School Board members have voted to extend Superintendent Francisco Durán’s contract by four years, to June 30, 2030.
“Thank you for your trust, your partnership and your steadfast commitment to our students,” Durán said in remarks directed to School Board members yesterday (Tuesday). “Public education is built on that collaboration.”‘
Arlington’s new School Board chair is promising to work toward increasing academic outcomes and fiscal responsibility.
School Board members unanimously selected Miranda Turner as Board chair for 2026-27, succeeding Bethany Zecher Sutton.
School Board members have increased spending estimates for renovations to Thomas Jefferson Middle School, seeking to strike a balance between different proposals.
Board members voted 5-0 on June 18 to adopt the school system’s fiscal 2027-36 capital improvement plan, setting the stage for an $80 million school-bond referendum in the fall and future referendums down the road.
David Sisson has become the second independent to qualify for the County Board election in November.
Sisson — a member of the county’s Transit Advisory Committee and executive vice chair at the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA) — joins perennial protest candidate Audrey Clement in having filed paperwork and the requisite 125 petition signatures.
Significant divisions appear to remain among School Board members on the scope of a planned renovation and addition to Thomas Jefferson Middle School.
Three design concepts — with costs of $130 million, $140 million and $168 million — are still on the table, while at least one School Board member has not given up on the possibility of a complete replacement.
Arlington school leaders have more work to do in sketching out how they might use public-private partnerships to construct new facilities in an era of fiscal constraints.
Superintendent Francisco Durán’s proposed fiscal 2027-36 capital improvement plan, unveiled May 14, makes reference to potential future partnerships to help defray costs of constructing and maintaining new facilities.
A divided School Board last Thursday backed a 22% cut in the anticipated future cost of a renovation/expansion project at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, but left the door open to more discussion.
The 3-1 vote, with one abstention, reduces the cost estimate to $130 million, from an initial $168 million proposed by Superintendent Francisco Durán and staff.
Three years after dropping Kaiser Permanente and Cigna as health-insurance providers, Arlington Public Schools is bringing them back.
Superintendent Francisco Durán said at the May 28 School Board meeting that the two firms had been selected to provide health-insurance coverage for a three-year period beginning at the start of 2027. They will replace CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, which has held the contract since January 2024.
School leaders are about to formally ink a deal to relocate Arlington Community High School to Amazon’s HQ2 campus.
Eight months after celebrating the upcoming move, Arlington Public Schools leaders plan to sign a 30-year lease with Amazon for more than 30,000 square feet of space at 1450 S. Eads Street in the Metropolitan Park complex in Pentagon City.
Arlington Public Schools leaders are planning further limits on some grade levels’ access to digital devices, promising more opportunities for public feedback.
Superintendent Francisco Durán updated School Board members on May 14 regarding the status of changes and what is coming next for the program that once provided every student with a MacBook or iPad.
Superintendent Francisco Durán has laid out a quarter-billion-dollar plan to renovate and expand two middle schools.
Downplaying concerns that the projects could crowd out needed improvements at other buildings, Durán on Thursday night described plans for Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Swanson Middle School. They include the following.
A Wakefield High School senior is among a small group of Arlington students who have spent the past four months gathering feedback from fellow youth about the current state of the school system.
In an April 30 presentation to the School Board, Zach Dawson said there were areas where Arlington Public Schools was meeting students’ needs, but other areas where it was falling short.
