Schools

Glencarlyn Residents Fight Proposal for New School

By ARLnow.com

In a letter sent to the Arlington School Board yesterday, the Glencarlyn Citizens’ Association asks the board to consider alternative sites for the proposed 600 students capacity magnet elementary school. The association cites concerns about “traffic, safety, parking and loss of [an] important recreational area” as reasons why the school shouldn’t be built or, at the very least, should be built in a way that minimizes negative impacts.

Along with the letter to the school board, Glencarlyn Citizens’ Association president Peter Olivere sent a letter to the editors of ARLnow.com, the Arlington Mercury and the Sun Gazette.

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Teen Arrested for Brandishing Fake Gun at Abingdon Elementary

By Katie Pyzyk

Students told police a male suspect approached them, carrying a gun with an orange tip. Police radio traffic reported that while displaying the weapon, which was at first thought to be real, the suspect asked the children if they were ready to die.

The suspect and children all left the scene. However, when police arrived, some of the children returned to describe the suspect and incident.

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Group Wants New Montessori School in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

As part of its ongoing capacity planning process, APS has been narrowing down its options for keeping up with rising enrollment at schools countywide. The options for adding capacity include building new schools and making additions to existing schools.

Montessori advocates have seized upon an APS proposal to build a new PreK-8 countywide magnet school between Carlin Springs Elementary and Kenmore Middle School. AMAC says the school would be ideal for a central Montessori “choice” program, hosting between 600 and 750 Montessori students either from PreK-5 or PreK-8. Currently, there are almost 600 PreK-8 students in 31 Montessori classrooms at schools across Arlington, with hundreds more on waiting lists, according to AMAC.

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School Board to Appoint Successor to Garvey

By ARLnow.com

Per Virginia law, anybody interested in replacing Garvey on the School Board must be a qualified Arlington voter and must not be a School Board employee. Interested parties are asked to submit a resume and a letter of interest to the School Board by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11.

A public hearing on the School Board vacancy will be held on the evening of April 17. The appointment itself is scheduled to take place during the School Board meeting on April 26. The appointee won’t be in the unelected office for very long — Garvey’s term is up at the end of December and the seat will be up for grabs in November’s general election.

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Residency Specialist Listed as Unfunded School Need

By ARLnow.com

Dr. Murphy listed the residency verification specialist as an “unfunded operational need” during his school budget presentation last month. So far, APS has only employed a part-time residency specialist to complete the “very labor intensive” process of researching the residency of students.

“One of the issues that we often hear from time to time is there are folks that are attending our schools who do not actually reside in our school division,” Dr. Murphy said. “While we’ve had a part-time position dedicated to that on a very small basis, I’m finding the need [for a full-time position] as we look at… the number of students that may be attending our schools that are not residents.”

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Photos: ‘Mindset’ at H-B Woodlawn Auditorium

By ARLnow.com

‘Mindset’ is a show “about an artist’s inner battle against the fear of failure.” Fusing dance, voice, live music and narrative, Mindset casts its starring actors as adults who look back with regret at their choice to pursue conventional careers instead of artistic endeavors.

The show was entirely student-created, with almost no supervision or instruction from teachers. It was written, stage directed, music directed, composed, choreographed and arranged by Jace Casey, an H-B Woodlawn junior. Casey teamed up with creative partner and fellow junior Cassandra Kendall, who was credited as an assistant director, choreographer, lighting designer and technical designer. The creative duo also acted in the show itself.

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Community Forum to Address Bullying of LGBT Youth

By ARLnow.com

How can students and teachers help reduce the bullying of LGBT youth in our schools? That’s the subject of a public forum to be held in Arlington next weekend.

The Northern Virginia chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is inviting all interested parents, teachers, administrators, community leaders, residents and youth to discuss “what can be done to make schools safer for all students.” The forum is being held from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, at the Unitarian Church of Arlington (4444 Arlington Blvd).

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APS Budget Includes Class Size Increase, Raise for Employees

By ARLnow.com

At $493.8 million, the proposed budget is a 3.9 percent increase over FY 2012. The increase reflects, among other things, a 2 percent increase in the APS salary scales — Dr. Murphy says the increase is a reflection of the “cost of competing” with other Northern Virginia school systems for quality teachers and staff — and 3.9 percent growth in student enrollment.

Student enrollment is projected to jump by 857 students, from 21,841 to 22,698. APS calculates that growing enrollment will cost $1.8 million for the purchase of 16 new relocatable classrooms and $2.2 million in additional staffing costs. Though the overall budget is flat in terms of per-student spending, the official “per pupil” cost — as calculated under a set formula that differs from just looking at the overall budget — will actually increase from $18,047 to $18,400.

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Nine iPads Stolen from Elementary School

By ARLnow.com

A total of nine Apple iPads were stolen from Ashlawn Elementary School. School officials sent an email to parents on Friday informing them of the theft.

“We realized the iPads were missing early this morning and took immediate action to try to locate the devices,” the email said. “The police and the central office have been notified and the matter is currently under investigation. Please be assured that Ashlawn has taken multiple measures to keep the technology in our building secure. We are, however, considering additional ways to keep our equipment secure while maintaining the ease of access to staff and students.”

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School Capacity Update To Be Held Tonight

By ARLnow.com

The public meeting is being held from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Kenmore Middle School (200 S. Carlin Springs Road). School officials are expected to discuss the dozens of building options they’re considering in an effort to address the school system’s capacity crisis.

Officials have proposed adding 7,000 seats to the school system over the next 10 years to address the growth of Arlington’s K-12 student population. According to APS projections presented to parents on Feb. 8, school enrollment is expected to continue to grow from 21,519 in 2011 to approximately 30,000 in 2021 (excluding alternative education programs).

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