The Arlington School Board is considering a possible change to the daily schedules at local high schools.
Staff laid out possible changes to the current “seven-period block schedule” at a School Board work session on Nov. 18. Options on the table, in addition to maintaining the status quo, include:
A like-father-like-son story with an Arlington connection transpired this fall in two press boxes during football season in Northern Virginia.
At Yorktown High School in Arlington, with his enthusiastic yet professional and calm demeanor, Chris Williams worked his 23rd season as the Friday-night announcer of home varsity games for the Patriots.
Numerous community members are pressing the Arlington School Board for a firm commitment to either renovating or replacing Thomas Jefferson Middle School.
Teachers, parents and students all pointed to the challenges of the half-century-old building’s narrow halls and limited natural light, which result in what one seventh grader called “a somewhat depressing environment.”
Arlington Public Schools leaders hope to return to a lower, pre-Covid level of student absenteeism by 2030.
“That last year before the pandemic, 2018-19, we were around [an] 8% rate. We have been using that number as a goal, our star, for the last couple of years,” said Darrell Simpson, executive director for student services, during a Nov. 13 briefing of School Board members.
Arlington Public Schools leaders have set their plans in place for deciding when to close schools for wintry weather.
The school system has 12 snow days built into the calendar for elementary school, 15 for middle and high school. Should those numbers be exceeded, leaders plan to move to virtual learning — a staple of the pandemic era — rather than lengthen the school year to meet the state minimum of 180 days or 990 hours of instructional time.
Suspensions were down at the start of the school year in Arlington, but some significant disparities remain across different student demographics.
First-quarter suspension totals “continue to show some overrepresentation” of certain groups, including Black students and students with disabilities, Superintendent Francisco Durán told School Board members on Nov. 13.
Civic association presidents along the Columbia Pike corridor are urging Arlington Public Schools to hold firm to development plans for the Arlington Career Center site.
In a letter to School Board members and Superintendent Francisco Durán, members of the Pike Presidents Group say they want APS to confirm its three-step plan for the parcel, located just north of the Pike along S. Walter Reed Drive:
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The recent 100th-anniversary celebration at Washington-Liberty High School saw current-day students poring over yearbooks from the 1960s-70s.
Arlington Public Schools is offering free dinners at three high schools for families affected by the government shutdown.
Beginning Thursday, the school system will serve free hot meals every weekday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the cafeterias at Yorktown, Washington-Liberty and Wakefield high schools. Each location will provide 250 meals every day on a first-come, first-served basis.
Arlington Public Schools is expanding an initiative that provides parents with information on how, and for how long, their children are using school-distributed devices.
In November, APS will move from an opt-in to an opt-out model for the Lightspeed Parent Portal, which provides families with weekly summaries of web-browsing activities for students in grades 2 to 12.
Arlington school leaders say an internal error led to “sensitive employee information” being posted on the school system’s procurement network.
“The files included the names, addresses, Social Security numbers and birthdays of employees and retirees under 65 years old who are currently enrolled in the APS medical healthcare plan,” Brian Stockton, the school system’s chief of staff, wrote in an email to personnel.
An Arlington Public Schools teacher is in the final rounds for a Grammy award honoring outstanding music educators.
Bill Podolski, the choral director at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, is one of 25 nationwide semifinalists for the 2026 Grammy Music Educator Award, announced last week. The accolade is bestowed on one music teacher each year who is honored during the week of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
