The BB&T Bank at 5515 Lee Highway was robbed around lunchtime today.
The suspect fled the bank on foot, prompting authorities to lock down at least two schools in the area. Parents of Nottingham Elementary and Williamsburg Middle School students received the following message from administrators today.
Ducklings Rescued from Storm Drain — Hanging upside down in a storm drain, an Arlington animal control officer managed to save nine ducklings that had become trapped in a tunnel. The ducklings and their mother were reunited and brought to the nearby Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary. [Animal Watch]
ART 45 Bus Route Expanding — The ART 45 bus route is expanding. It will now run farther down Columbia Pike while at the same time adding a stop at the Courthouse Metro station en route to Rosslyn. [Arlington Transit]
The so-called “Second Chance” program will allow middle and high school students caught with alcohol or marijuana to avoid school suspensions and criminal prosecution. To enter the program, students must be first-time offenders and must have the active participation of their parents or guardians.
Students referred to Second Chance by schools, police, courts or parents will attend an educational, three-day “early intervention” program, as well as a subsequent “booster session.” The time in the program will be considered an excused absence from school. Supporters say that the “second chance” allows students to avoid the negative impacts of school suspensions and other traditional forms of punishment.
The storms — and the resulting power outages and surges — apparently played a role in knocking out Barrett Elementary School’s air conditioning. In a letter to parents, Barrett principal Theresa Bratt says that the school’s chiller unit “completely broke down this morning” and is “beyond repair.”
The school has deployed 30 fans to keep classrooms cool while they await the arrival of a temporary rental chiller.
In a ceremony at the Arlington Public Schools Education Center on N. Quincy Street, Hareth Andrade and Antonella Rodriguez-Cossio from Washington-Lee High School, Henry Mejia from Yorktown High School and Jose Vasquez from Arlington Mill High School Continuation Program received Dream Scholarships to help fund their college educations.
Although countless high school students enjoy grants and awards around this time of year, the Dream Scholarship is reserved for undocumented students — children born abroad who are not U.S. citizens or legal residents.
(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) School officials, County Board members and other local dignitaries donned helmets and shovels to help break ground on the new, $118 million Wakefield High School today.
Over the next 2-3 years workers will build a 380,000 square foot school to replace the existing, 60-year-old building. The new Wakefield will feature 50 classrooms, state-of-the-art science labs, a 625 seat auditorium, a media center, two new athletic fields, two gyms, two pools, a diving well and a geothermal heating and cooling plant.
Wakefield Groundbreaking Today — At 9:30 this morning Arlington Public Schools officials will hold a groundbreaking for the new, $116 million Wakefield High School. Construction on the school is expected to begin next month and wrap up by fall 2013.
Planetarium Group Nears Fundraising Goal — The Friends of Arlington’s Planetarium group has raised more than $350,000 to renovate the aging David M. Brown Planetarium, which supporters helped to save from being mothballed by the school system. The Friends were given the goal of raising $402,800 by June 30, but observers expect that the current haul — plus the haul from one final fundraiser — will be “close enough.” [Sun Gazette]
Kids, teachers, school officials, politicians, photographers and reporters crammed into the school’s auditorium to watch the hour-long event, which was part press conference and part school assembly. Bridges, McDonnell and Vilsack were joined on stage by representatives from the Federation of Virginia Food Banks and the non-profit group Share Our Strength. Also on stage were a pair of wise-cracking vegetable puppets.
“I’m surprised that broccoli is here today,” said Vilsack, gesturing to one of the puppets in front of the youthful crowd. “I just had him for lunch.”
Wakefield High School held its annual Prom Promise anti-drunk-driving event today, but it was a bit different than years past.
Instead of a large indoor assembly with PowerPoint slides, a speaker and staged demonstrations, the police department decided to take things outside. Groups of students lined up to try their hand at driving golf carts around a cone course while wearing “drunk goggles.”
Actor Jeff Bridges, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Gov. Bob McDonnell will help launch a new statewide anti-hunger campaign at Barcroft Elementary School (625 S. Wakefield Street) next week.
The Academy Award winner is the national spokesperson for No Kid Hungry, a campaign that aims to “end childhood hunger in America by 2015.” The organization says they hope to do so by creating “public-private partnerships at the state level to break down barriers that prevent kids from accessing the food they need.”
Panel Recommends Building New Schools — An Arlington Public Schools advisory council has come out with a report that recommends new construction to help ease the looming school capacity crisis. The panel recommends building one or two new elementary schools and adding capacity at two existing middle schools. In addition to the construction, they suggest adding as many as 40 classroom trailers. Questions linger as to whether the county has enough debt capacity to follow the building recommendations. [Sun Gazette]
Adopt-a-Cat Month at AWLA — The Animal Welfare League of Arlington (2650 South Arlington Mill Drive) has declared June to be Adopt-a-Cat Month. With the shelter — and other shelters like it — inundated with homeless felines, AWLA is trying to find homes for its “Desperate Housecats” — cats that have been at the shelter more than four months. The adoption of such cats is free through the end of the month. [Animal Welfare League of Arlington]
APS High Schools Ranked in Top One Percent — Arlington’s public high schools each ranked in the top one percent of the Washington Post’s national Challenge Index rankings. H-B Woodlawn ranked the highest at #46, and was #1 among Washington area high schools. Wakefield was at the bottom of the pack at #367 nationally and #50 locally. The Challenge Index measures the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a high school in 2010. [Arlington Public Schools]
Lopez Attracts Local Political Support — House of Delegates 49th District candidate Alfonso Lopez has named County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman and County Sheriff Beth Arthur as co-chairs of his campaign. Lopez will face Stephanie Dix Clifford in the August 23 Democratic primary. [Sun Gazette]
