Arlington Public Schools | ARLnow.com

Published November 18, 2013 at 3:30PM

The Sun Gazette reports that “several dozen” supporters of the Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program showed up for the public comment period of Saturday’s Board meeting. They asked the Board to find a way to work with Arlington Public Schools and the School Board to expand FLES to the 9 schools that currently don’t have the program.

Meanwhile, a group called FLES For All released an open letter to county and school leaders over the weekend. The group, which claims 25-30 active members “who work weekly to educate and advocate on this issue,” blasted “educational inequity” in Arlington and called on the County Board to provide a greater share of tax revenue.

Opinion

Peter’s Take: Arlington Budget Guidance, Part Two

By Peter Rousselot

Published November 14, 2013 at 1:45PM

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

The main reasons are: school enrollment has been rising, while it’s getting more challenging to deliver a 21st century education, and the APS share of the total budget has been slipping.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published November 12, 2013 at 9:40AM

Veterans Day Ceremony in Clarendon — Members of local American Legion posts gathered at the Clarendon War Memorial on Monday to dedicate a temporary plaque bearing the name of six fallen servicemembers who hailed from Arlington. [Patch]

Fewer Trains Makes for Crowded Commute — Metro commuters who had to work on Veterans Days experienced delays and crowding due to Metro running on a reduced holiday service schedule. [Washington Post]

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published October 30, 2013 at 8:45AM

BBQ Competition to Film in Arlington? — A production company from New York is apparently scouting locations in Arlington for the filming of a BBQ competition show. The show would then air on network television. [Falls Church News-Press]

APS to Discuss Williamsburg Plans — Arlington Public Schools will be holding two meetings to discuss plans to build a new elementary school at the Williamsburg Middle School site. The meetings will be held on Nov. 13 and 14. The school is expected to open by September 2015. [Arlington Public Schools]

Schools

APS Considers Limiting Teacher Gifts

By Ethan Rothstein

Published October 28, 2013 at 10:00AM

APS is circulating a proposed change to its gift policy for employees that would limit the amount of gifts educators can receive to $50.

The School Board will consider adopting the policy at its meeting Dec. 5, according to APS spokesman Frank Bellavia. There is already an APS gift policy on the books, but it only has guidelines for gifts purchased for employees with APS funds.

Opinion

Peter’s Take: New Spending Needed to Increase High School Capacity

By Peter Rousselot

Published October 24, 2013 at 1:00PM | Updated October 24, 2013 at 2:12PM

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

How refreshing to see this degree of sensitivity to capital project costs!

Schools

APS Pulling Back From France Exchange Program

By Ethan Rothstein

Published September 25, 2013 at 2:30PM

Photo by wox-globe-trotter

A high school and middle school exchange program to France could be on its last legs after Arlington Public Schools administration took a closer look at its travel policies.

Up until this school year, teachers had been granted “professional leave” for a two-week student exchange trip to Reims, France, one of Arlington’s sister cities. But that is coming to an end, jeopardizing the Reims exchange program — a possibility that’s upsetting some parents.

Opinion

Peter’s Take: Time to Finish the Job

By Peter Rousselot

Published September 19, 2013 at 2:45PM

Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

As the Sun Gazette reported last week, parents at the elementary schools that currently lack FLES demanded again at the Sept. 12 School Board meeting that the School Board follow through on its repeated prior commitments to provide FLES. The School Board Chair re-affirmed that doing so is an APS priority. Parents who support finishing the job now are asking supporters to sign a petition.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published August 12, 2013 at 8:30AM | Updated August 12, 2013 at 8:49AM

New APS Teachers to Begin Orientation — More than 400 newly-hired Arlington public school teachers are set to begin orientation sessions next week. The school system says it has hired nearly 90 percent of the teachers necessary to keep up with attrition and a growing student body. [Sun Gazette]

APS Debuts Smartphone App — Arlington Public Schools has unveiled a new iPhone and Android app for parents. The free app “features news and headlines, upcoming events, sports scores… and easy access to APS services such as MySchoolBucks, the Extended Day portal, lunch menus and calendars.” [Arlington Public Schools]

Schools

High School Students Required to Take Online Classes

By Ethan Rothstein

Published August 9, 2013 at 2:00PM

Arlington Public Schools has been offering online classes for some time now — last year, APS offered 25 classes, mostly foreign languages like Arabic, Chinese and Japanese — but the portfolio of offerings will need to greatly expand to accommodate the new state law.

With less than a month to go until the school year, APS Director of Instructional and Innovative Techonologies Pat Teske said the decisions on which classes to offer online and how many are still being made.

Schools

Inside Arlington’s Overflowing High Schools

By ARLnow.com

Published July 16, 2013 at 4:15PM

This article was written by Audrey Batcheller

All three Arlington high schools have recently been rebuilt, but it appears they are already over capacity. Washington-Lee has seen its enrollment rise by 30 percent in the last six years, and this increase can be partially attributed to the abundance of transfers coming to the school for the International Baccalaureate diploma program. Washington-Lee is the only high school in the county that offers this program, so many transfer students apply to participate in the competitive diploma program. Yorktown and Wakefield have also seen steady increases in their enrollment, and Wakefield students will begin studying in their new facility this coming school year.

News

Morning Notes

By Katie Pyzyk

Published May 28, 2013 at 8:50AM

Obama Visits Arlington National Cemetery — President Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns on Monday during a visit to Arlington National Cemetery in honor of Memorial Day. In addition to remembering fallen service members, Obama asked that Americans “not forget our nation is still at war.” [Washington Post]

Record High County GOP Membership — The Arlington County Republican Party chairman says the county’s membership is at an all time high, at least over what is has been for the past decade. The number of members now stands at 139. [Sun Gazette]