A Wakefield High School teacher has been honored by a national organization for her role in promoting news literacy among her social studies students.
Every year since 2016, the nonprofit News Literacy Project (NLP) has selected one journalist and one student for their role in promoting news literacy and understanding. This year, for the first time, the organization has selected an educator — Patricia Hunt — as well.
A lawsuit has been filed against Arlington Public Schools’ controversial elementary school swap.
The swap, which was approved by a 4-1 School Board vote in February, would move Key Elementary students and staff to the current Arlington Traditional School, Arlington Traditional students and staff to the current McKinley Elementary, and McKinley students and staff to a new school being built in Westover.
In the midst of an uptick of activism in Arlington, both current and former students of Arlington Public Schools are calling for reforms to the school system.
Sparsh Srivastava, a 2016 graduate from H-B Woodlawn, has gathered over 750 signatures on a Change.org petition launched earlier this week asking APS to offer a racial education elective course for high schoolers to take as a social studies credit.
In a School Talk email, Cintia Johnson — who is soon to be succeeded by newly-hired superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán — said that APS is planning for three scenarios to start the fall: in-home distance learning, a return to classrooms, or a hybrid of the two.
Distance learning is “a likely scenario,” Johnson wrote, noting that APS is awaiting expected guidance from the Virginia Dept. of Education next month. A presentation linked in the email describes distance learning, at least to start, as “very probable.”
A banner featuring a collage of photos of Yorktown High School seniors was intended to celebrate the class of 2020, but instead it is being decried as racist.
The banner has since been removed and Yorktown’s principal has apologized, after the controversy blew up on social media yesterday. At issue: the banner uses class photos to form an image of the Yorktown logo, but singles out students of color to create the black outline of the logo.
Schools may be closed, but Arlington PTAs have stepped up and supported local families in their school communities through the coronavirus pandemic.
At K.W. Barrett Elementary School in the Buckingham neighborhood, the school PTA has gone through two rounds of grocery gift card distribution to families in need.
A new Arlington Public Schools budget passed late last week will increase class sizes by one student at all grade levels, starting in the fall.
The $670 million budget largely follows Interim Superintendent Cintia Johnson’s revised budget proposal, which included $54 million in cuts to her original budget, due to a projected downturn in revenue attributable to the pandemic.
Arlington Public Schools is preparing for the possibility that in-person classes will not, in fact, resume in the fall.
There are new questions about when students will be returning to physical classrooms, following today’s Congressional testimony by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Arlington Public Schools is considering ending the school year a week early.
The proposal was announced at the School Board meeting Thursday night, in which APS also announced its new superintendent.
At its meeting Thursday night, the School Board announced that it has hired Dr. Francisco Durán for the school system’s top job, following a national search. Durán comes from Fairfax County Public Schools, where he has served as Chief Academic and Equity Officer since 2015.
The announcement of Durán’s appointment follows a letter to families from interim superintendent Cintia Johnson on Monday, in which she said she decided not to apply for the permanent position.
Arlington Public Schools is adjusting the schedule for distributing meals to family in need, starting next week.
The school system will go from offering grab-and-go meals five days per week to three days per week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The change is being made to mitigate potential coronavirus exposure.
While they can’t meet in person, the five candidates vying for the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s School Board endorsement will meet virtually tomorrow (Tuesday) for a debate.
There are two spots opening on the School Board, with incumbents Tannia Talento and Nancy Van Doren not running for reelection. The candidates seeking the Democratic endorsement are Steven Krieger, Cristina Diaz-Torres, David Priddy, Sandy Munnell, and Terron Sims. A sixth candidate, Symone Walker, is no longer seeking the Democratic endorsement and is instead running as an independent.
