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.
Arlington school leaders have announced their timeline for negotiating new health-insurance agreements next year, hoping to avoid catching employees by surprise this time.
This time, school leaders are committed to “make sure everybody’s crystal clear” on the process, School Board member Mary Kadera said.
A decline in year-over-year student enrollment at Arlington Public Schools has resulted in staffing adjustments at some schools.
The official APS 2025-26 student count of 27,589 is down 311 students — or 1.1% — from a year before, Superintendent Francisco Durán reported to School Board on Thursday.
Arlington Public Schools leaders hope that a new “adopt-a-school” partnership model will increase schools’ formal partnerships with business and civic groups.
Noting that 30% of Arlington’s public schools have no such partnerships, APS staff outlined plans to increase opportunities for volunteerism at a School Board meeting yesterday (Thursday). They focused primarily on relationships with the business community.
School Board candidates are at odds on numerous current practices at Arlington Public Schools, including how stringent the school system’s rules on grading and homework should be.
Candidates Monique “Moe” Bryant and James “Vell” Rives IV squared off at a debate hosted online Monday night by Arlington Parents for Education, an advocacy group.
After 26 years as Arlington Public Schools’ supervisor for health, physical/driver education and athletics, Debbie DeFranco has retired.
DeFranco — whose last day was Tuesday, following 34 years at APS — is being succeeded by former Wakefield High School principal Chris Willmore.
Even given the possibility of declining enrollment at Arlington Public Schools over the next decade, school leaders say they’re disinclined to dispose of any facilities.
Jeffrey Chambers, the school system’s director of design and construction, said the school system learned from a decision to do that several decades ago.
