBook Air laptops to replace aging devices for older students.
Arlington Public Schools is planning on paying workers whose job cannot be moved to telework through at least the first academic quarter, which ends on November 2.
Superintendent Francisco Durán laid out plans at the July 30 School Board meeting to have bus drivers and attendants, custodians, food service workers and Extended Day staff receive pay and a regular schedule during full-time distance learning.
(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) Arlington Public Schools is using Microsoft Teams to facilitate its online learning and some users dislike it so much they’ve started a Change.org petition to try to get APS to use Zoom instead.
“The foundation of any good virtual program rests on the video conferencing platform(s) used,” the petition organizers said. “From our experience this past spring, Microsoft Teams was not an accessible or user-friendly solution for successful remote learning. We would like to bring your attention to the issues many of us had with Microsoft Teams and implore you to make a change.”
It’s official: Arlington Public Schools will now open on Sept. 8, and classes will be held entirely online.
Superintendent Francisco Durán announced his decision to host online-only classes on Tuesday, at least for the first half of the fall semester, and spoke in more detail about the plan at a School Board meeting yesterday (Thursday).
(Updated at 2:50 p.m.) Arlington Public Schools would start the new school year a week later than originally planned, and with full time distance learning, under a new plan being proposed by new Superintendent Francisco Durán.
That’s according to a School Talk email just sent to APS families.
(Updated at 5:15 p.m.) An increasingly vocal group of parents and teachers are calling on Arlington Public Schools to scrap plans to have most students return to classrooms twice per week.
The current APS “hybrid” plan calls for two cohorts of students each going into school two days per week, while wearing masks and practicing physical distancing. It also allows parents and students to opt for online-only learning.
Nearly 1,000 people have signed an online petition calling on Arlington Public Schools to require masks for in-person instruction in the fall. They’re in luck: that’s precisely what APS is planning to do.
“Moving forward we will be requiring all staff and students to wear face coverings while in school and at work as medically appropriate,” Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán said in a presentation on Wednesday, adding that APS based its mask policy on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control.
