School Board Approves Superintendent’s SRO Recommendations

Adopts FY2022-24 Capital Improvement Plan
Superintendent Presents Year-End Update

The School Board approved the Superintendent’s recommendations that were informed by the School Resource Officer (SRO) Work Group at its June 24 meeting.

In adopting the Superintendent’s recommendations, SROs will no longer have a daily presence in schools and APS will work to redefine its relationship with ACPD to ensure continued school safety.​

1. APS will continue its longstanding relationship with ACPD.
2. APS and ACPD will collaborate to determine the best method of providing law-enforcement services to schools, but officers will not be located in school buildings.
3. In the event of an emergency or for law-enforcement needs, ACPD will provide police services as needed.
4. The services of SROs will be reimagined to meet the needs of students, staff, and the APS community.
5. ACPD will continue to provide training to students and staff as needed to implement the recommendations of the SRO Work Group.
6. The name of the SRO program will be changed to reflect the new support role they will be providing to students and staff. (e.g. Juvenile Response Group or Youth Resource Officer).

Finally, APS will explore the creation of a community advisory group to annually review and provide input on the relationship and establishing a regular, transparent mechanism for collecting data regarding law-enforcement engagement in schools and reporting progress toward the agreed upon goals annually.

The Superintendent’s recommendations that were presented to the School Board are available online. The Superintendent’s full recommendations report is also posted online.

FY2022-24 Capital Improvement Plan

The School Board adopted its interim FY22-24 CIP that meets the projected needs at all levels based on Fall 2020 projections. The FY22-24 CIP totals $156.71 million.

The CIP will fund renovations to the Arlington Career Center campus and relocates Arlington Community High School to a new location. The CIP includes project design funds for the Arlington Career Center and a new cost estimate with plans for the Arlington Career Center site will be available before the CIP process begins next year. Phase One of the project, which includes the relocation of Arlington Community High School, will take place by August 2023.

In addition, the CIP includes:

• $10.5 million to provide air quality and HVAC upgrades;
• $2.4 million to replace synthetic turf fields at Wakefield, Yorktown and Washington-Liberty high schools and Williamsburg Middle School. This is shared costs with Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation.
• Funding for kitchen upgrades to ensure that all students have access to high quality, nutritional meals;
• Funding for security vestibule upgrades to meet current safety and security standards.
• Funding to complete the Heights Building which was delayed due to the county’s need for a temporary Fire Station. The project will include am underground parking structure with direct access to the school, better access for Shriver students, and a lighted turf field for school and community use.

Additional information is available on the CIP webpage. The full presentation is available on BoardDocs.

School Year 2020-21 Final Update

The Superintendent presented his final monitoring report of the school year. The presentation included highlights, student, staff and school accomplishments and more. The presentation is available online and you can watch the video here.

Monitoring Items

The School Board discussed the following items which included year-end reports from several advisory councils:

• Advisory Council on School Facilities and Capital Programs Annual Report
• Budget Advisory Council Annual Report
• Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning/School Health Advisory Board Annual Report
• Internal Audit Annual Report

The reports are available on BoardDocs.

Information/Action Items

• Cherrydale Farmers Market – Open Air Market License Agreement at Dorothy Hamm Middle School – Staff presented the proposed Open Air Market License Agreement for the Cherrydayle Farmers Market at Dorothy Hamm Middle School.
• Revision to School Board Final FY 2022 Budget – Staff presented, and the Board approved revision to the Final FY 2022 Budget.

Information on both items is available on BoardDocs.

Appointment

The School Board appointed Iliana Gonzales as the new principal of Taylor Elementary School. Her appointment begins July 1.

Recognitions

The School Board recognized a number of student athletes for their on-the-field accomplishments and congratulated McKinley and Fleet Elementary Schools for earning their Recognized ASCA Model Program Designation.

For More Information
Community members who want to comment on any items discussed at the School Board meeting should email the Board at school.board@apsva.us or call 703-228-6015. Community members may call 703-228-2400 on the Monday after the School Board meetings to listen to a meeting summary.

For more information on how to participate in School Board meetings in person, visit our website.

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 will be posted to the website at aps2016.apsva.us/schoolboard upon School Board approval at a subsequent meeting.