Today, the Arlington School Board held its annual organizational meeting for the 2017-18 school year and elected Dr. Barbara Kanninen as Chair and Reid Goldstein as Vice Chair. The terms for the new Chair and Vice Chair begin immediately and will continue until June 30, 2018.

Dr. Kanninen thanked her School Board colleagues for the opportunity to serve as Chair in the coming school year. In the year ahead, she emphasized that the Board will be building on the strength of high-quality schools throughout Arlington Public Schools (APS), and supporting the teachers and leaders who are integral to the students’ success.

“I’m a big fan of believing in people, especially our students. I believe in every one of them, and I believe in our teachers and staff and the important roles they play in our students’ lives every day,” said Kanninen. “Our students’ futures and our community’s future are woven together and our hard work – in collaboration with the County Board, our citizen advisory committees, and the community – will be the key to making that future very bright.”

Additionally, she summarized many of the important priorities that the Board will be addressing in the year ahead, which include:

• Developing a new, 6-year Strategic Plan to support the Whole Child and build a 21st Century vision for teaching and learning;
• Drafting new policies on inclusion, technology use and personalized devices;
• Building a sustainable budget that maintains instructional excellence; and
• Managing enrollment growth through boundary adjustments for elementary and middle schools, planning for new high school seats, and potentially adding a fourth comprehensive high school.

Kanninen closed her remarks by stating that “Our agenda is ambitious but I am energized and optimistic. I am looking forward to collaborating, positively and constructively, with everyone at this board table, our superintendent and executive leadership team, our clerk and office staff, our teachers, school leaders, parents, students, as well as the full community. Together we will make APS the best that it can be.”

Dr. Kanninen joined the School Board on Jan. 1, 2015. She is a Ph.D. environmental economist, children’s book author, and school and community leader who has served on the School Board’s Early Childhood Advisory Committee, Math Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Council on Instruction, as well as the County Board’s Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee and the Board of the Youth Ultimate League of Arlington. She is a former assistant professor at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, senior economist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Gilbert F. White Fellow at Resources for the Future. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Ohio University, a Master’s from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She and her husband Kevin have lived in Arlington for over 20 years and have two boys who have been lifelong APS students.

Reid Goldstein joined the School Board on Jan. 1, 2016. He has lived in Arlington for over 30 years and has two daughters who graduated from APS. Goldstein has an extensive record of advocacy and volunteerism to his neighborhood, to APS and to the greater Arlington community. Prior to his election to the School Board, he served on the Advisory Council on Instruction, Superintendent’s Strategic Planning Committee, County Council of PTAs, Chair of the H-B Woodlawn Parent Advisory Committee, Arlington Civic Federation Schools Committee, and was an active member of the parent-teacher organizations in all of his children’s schools.

Next School Board Meeting:
The next School Board meeting will be held on Thu, Aug. 17 at 6:30 p.m. The agenda will be posted one week before the meeting on BoardDocs.

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.