School Board Holds Organizational Meeting for 2016-17 School Year

• Elects Van Doren and Kanninen as New Board Leaders
• Approves Budget Adjustment for McKinley Project
• Discusses Designs for Two School Projects
• Discusses Agreement with Arlington County on the Wilson Project

7-1-2016 – Today, the Arlington School Board held its first meeting of the 2016-17 school year. During the meeting, the Board elected Nancy Van Doren as Chair and Dr. Barbara Kanninen as Vice Chair.

ACTION ITEM:

Budget Adjustment for McKinley Renovation/Addition Project – The Board approved a budget adjustment of $941,500 for additional expenses due to the extended construction timeline for the McKinley Elementary School Addition/Renovation Project. More information is available online.

INFORMATION ITEMS:

• New Elementary School at the Jefferson Site Concept Design – Staff presented the proposed concept design for a new 725-seat elementary school at the Jefferson site that is scheduled to open in September 2019. To see the concept design, click here.
• Wilson Schematic Design – Staff presented the proposed schematic design for a new 775-seat school at the Wilson. The building will include the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, the Stratford Program, ESOL/HILT and Asperger’s Program currently located at the H-B Woodlawn/Stratford site. The project is scheduled to be completed in September 2019. The full presentation is available online.
• County and Schools Licensing Agreement on the Wilson Project – The Board discussed an agreement between APS and Arlington County on the Wilson Project.

APPOINTMENTS:

The Board approved the following administrator appointments:

• Laura Newton, Director of Student Services: Dr. Laura Newton has over 20 years of experience in education. A native Spanish speaker, she has served as a bilingual counselor, English as a Second Language Counselor, Director of School Counseling, and most recently as a Director of School Counseling, Residency, and International Admission for Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools. Her appointment is effective August 1.
• Paul G. Jamelske, Interim Director of Special Education: Paul Jamelske has over 20 years of experience in education of which most of those years has been as a special education teacher and administrator. He has experience working at the elementary, middle, and high school level. Since 2000, Jamelske has served as the Assistant Principal at Washington-Lee High School. His appointment is effective July 1.
• Julie Cantor, Interim Assistant Principal at Washington-Lee High School: Julie Cantor has worked for Arlington Public Schools for 16 years as a teacher at Washington-Lee High School. Prior to joining APS, she was a teacher in Amherst, Mass. and Fairfax, Va. Her appointment is effective July 1.

RECOGNITIONS:

At the beginning of the meeting, Dream Project scholarship recipients presented the board with a commemorative framed painting done by one of the students.  The artwork was presented to thank the Board for the support the Board and APS provides to Dreamer students.  The Board had the privilege of hearing about the accomplishments of some of the Dreamers, who are or will be attending college to pursue their educational dreams.

The Board also recognized the following students for their academic and athletic achievements: (1) Jefferson Middle School seventh grader Katherine Lanman, who was awarded the International Baccalaureate (IB) Student Excellence Award from the IB Mid-Atlantic Association; and (2) Yorktown students Juliette Mitrovich and Julia Hays, who were Virginia Gymnastics Individual Open Balance Beam Co-Champions.

For More Information

Citizens who want to comment on any of the items discussed at the School Board meeting should email the Board at school.board@apsva.us or call 703-228-6015. Citizens may call 703-228-2400 on the Monday after the School Board meetings to listen to a meeting summary. School Board meetings are also broadcast live on Comcast Cable Channel 70 and Verizon FiOS Channel 41; live-streamed on the APS website, and re-broadcast on Fridays at 9 p.m. and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. immediately following the meeting. All materials and minutes of the meeting will be posted to the website at aps2016.apsva.us/schoolboard upon School Board approval at a subsequent meeting.