A tweet correcting the grammar and style of a press release from the Arlington teachers union has gotten some national media attention.
A local homeschooling mom tweeted pictures of the corrections she says she and her children made to a press release sent by the Arlington Education Association, which represents educators and staff in Arlington Public Schools.
(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) Students at Arlington public schools will have another snow day on Tuesday.
School was also cancelled today, which would have been the first day back from the winter break, due to the winter storm. Unlike students in Alexandria, Arlington students are so far not being required to attend virtual classes.
(Updated at 6 p.m.) Arlington Public Schools will be closed Monday, the school system announced Sunday evening.
The closure decision was made as Arlington is under a Winter Storm Warning, with heavy snow expected to start falling early Monday morning. Some 3-7 inches of accumulation is possible, according to the National Weather Service
Arlington Public Schools will open its doors for regular in-person instruction next week amid concerns about the Omicron variant and record-high rates of new Covid cases.
Buildings will open on Monday, Jan. 3 with normal schedules for in-person instruction and Extended Day programs, APS said in an email to families yesterday (Wednesday). Free COVID-19 testing at schools will resume Monday as well.
Hotel Redevelopment Plan Paused — “The redevelopment of one of Arlington’s oldest hotels looks to be on hold indefinitely, as the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic disrupt the hospitality-focused project. Grant Investment Properties is asking county planners for more time to complete its overhaul of Rosslyn’s old Best Western Iwo Jima, now known as the Red Lion Hotel Rosslyn Iwo Jima, at 1501 Arlington Boulevard. A site plan for the project projected that it would be finished by March 2022, but the Chicago-based firm filed papers last week to ask for an extension through March 2025.” [Washington Business Journal]
Proposed APS Changes Questioned — “Based on feedback from the Arlington School Board, the Arlington Public Schools system is focusing on what they call more equitable grading practices. The preliminary proposal calls for: No late penalties for homework… No extra credit… Unlimited redoes and retakes on assignment… No grading for homework.” [WJLA, Washington Post]
Nearly all county operations and services, including COVID-19 testing sites and vaccine clinics, are set to be closed during the Christmas and New Years holidays.
County government offices, courts, community centers, and libraries, will all be closed on Friday, Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve), Saturday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day), Friday, Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve), and Saturday, Jan. 1 (New Year’s Day).
Koch Groups Moving to Ballston — “A group of nonprofits founded and supported in part by billionaire Charles Koch are moving to a combined 185K SF in the Ballston Exchange office complex owned by Jamestown, sources confirmed to Bisnow. Stand Together, Americans for Prosperity and the Charles Koch Institute, in addition to affiliated organizations, plan to occupy the space in 2023, a source familiar with the deal said.” [Bisnow]
Football and History in Halls Hill — “They were there — about a hundred mostly Black residents and former residents, gathered together on this sunny, crisp Thanksgiving morning — for the neighborhood’s annual Turkey Bowl… For more than fifty years, so-called ‘Old Heads’ in maroon jerseys and ‘Young Heads’ in yellow have squared off in this Halls Hill tradition — ‘since before Martin Luther King’s birthday was a holiday,’ says one longtime resident, Paul Terry, who has been living in Halls Hill since 1968. ‘It’s always fun.'” [DCist]
The future of Arlington Public Schools’ in-house Virtual Learning Program appears to hang in the balance.
The school system developed the program over the summer to give families an alternative to five days a week of in-person instruction. APS made in-person learning the default this fall after offering remote and later, hybrid instruction, last school year. About 600 students attend the VLP.
Starting this summer, Arlington Public Schools intends to pay its bus drivers the most of neighboring school systems in Virginia and Maryland.
Arlington’s bus drivers would receive the highest wages at all stages of their careers compared to other regional school systems, if APS leadership and the School Board stick to their pledge to improve employee compensation in the 2022-23 fiscal year budget, which is being developed.
Arlington Real Estate Still Hot — “Even as much of the rest of Northern Virginia is showing signs of cooling interest from prospective real-estate purchasers, many parts of Arlington remain hot-hot-hot even as the temperature gets cold-cold-cold. A number of those Arlington locales are among the strongest in the region.” [Sun Gazette]
Police: Don’t Leave Your Car Running — “The Arlington County Police Department is warning against leaving vehicles running unattended and is sharing crime prevention tips to help combat auto thefts. During the month of December, the police department has investigated five reports of idling vehicles being stolen. In all reported cases, the victims were running short errands – such as picking up food or making a purchase at a convenience store.” [ACPD]
Redevelopment of Parking Garage Proposed — “The owner of a pair of Crystal City hotels along Richmond Highway is moving to redevelop a parking garage on the property into residential, the latest bit of change for the neighborhood as part of an Amazon.com Inc.-inspired development boom. Miami’s Sound Hospitality is on the hunt for a development partner to manage the transformation of a garage that currently serves Crystal City’s Hampton Inn and Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.” [Washington Business Journal]
Parent Group Wants More Class Time — “An advocacy group is pressing the Arlington School Board to add more instructional time to the school system’s proposed 2022-23 calendar. The comments came at the Dec. 2 School Board meeting, in which board members were presented with a staff proposal that meets the letter of state law in providing at least 990 hours of instructional time. But the school system should be going further – holding classes the full 180 days that had been the pre-COVID standard – said Camille Galdes, who spoke on behalf of Arlington Parents for Education.” [Sun Gazette]
Fire Station 8 Now in Temporary Home — “On December 6th, 2021, The Arlington County Fire Department relocated Fire Station 8 into their new temporary quarters ahead of the construction of a new station. The temporary Fire Station 8 is located at 2217 N. Culpepper St, just behind the location of where the old Fire Station 8 stood for decades. In the coming months, the old Fire Station 8 will be demolished and work will be started on constructing a new Fire Station 8 in the same location that the previous fire house once stood.” [Arlington County]
APS Not Seeking Vax Status for Most Students — “With one major exception – student-athletes – Arlington Public Schools is not, and likely will not be, keeping tabs on the COVID-vaccination status of students. ‘We don’t know the names’ of those who have been vaccinated, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members on Dec. 2. ‘The school will only be asking [parents] if your child is vaccinated if they are in close contact’ with students who test positive for the virus.” [Sun Gazette]
