About two dozen sign-holding, banner-unfurling and speech-making residents came to ask the board to keep the David M. Brown Planetarium open.
During his budget presentation, superintendent Dr. Pat Murphy acknowledged the “Save the Planetarium” movement, which has attracted nearly 3,000 fans on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the Save the Planetarium Facebook page now has more than 2,900 fans.
On Monday, Perrino presented the petition to school board member Dr. Emma Violand-Sanchez. “The meeting went very well,” Perrino said.
The flyer states that the planetarium is visited by more than 20,000 people per year. It prompts supporters to sign an online petition.
Meanwhile, the Save the Arlington VA Planetarium Facebook page has reached 2,640 members.
Dr. Murphy made the comments at Thursday night’s school board meeting. He did not elaborate on what sort of partnerships might be possible.
“I think that a lot of the noise we’ve been making online has helped to do this,” said an elated Raphael Perrino, who has been helping to lead the charge with comments on the popular “Save the Arlington VA Planetarium” Facebook page and with an online petition that has garnered more than 220 signatures.
Since Arlington Public Schools announced its plan to permanently close the planetarium one month ago, the family of the late Columbia astronaut David Brown, for whom the planetarium is now named, has spoken out against the closure.
And now a “Save the Arlington VA Planetarium” Facebook page has amassed nearly 2,500 fans.
The family of the late astronaut David Brown, for whom the David M. Brown Planetarium is named, has written a letter opposing Arlington Public Schools’ plan to close the 40-year-old facility, according to the Washington Post.
Brown was killed in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Brown’s brother, Douglas Brown, asked school officials why it’s necessary to close the only public planetarium in the country’s 10th-richest county.
Dr. Murphy says the school system, facing a $12.8 million budget deficit, cannot afford the nearly half million dollars worth of mechanical upgrades needed to keep the 40-year-old planetarium open.
The planetarium is named after David Brown, a Yorktown High School graduate who perished in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Dr. Murphy says the science wing at Yorktown High will be named in Mr. Brown’s honor after the planetarium closes.
