A record number of fifth graders from Germany have come to Arlington this year through the county’s sister city program.
Students, parents and civic leaders from the city of Aachen arrived in the United States on Oct. 8 and will stay through Oct. 16. They are being hosted by Arlington families representing 16 public and four private schools, in a quarter-century collaboration sponsored by the Arlington Sister City Association.
Arlington school leaders have announced their timeline for negotiating new health-insurance agreements next year, hoping to avoid catching employees by surprise this time.
This time, school leaders are committed to “make sure everybody’s crystal clear” on the process, School Board member Mary Kadera said.
A decline in year-over-year student enrollment at Arlington Public Schools has resulted in staffing adjustments at some schools.
The official APS 2025-26 student count of 27,589 is down 311 students — or 1.1% — from a year before, Superintendent Francisco Durán reported to School Board on Thursday.
Arlington Public Schools leaders hope that a new “adopt-a-school” partnership model will increase schools’ formal partnerships with business and civic groups.
Noting that 30% of Arlington’s public schools have no such partnerships, APS staff outlined plans to increase opportunities for volunteerism at a School Board meeting yesterday (Thursday). They focused primarily on relationships with the business community.
School Board candidates are at odds on numerous current practices at Arlington Public Schools, including how stringent the school system’s rules on grading and homework should be.
Candidates Monique “Moe” Bryant and James “Vell” Rives IV squared off at a debate hosted online Monday night by Arlington Parents for Education, an advocacy group.
Even given the possibility of declining enrollment at Arlington Public Schools over the next decade, school leaders say they’re disinclined to dispose of any facilities.
Jeffrey Chambers, the school system’s director of design and construction, said the school system learned from a decision to do that several decades ago.
A community celebration marking the centennial of Washington-Liberty High School brought students past, present and future to the school on Saturday.
In attendance were alumni who attended W-L as long ago as the early 1950s. Those who came said they retained fond memories.
Arlington Public Schools was near the top of the pack in both the state and in Northern Virginia in its test scores for the 2024-25 school year.
APS trailed the Loudoun school system in the five broad Standards of Learning categories last school year, but outperformed Fairfax and Prince William counties and the city of Alexandria. It topped the averages statewide in each category.
Arlington Public Schools is implementing a modernized bullying-prevention curriculum beginning next month.
The curriculum, which rolls out on Oct. 1, will include the following lesson topics.
Arlington’s oldest elementary school is celebrating its 100th anniversary on Friday with student-centered activities and a community picnic.
Festivities at Barcroft Elementary School will include a human chain beginning at the site of the original Barcroft School and a mini “field day” where students participate in games and activities that kids might have played 100 years ago.
Should Arlington Public Schools bring back school resource officers? Candidates running for School Board have starkly different opinions.
School Board candidate James “Vell” Rives IV used the Sept. 2 Arlington County Civic Federation candidate forum to press for a return of resource officers, known as SROs, which were removed from county schools four years ago.
An Arlington School Board member is cautioning Democrats against arguing with voters about the school system’s policies on transgender students this election season.
“Please don’t engage — you don’t need to get into a debate,” School Board member Zuraya Tapia-Hadley told attendees at an Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting on Wednesday.
