Earlier this month, Arlington Public Schools relaunched its website with an updated design and new technology.
There are still some minor bugs evident — many older links to specific pages on the site are not working — but for the most part the transition appears to be complete.
On Friday, Arlington County announced that it was collaborating with Arlington Public Schools on a money-saving plan: a temporary fire station will be placed on the school’s field while developer Penzance constructs two new mixed-use buildings next door, on the county-owned site of the current Fire Station No. 10.
The development will provide a new, permanent fire station and 100 underground parking spaces for the school — when it’s completed in 2022. In the meantime, the temporary fire station will be placed on the field at the corner of N. Quinn and 18th streets, and Arlington County will provide off-site fields and parking for the school.
Arlington Public Schools high school students will have an early dismissal today, their last day of the school year.
The last day of school for APS middle school students is Thursday; it’s Friday for elementary students. All schools will have early dismissals on their last day.
In a June 15 petition to the Arlington School Board, more than 330 Randolph parents, school employees and their supporters said they are “deeply concerned” about the panel’s decision to give principal Renee Bostick a new, unspecified role at Arlington Public Schools July 1. She has led the school at 1306 S. Quincy Street since 2004.
APS told the Randolph community her removal was due to “test scores,” but didn’t elaborate, according to the petition.
Letters were sent to parents of eligible students last week, asking them to “supervise and monitor your child while on the device” but also giving them the option of refusing the take-home iPad.
“The decision to allow students to take the APS issued iPads home over the summer is made individually by the administration at each school,” said Arlington Public Schools spokesman Frank Bellavia. “We are excited for the opportunity for our students to be able to extend their learning over the summer through access to high quality digital resources including curriculum specific tools as well as thousands of eBooks through the APS Library and Arlington Public Library systems.”
Petition for New High School — A petition urging Arlington Public Schools to build a new high school, rather than cramming more students into existing high schools, has nearly 1,000 signatures. The petition states that APS is considering “double shifts, online classes, and mandatory off-site internships” to help with the high school capacity crunch. [Change.org]
Hero Cab Passenger Saves the Day — A passenger in a Barwood taxi jumped into action, grabbed the steering wheel and steered the cab to safety after the driver passed out behind the wheel. The incident happened Thursday morning on the GW Parkway between Chain Bridge and Key Bridge. [WJLA]
Police say Zachary Van Dyke, 32, smoked pot with a 13-year-old student at his home. He also allegedly sold some pot to the teen.
Van Dyke was a teaching assistant at Gunston Middle School and a freshman basketball coach at Washington-Lee High School. He has been suspended by Arlington Public Schools and charged by police with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and distribution of marijuana.
The following letter to the editor was submitted by 26 Arlington residents, regarding the Arlington Public Schools proposed Capital Improvement Plan.
With an exploding school population leading to hundreds of Arlington students spending their school days in trailers, Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy’s proposed solution falls far short of meeting the needs. The Superintendent’s Proposed Capital Improvement Plan (“CIP”) only funds 53% of the needed seats district-wide. Our school system is facing a 4,600 total seat deficit but the Superintendent’s Proposal is for only 2,445 additional seats.
The four incidents date back to April 7. Two incidents in April involved a man who tried to lure children to his home and then his truck. Two incidents in May involved a suspicious man in a vehicle — first a pickup truck, then a different type of vehicle — who drove by and ogled children who were walking home from school.
It’s unclear if the same suspect was involved in all four cases.
The incident happened just after 2 a.m., early Saturday morning, at Long Branch Elementary School on N. Fillmore Street in Lyon Park.
According to police, an officer patrolling the area noticed the men creeping around the school with flashlights and then going inside via an “unsecured” door. By the time the suspects left the school, with Apple iPad tablets in hand, more officers had arrived and they were taken into custody, said ACPD.
The feline family recently took up residence on the school’s roof, apparently after the cat climbed a tree to get there.
Both APS and AWLA want to get the cat and kittens down from the roof, but are still formulating a plan for how to do it.
Kitchen Fire at Lebanese Taverna — Firefighters extinguished an early morning kitchen fire at Lebanese Taverna on Pentagon Row Saturday. [Twitter]
Arlington to Get Tourism Promotion Boost — A slight increase in Arlington’s hotel tax, approved by the County Board over the weekend, will allow the county to boost its tourism promotion budget by $1.25 million. The hotel tax increase was years in the making, as Arlington sought authorization from the state legislature, which stripped the county of the ability to levy the tax surcharge in 2011. [Arlington County]
