The Arlington School Board has unanimously passed an $826 million budget that, in the view of several board members, fails to accomplish key goals.
“This is a budget of status quos,” Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres said prior to a Thursday vote. “I said this the day that [Superintendent Francisco Durán] announced the budget. This is a budget of maintaining the status quo at a bare minimum.”
The new facility set to replace the Arlington Career Center will be named after a noted Navy admiral and computer scientist who lived in Arlington.
Grace Hopper Center will be the campus’s new name following a 4-0 Arlington School Board vote last night.
On Mother’s Day weekend, a pair of moms have defeated a pair of dads in the race for the Democratic endorsement for Arlington School Board.
Kathleen Clark and Zuraya Tapia-Hadley were announced last night as the winners of the coveted endorsement after a nearly two-week party caucus process. They’ll now run in the November general election, where Democratic endorsees are nearly undefeated this century.
The Arlington School Board has approved construction of a new Arlington Career Center building without a guarantee of paying workers a prevailing wage.
Seeking to avoid rebidding the project and causing at least a year of delays, Board members voted 4-0 last night (Thursday) to finalize a $132 million contract that has drawn criticism from Arlington state representatives, labor groups and the local NAACP chapter.
Arlington unions and state representatives are doubling down on calls for more labor protections in the construction of the new Arlington Career Center.
A $132 million construction contract is up for consideration at an Arlington School Board meeting on Thursday. At least a year of delays would likely result if the School Board seeks a prevailing wage agreement for the project, guaranteeing that workers get paid wages comparable to market rates, Arlington Public Schools staff said at a meeting last month.
With the Arlington School Board caucus now underway, several Democratic candidates have released introduction videos.
Local Democrats have until May 11 to vote in this year’s caucus, determining which of the four candidates currently running for School Board will receive the party’s endorsement for two open seats.
A parent association is asking Arlington Public Schools to change its policy of providing every student with an iPad or MacBook.
Arguing that the devices are bad for children’s mental development and needlessly expensive, Arlington Parents for Education wants the Arlington School Board to roll back funding for them this budget cycle. It is requesting an end to the one-to-one policy for students in pre-kindergarten through 2nd grade, a reduction in devices for 3rd through 5th graders and a transition to PC laptops for grades 6 and up.
(Updated at 10:35 a.m.) Democratic candidates are racking up tens of thousands of dollars in donations, as well as numerous notable endorsements, as this year’s local races heat up.
Three Arlington County Board contenders are leading the pack in terms of donations for this election cycle, campaign finance reports show. Natalie Roy has raised about $41,000 so far, JD Spain has raised $37,000 and Tenley Peterson has raised $23,000.
Arlington Public Schools might definitively put the kibosh on outside birthday treats in the classroom.
A policy update is set to be considered by the School Board later this month, according to the Gazette Leader.
Arlington’s state legislators are calling on school officials to provide more labor protections for workers building the multimillion-dollar Arlington Career Center.
Sens. Adam Ebbin and Barbara Favola, along with Delegates Patrick Hope, Alfonso Lopez and Adele McClure, sent a letter to the Arlington School Board last month requesting a prevailing wage requirement. This would require workers to receive wages comparable to market rates when constructing the roughly $180 million project at 816 S. Walter Reed Drive.
While the presidential primaries are now a done deal, races for Arlington Democratic nods are just getting started.
A full slate of candidates are vying for seats on the Arlington School Board and Arlington County Board. Five Democratic contenders are jockeying for the place of outgoing County Board Chair Libby Garvey and another four are gunning for two School Board seats.
(Updated at 11:05 a.m.) Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Francisco Durán has proposed a 2024-2025 budget that he says avoids new expenses in a lean fiscal year compounded by state funding uncertainty.
He presented an $824.7 million budget — which increases the current budget by $12.2 million, or 1.5% — to the Arlington School Board last week.
