At last night’s work session, the Arlington School Board discussed the 13 possible decisions that require community feedback set for the 2017-18 school year. APS is changing its approach for conducting community engagement for these planning processes. For each process, APS will begin communicating with families and the community earlier.

A few weeks prior to each process, APS will explain:

• The purpose and time frame;
• How to participate;
• How feedback will be used; and
• A schedule of engagement events and School Board actions

In addition to School Talk and other methods typically used, APS will communicate this information through additional channels, assisted by parent and school staff who will serve as ambassadors and liaisons. Community input will be received:

• Face-to-face, through community conversations and meetings
• Online via the Engage with APS webpage

During the work session, staff presented questions on several community engagement processes and sought feedback from the School Board.  No decisions were made, instead each of the projects will return to the School Board as information and action items later this fall. Specific projects discussed include:

Career Center & Education Center  (Follow up to 1,300 High School Seats)
In June, the School Board voted on a proposal to add 1,300 high school seats, to address continued enrollment growth.  The plan added 500-600 seats through a renovation at the Education Center and 700-800+ seats added to the Career Center.

Staff shared proposed plans for moving ahead on both projects, and School Board feedback will shape how both projects roll out this fall.

Reed Building
APS staff recommended that the Reed building be considered a neighborhood school, and will include information in the charge to the Reed Building Level Planning Committee.

Options and Transfers Follow-up
Last spring the School Board adopted a revision of the Options and Transfer policy (25-2.2). There were several outstanding issues that were not addressed. Staff proposed a plan for the Strategic Plan Steering committee to provide a vision for options and K-12 alignment within their charge. That process will kick off later this fall.

If you would like to view the work session online, watch it here.