Schools

A panel discussion on AI in the classroom and beyond is coming to Arlington Public Schools, supporting efforts to keep pace with the developing technology.

Superintendent Francisco Durán will moderate the community conversation next Tuesday, April 7. Educators, students and leaders in higher education and the workplace will “talk candidly about what AI means for teaching and learning right now,” Chief Academic Officer Gerald Mann said in an email to teachers.


Around Town

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.


Schools

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.


News

A trial date has been set for a former Washington-Liberty High School substitute teacher accused of taking indecent liberties with a high school student.

The trial of Timothy McGhee, 47, is scheduled to begin in Arlington’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on April 23.


Schools

An Arlington educator has received the nation’s highest honor for teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Geraldine “Gerri” Maskelony, a statistics teacher at Arlington Tech, has earned the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the White House announced this week. With the award, she received $10,000 from the National Science Foundation and a certificate signed by President Joe Biden.


News

A substitute teacher has been charged with taking indecent liberties with a high school student.

Timothy McGhee, a 47-year-old Alexandria resident, had been working as a substitute at Washington-Liberty High School. He also previously worked at some local churches and unsuccessfully ran for state Senate in Arlington and Alexandria in 2011.


News

A teacher at Washington-Liberty High School received a threat the same day articles came out accusing a faculty member there of “drilling students on anti-Israel talking points.”

The Tuesday afternoon dispatch to the school did not say which teacher received the “strong” threats via email, prompting a police response. But it happened as articles were published on the conservative news site The Daily Wire and the New York Post about W-L English teacher Shayma Al-Hanooti.


News

As the 2024-25 school year starts today, Arlington Public Schools is launching several new initiatives to tackle student safety and enrichment.

Approved changes for this year include a new attendance policy for high school athletic events, a new after-school program pilot, and an extra five-day weekend in November.


News

Stephen Oxenrider, a beloved former Arlington Public Schools teacher, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 12, after nearly two years of battling pancreatic cancer. He was 73.

Oxenrider taught English as a Second Language (ESL) for 35 years in Arlington, beginning at Kenmore Middle School before transferring to Swanson Middle School, where he stayed until retiring in 2007, per his obituary.


Schools

Arlington students could be getting an additional five-day weekend this November.

Proposed changes to the 2024-25 calendar would give Arlington Public Schools students off between Nov. 1 and Nov. 5, shortly before another five-day weekend for Thanksgiving the last week of November.


Around Town

Tuckahoe Elementary art teacher Nicole ‘Nikki’ Reed passed away “quietly and peacefully” surrounded by family and friends last month after an eight-month battle against a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer.

“Friends and Family, this is a post that we knew would come eventually, but we all thought we had more time. Our valiant fighter, Nikki, has taken the path of peace,” Janet Doyle wrote on her friend’s CaringBridge blog last month.


Schools

Fairfax County prosecutors are taking a step back from pursuing the embezzlement charges levied against former Arlington teachers union president, Ingrid Gant.

That decision, however, does not mean the case against Gant — who was ousted in the spring of 2022 after a 6-year tenure — is closed. The Fairfax County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney says Gant’s case is serious and they are keeping their options open.


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