Superintendent’s Recommendation for School Moves Presented to School Board

During the Jan. 9 School Board meeting, Planning & Evaluation staff presented the Superintendent’s Recommendation for School Moves as part of Elementary School Planning Process for 2021-22. The Superintendent’s recommendation (formerly staff Proposal 1) would result in moving the principal and staff of the following schools, along with: a majority of McKinley students to the Reed site; Arlington Traditional School (ATS) students to the McKinley building, and Key Immersion students to the ATS building. This recommendation would repurpose the Key building into a neighborhood school.

The proposed moves are being considered by the School Board in preparation for the Fall 2020 Elementary School Boundary Process, which will create an attendance zone for a new school at Reed and an adjusted neighborhood attendance zone around Arlington Science Focus School (ASFS), as well as relieve overcapacity at some schools. All school moves and boundary changes would go into effect for the 2021-22 school year.

“The phased approach in this process allows APS to plan for all transitions. Ultimately, we want to continue to make sure that each student has a great education, regardless of moving to a new location or being reassigned in a boundary process to a different neighborhood school,” said Lisa Stengle, Executive Director, APS Planning and Evaluation.

The presentation reviewed the Superintendent’s recommendation as well as implications of the Alternate Scenario, which would only adjust neighborhood school boundaries in the fall, without moving any schools. Staff also reviewed the planning phase goals, the community engagement process and participation, and next steps in the process, which include:

• Public Hearing on Jan. 30 (Snow date: Feb. 6)
• Board Action on Feb. 6

The full presentation is available online on BoardDocs. Additional resources and information, including a new staff analysis of alternate proposals submitted by the community, are available on the APS Engage Elementary Planning web page.

ACTION ITEM:
The School Board approved a motion to request an extension of the deadline for appointment of the new Superintendent for APS. Virginia law requires that the division superintendent shall be appointed by the school board within 180 days after a vacancy occurs and allows for one request for an extension. The Board expects to select a new superintendent this spring.

RECOGNITIONS:
The Board began the meeting by recognizing Silke Reeves who received the Klett Award for the Outstanding Virginia Novice Teacher of German by the Virginia chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German.

NEXT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING:
The School Board will hold its next Regular Meeting (2110 Washington Blvd.) on Thu, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. The agenda will be posted one week before the meeting on BoardDocs.

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