With many side streets still snow-covered, with power still out in many areas, and with a refreeze predicted tonight, Arlington County Schools have decided to remain closed Friday.
It’s the third day in a row that schools have been affected by weather. Schools were closed Thursday and let out two hours early on Wednesday.
Arlington Public Schools will be closed on Thursday, Jan. 27, the school system announced tonight.
Administrative offices will be open.
With Arlington salt trucks gearing up to tackle this afternoon’s potentially dangerous snowfall, Arlington schools and the federal government have both announced early closings.
Arlington Public Schools will close two hours early today, the school system has announced. All evening and after school activities are canceled.
The numbers, in the words of one Tuckahoe Elementary parent who spoke at last night’s meeting, are “truly frightening.”
By 2016, two of the county’s four high schools will be over-capacity, five of the six middle schools will be over-capacity, and 18 of the 22 elementary schools will be over capacity. Only two out of Arlington’s 38 K-12 schools will be under 97 percent capacity.
(Updated at 7:25 a.m.) The handful of Arlington public schools that were slated to be open today are operating on a two-hour delay due to icy road conditions. From APS:
Barcroft and Campbell Elementary schools, the Arlington Mill and Langston High School Continuation programs, and the Pools will open two hours late today. Students in all other APS schools and programs have No School today due to a scheduled Teacher Work Day. Teachers may report two hours late. Liberal leave is available for 12-month employees and for 10-month school office staff members. Essential employees should report on time.
(Updated at 11:30 p.m.) Get ready for the dreaded wintry mix and a challenging morning commute.
The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory, in effect from 10:00 tonight to 9:00 tomorrow morning. Forecasters are predicting that snow and sleet, beginning around dinner time, will switch over to freezing rain overnight, leaving roads slick and the ground covered with as much as an inch of wet snow.
Voting has just begun for the county’s 2011-2012 vehicle decal design competition.
Arlington residents will be able to vote for one of four designs selected for the competition. Each design was created by an Arlington high school student.
Controversy over the text, Our Virginia: Past and Present, erupted in October when it was revealed that the book contained a dubious passage about black soldiers fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Fairfax County schools announced on Friday that they would be pulling the text after dozens of additional errors were found. Yesterday, Arlington Public Schools followed suit.
“APS was notified by the [Virginia Department of Education] last Friday, January 7, of the specific errors in the Grade 4 text,” Arlington Public Schools said in a press release. “Based on that information, school officials feel it is in the best interest of students to remove the print version of the textbooks at this time.”
According to the survey, which was summarized at a school board meeting last week, 22 percent of students surveyed said they have been a victim of bullying, compared to 19 percent in 2007 and 22 percent in 2004.
Twenty-seven percent of 6th graders say they’ve been bullied, compared to 22 percent in 2007 and 33 percent in 2004. Twelve percent of 6th graders said they were the victim of cyberbullying in the past year.
“Every child deserves to feel safe at school,” said Del. David Englin, a bill sponsor who represents parts of Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County. “A child who doesn’t feel safe can’t learn well and live up to his or her potential.”
Another bill sponsor, Del. Adam Ebbin, cited the suicide of a bullied York County, Va. teenager as evidence of why the legislation is necessary. According to Ebbin, who also represents parts of Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax, the York County sheriff’s office refused to investigate the teen’s bullies because there’s no law on the books outlawing bullying.
The photo (above left) of some sort of yellow rig near the Bishop O’Connell High School football field has neighbors speculating, according to TBD. Some believe that work is getting underway on a controversial athletic field renovation before the project has been formally approved by the county board.
We don’t know about that, but it does vaguely remind us the oil derrick from a 20-year-old Saved by the Bell episode entitled “Pipe Dreams,” in which oil is discovered underneath the Bayside High School football field. For a while, everybody thought the oil money was going to bring exciting improvements to the school, but in the end a beloved duck died and the whole situation was judged a fiasco.
The donation, first announced late last week, was given to the Friends of the David M. Brown Planetarium organization in the form of a challenge grant. From now until the $100,000 is exhausted, each donation to the planetarium will be matched by Mr. Caruthers’ funds.
That means that reaching certain donation levels will be easier for individual donors. For instance, a donor would now only need to donate $500 to reach the $1,000 level required to dedicate a seat in the planetarium.
