Ethan Rothstein | ARLnow.com

APS Denies Rumors of Rogue Tablet Purchase

Published May 30, 2014 at 11:00AM

Arlington Public Schools staff are denying rumors that allege the school system has already purchased and received hundreds of tablet computers for ninth-grade students.

Multiple tipsters — including at least one high school teacher and a person commenting on our story about the recently-passed Arlington Public Schools budget — have contacted ARLnow.com this week claiming the administration has purchased hundreds of Microsoft Surface tablets, including 400 specifically for Yorktown High School. The School Board’s adopted budget pulled the $200,000 Superintendent Patrick Murphy had proposed to accelerate APS’ plan to give every student in the school system a tablet to take home by 2017.

However, APS said they have only purchased 10 tablets in the past month, one for the Instructional Technology Coordinators in 10 different schools. The total purchase price was roughly $8,600, according to purchase documents provided to ARLnow.com.

Assistant Superintendent for School and Community Relations Linda Erdos told ARLnow.com that, while the school system has continued to allocate funding for technology purchases, the idea that it has conducted a mass purchase of tablets for students is “false and misleading information.”

Raj Adusumilli, APS assistant superintendent for information services, said the purchase of 10 tablets was used with operational funds already in the system’s FY 2014 budget.

“We are not aware of any school that has purchased tablets for all ninth graders — this includes Yorktown. We have confirmed this with the school principal and with Information Services,” Adusumilli said in an email. “The current Strategic Plan sets a target of having personalized devices for all students by 2017. In support of this goal, the Department of Information Services has conducted and continues to do pilots in all of our schools to find the best options to support instruction and classroom needs. These pilots are designed for individual schools based on the school goals and instructional needs. APS will continue to work towards achieving this Strategic Plan goal.”

Erdos said the $200,000 that was pulled from the budget was to accelerate the strategic plan as part of a broader early literacy initiative. Although APS says it did not conduct the mass tablet purchase, they are determined to acquire thousands of tablets in the coming years.

“At no time has the School Board ever made any decision about changing its six-year Strategic Plan for 2011-17,” Erdos said. “The Strategic Plan was developed after a 12-month process involving the APS community stakeholders. The Board takes that plan seriously and would not change the plan without a separate community engagement process that is separate from the annual budget deliberations.”

Photo (bottom) via Microsoft

Firefighters on Current Staffing Level: ‘Dangerously Inadequate’

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 29, 2014 at 5:05PM | Updated May 29, 2014 at 5:24PM

(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) Arlington County firefighters are asking the county government to fund two additional firefighter positions to service the county’s growing population.

This morning, the Arlington Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association (the IAFF Local 2800) issued a long, detailed statement on the need to staff Tower 104, which serves the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, and Rescue 109, which serves Pentagon City and Columbia Pike, with four firefighters, as opposed to their current three-person staffs.

“Tower 104 and Rescue 109, with an ever-rising response area population, massive increase in high-rise square footage, terrorism threat, and other changing factors, require adequate staffing to safely and effectively carry out our assignments,” the Local 2800 writes. “The current staffing of three firefighters is woefully and dangerously inadequate.”

Rescue 109 was one of the first responders to the house fire in Nauck on March 15 that claimed two lives, and the firefighter who was injured fighting the blaze was on the three-person truck. He has not yet returned to duty, according to the Local 2800.

Tower 104 is a large fire truck with a ladder and “bucket” that puts firefighters into position, while Rescue 109 is a truck with no ladder that transports firefighters to emergency scenes, but comes equipped with tools for responding to car accidents and building collapses, according to Arlington County Fire Chief James Schwartz. Both trucks are staffed with firefighter/EMTs.

Schwartz said he has been advocating for four-person units for years, but he said budget constraints have prevented Tower 104 and Rescue 109 from joining the rest of the county’s fleet with four-person staffs.

“It’s been a longstanding position of mine and it has been advocated by the department for some time,” Schwartz told ARLnow.com this afternoon. “Obviously, the Board has to make policy decisions. I think they, too, would like to get to four-person staffing in each of the units. Sometimes the budget guidance is limiting in that regard.”

Schwartz said four-person staffing is not as simple as just hiring two more firefighters. Each additional firefighter on a truck is the equivalent of four full-time positions, to account for three eight-hour shifts a day and covering for vacation and sick leave.

“In order to achieve the safe staffing levels that we’re after, it would require us to hire eight new positions,” he said. “That’s not an insignificant budget issue. It’s doable, and I think the Board is supportive of this effort.”

Schwartz said years ago, only about half of Arlington’s fire trucks were manned by four-person crews, but the last time the county added staff to bring fire trucks up to four-person teams was in 2004.

Four-person trucks are not just the ideal position for the union, Schwartz said, but it’s also the national standard as dictated by the National Fire Protection Association and several other advocacy groups. Despite the fact that Tower 104 and Rescue 109 are assigned to some of the county’s most densely populated areas, the decision to leave specifically those two units undermanned was done after careful risk analysis.

“Almost every unit in the department is quite busy and has a level of responsibility that is not greater or lesser than any other unit in the system,” he said. “We have 14 suppression units in service every day. Twelve have four-person staffing, and those were selected based on judgments we make that have a lot to do with call activity, the kind of calls that units run. I have to make judgments based on the resources I’ve been allocated.”

Schwartz said the County Board gave County Manager Barbara Donnellan direction to “review all public safety staffing and to make a recommendation for FY 2016,” at a budget meeting last month. To the Local 2800, FY 2016 is already too late.

“It has been shown that increased staffing reduces firefighter injuries, thus reducing the amount of money paid by Arlington taxpayers to care for and backfill with overtime employees,” the union writes. “Tower 104 and Rescue109 are limited in being able to safely, quickly, and effectively perform… critical functions while understaffed with three firefighters… This is dangerous and unacceptable.”

File photos

‘Discover Cherrydale’ Set for Saturday

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 29, 2014 at 3:35PM | Updated May 29, 2014 at 7:09PM

(Updated at 7:10 p.m.) Arlington’s Cherrydale neighborhood — along Lee Highway from I-66 to N. Quincy Street — is throwing a celebration this weekend to celebrate its businesses and the undergrounding of the utility lines in the area.

This Saturday, from noon to 5:00 p.m., businesses along the corridor will open their doors for “Discover Cherrydale,” featuring — among other things — scavenger hunts, talks and readings with local authors and there will be tours of Cherrydale Fire Station. There will also be an unveiling of a Capital Bikeshare station, a fencing demonstration from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and live music throughout.

The empty storefront at the corner of Lee Highway and N. Lincoln Street will be open to the public to observe displays from local artists — it’s also where the book talks will be held — and there will be a community Zumba class from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

The whole day will be kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the heart of Cherrydale to celebrate the undergrounding of utility lines.

“This is the 14-year project to underground utilities along Lee Highway in Cherrydale,” Cherrydale Civic Association President Maureen Ross told ARLnow.com in an email. “It was a constant construction mess. Now it’s done.”

Among the artists performing will be early/traditional musician Tina Chancey, a violinist and guitar duo from the Maywood neighborhood named Kitchen Gorilla and Cherrydale resident Ken Sick. The event will be going on rain or shine, and free and open to the public

Photo (top) courtesy Discover Cherrydale. Photo (bottom) via Google Maps

W-L Soccer, Yorktown Lacrosse Spring Success Stories

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 29, 2014 at 12:00PM | Updated May 29, 2014 at 12:59PM

(Updated at 1:00 p.m.) The spring sports season is over for all but the elite teams, like Washington-Lee boys soccer and Yorktown boys lacrosse, which are still hoping to raise more banners in their gyms.

The Generals’ boys soccer team is in the midst of one of its best seasons ever, sporting an undefeated 16-0 record with three ties. It took home the Liberty Conference 6 championship last week and continues its march to the state tournament at home against Stonewall Jackson tomorrow night.

Washington-Lee girls soccer (10-3) also took home the Conference 6 title, defeating Yorktown before losing in the opening round of Region 6A North action, 4-2, to Centreville last night. The Patriots soccer squads both lost just three times this season, and their years wrapped up in similarly heartbreaking fashion: both squads lost in double-overtime last night in the opening round of the regional tournament, the boys to Centreville and the girls to Robinson Secondary School.

Wakefield’s boys soccer team is still playing after turning around what could have been a disappointing season. The Warriors were the runner-ups in the Conference 13 tournament after losing six straight games before the tournament began. They play Leesburg’s Tuscarora in Region 5A North action tomorrow night to try to keep their improbable postseason alive.

Yorktown’s boys lacrosse team, after losing to state powerhouse Langley in the conference champion, secured a huge win last night in the opening round of the regional tournament, blowing by Oakton 12-5. They’ll face South County at a neutral field, Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, tonight at 7:00 p.m. The Patriots girls lacrosse team — also a Conference 6 runner-up — saw its season come to an end last night at the hands of Robinson, 22-12.

Washington-Lee baseball, despite going just 11-11 in the regular season, managed to make a deep run in its conference tournament and qualify for regional play. Arlington’s only remaining baseball team in action will hope to keep its season alive at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in Chantilly.

Wakefield’s softball team is also still alive after a 10-9 season and a 15-1 loss to eventual conference champion Marshall in the Conference 13 semifinals. Their season continues on the road in regional tournament play tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. against Massaponax.

After the jump, the records and results for Wakefield, W-L and Yorktown’s major varsity team sports. (more…)

‘Secret Chopsticks’ Chinese Restaurant Coming to Rosslyn

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 28, 2014 at 4:55PM

A Chinese restaurant that bills itself as “Healthy. Tasty. Fancy,” appears to be coming soon to Rosslyn.

Secret Chopsticks has posted signs all over the windows of the ground floor space along N. Fort Myer Drive of the Turnberry Tower luxury condominium building. The signs point interested passers-by to a website that is empty, other than the restaurant’s logo and the description “contemporary Chinese cuisine.”

The signs say “coming soon Summer 2014.” The business was registered with Arlington County in February. Its domain name and Facebook page were registered in 2012.

No one from the restaurant could be immediately reached for comment.

Hat tip to Chris Junior

Zillow Rental Scam Targets Clarendon Renters

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 28, 2014 at 1:55PM | Updated May 28, 2014 at 3:24PM

(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) A prospective Arlington renter nearly fell victim to a scam posted on real estate website Zillow last week, according to one Clarendon rental broker.

Matthew Leighton, a Realtor with Century 21 Redwood Realty, said he received a phone call from a renter inquiring about a Zillow listing for a a $950-per-month, two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the Station Square building at 1201 N. Garfield Street. The supposed “owner” of the condominium told the hopeful renter that she had moved to England and needed the deposit wired to her.

“Two bedrooms could easily get $3,000 per month at Station Square,” Leighton told ARLnow.com. “I was pessimistic so I asked the renter to send me the email correspondence (the Zillow ad is long gone). The scammer’s emails are filled with grammatical errors and outlines the intricate steps to lease the condo. You could go through almost every paragraph and pick apart the details which poke huge loopholes in this person’s story. Yet people are still responding to these ads.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns that being asked to wire money is the No. 1 sign that a rental scam is afoot. In the case of this scam, the victim was told to wire the deposit, after which a third-party shipping company would send them the key to view the apartment.

Leighton said the renter found him through a listing for another condo in the Station Square Complex and he “genuinely believed” he had gotten a good deal. The lister, however, didn’t provide a unit number, a full name or a phone number.

“Rental scams are out there and it can be difficult to decipher them from real listings,” Leighton said. “When in doubt, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”

Leighton says rental scams are relatively rare on Zillow, which “is usually pretty good about deleting spam and scam listings.” More prevalent are rental scams on Craigslist, which have been the subject of coverage in national outlets like the Huffington Post.

Another potential Craigslist scam was just called out on the Washington, D.C. sub-Reddit. The alleged scam is an apartment listing that asks prospective tenants to undergo an online credit check — a process that would saddle the victim with monthly fees.

The FTC says that scams can come in the form of both fake ads or real ads where the contact info has been hacked and changed. Red flags include the lister being out of the country and requesting a third-party handle some details or money or asking for a fee or deposit before any documents have been signed. Scammers can be reported to the police or the FTC.

Photos via Google Maps (middle) and courtesy Matthew Leighton (top and bottom)

Testicle Festival Returns This Saturday

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 28, 2014 at 11:00AM

The 10th annual Testicle Festival, a celebration revolving around Rocky Mountain Oysters and the state of Montana, will be held this Saturday evening in Arlington’s Virginia Square neighborhood.

Running from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the American Legion Post 139 (3445 Washington Blvd), “Testy Fest” will feature all-you-can-eat fried bull testicles prepared by Frank McGraw, “Montana’s most famous ball chef,” according to the festival’s organizer, the Montana State Society.

Tickets for the festival are $25 online and $30 at the door. In addition to the “oysters,” beer and Crown Royal whiskey will be served and there will be live country music performed by the Wil Gravatt Band.

Attendees must be 21 years or older. The first 100 in the door will get a free Testicle Festival T-shirt with this year’s theme, “Nuttin’ Better.” T-shirts will also be available for purchase.

“You’d be NUTS to miss this!” organizers said of the event.

File photo (above)

School Board Passes $539.4 Million Budget

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 27, 2014 at 3:30PM | Updated May 27, 2014 at 6:22PM

The Arlington School Board adopted its FY 2015 budget last week, increasing its expenditures by 3.13 percent from $523 million last year to $539.4 million this year.

Arlington Public Schools will receive a transfer from the county of $432.2 million, with the rest of the money coming from federal, state and other sources.

Responding to parent criticism, the School Board reversed many of the cuts proposed by Superintendent Patrick Murphy. While the school system is growing thanks to increased school enrollment, Murphy sought to offset some of the expense of that growth through cuts totaling $7.3 million and the equivalent of about 75 full-time positions.

The School Board moved more than $5.6 million in reserves for 2016 into expenditures for this coming year, adding the equivalent of 70 full-time positions to Murphy’s proposed budget. Among the proposed cuts nixed by the Board:

Merging the Langston High School continuation program with Arlington Mill High School, located at the Arlington Career Center ($1.6 million and 19 positions)
Eliminating library assistants at elementary schools ($1.1 million in the budget and 21 positions)
Reduction of professional development funding from the Twice Exceptional program, for gifted special education students ($75,000 and a part-time position)
Cutting seven of the 12 assistants from APS’ secondary school autism program (see below)

School Board Chair Abby Raphael was the only School Board member to vote against reinstating the autism assistants. The seven positions were restored with $271,859 in one-time funding.

“It’s our job to set priorities,” she said during the meeting last Thursday night. “I think as we go through that process, it’s also our job… to decide if we’re not going to have cost savings and we’re going to add things, then what are we going to cut? Primarily how we’ve funded [these programs] is taking funds from our FY 2016 reserve.”

Raphael said the reserve in the approved budget is less than $300,000 for FY 2016. In addition to restoring the autism programs, the School Board approved ending early Wednesday release and implementing FLES programs (foreign language in elementary schools) at Oakridge, Nottingham, and Tuckahoe elementary schools.

The School Board decided to quietly eliminate the superintendent’s 1:1 Initiative, which received considerable attention when it was announced this winter. The initiative would have provided APS second-graders with Apple iPads and sixth-graders with Google Chromebooks, with plans to broaden the program to other grades in future years. The initiative was slated to cost $200,000 next year, and it was part of Murphy’s broader literacy initiative, which was slashed by $600,000 in the School Board’s adopted budget.

FY 2015 will also see a decrease in capital projects funding, with the $6.9 million allotted for 2015 coming in 13.5 percent less than 2014’s $8 million in funding.

Though the budget will push Arlington’s per pupil spending to $19,244, the highest of any suburban D.C. school system, some teachers are saying — privately — that it doesn’t deliver on APS’ pledge to attract and retain high-quality teachers. The budget includes a 2 percent cost-of-living increase and $500 one-time bonus for APS employees, but no salary step increase.

“They are not giving teachers the step increases that they promise when you are hired,” one anonymous tipster told ARLnow.com. “They are giving us cost of living increases, sometimes, which help older teachers, but not younger teachers. They keep implementing new ideas and spending loads of money [on] stuff that gives teachers more work, but not actually increasing the pay to even it out.”

(more…)

Del. Patrick Hope Falls, Breaks Rib

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 27, 2014 at 10:00AM

Del. Patrick Hope, one of seven candidates for the Democratic nomination to replace retiring Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) in Congress, fell down stairs while campaigning this weekend and sustained fractured ribs.

According to his campaign, Hope was canvassing Sunday morning in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Fairfax County when he fell. He was taken to Virginia Hospital Center and diagnosed with one broken rib, multiple fractured ribs and some “ugly bruising,” his campaign said in a press release.

“I am resting comfortably at home in Arlington now,” Hope said in the release. “I’ve knocked on 13,000 doors in the last five years, and dealt with a few misjudged stairs, a dog bite and a couple of ankle sprains and never missed a beat. A rib break will cause me to miss some time on the campaign trail however.”

Hope is the only remaining candidate in the Democratic race who lives in Arlington. His six opponents in the June 10 primary — Don Beyer, Lavern Chatman, Bill Euille, Adam Ebbin, Mark Levine and Derek Hyra — all live in Alexandria. Hope had previously planned to visit every precinct in the 8th District, which covers all of Arlington, Falls Church, Alexandria and parts of Fairfax County, but he announced those plans will have to change.

“I am committing today to personally call voters in those precincts I am unable to visit,” Hope said. “When I thought about those who are uninsured and need our help — I decided that the campaign will go on.”

Hope is a healthcare attorney who works as the senior director of legislative policy for the American College of Cardiology, and he has vowed that, if elected, his first actions in Congress would be to defend Obamacare and to try to institute universal healthcare.

Arlington Agenda (May 26-June 1)

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 26, 2014 at 8:00AM

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County.

If you’d like to see your event featured, fill out the event submission form. Also, be sure to check out our event calendar.

Wednesday

U.S. Army Twilight Tattoo
Summerall/Whipple Field (Sheridan Avenue, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall)
Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Performances by The U.S. Army Blues, vocalists from The U.S. Army Band Downrange, The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, and The U.S. Army Drill Team. The pageant will occur weekly through the summer.

Thursday

AFAC’s Spring Carnival
Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd)
Time: 6:30-9:30 p.m.

AFAC’s annual fundraiser at Artisphere has a “Moulin Rouge,” turn of the 20th century in Paris theme this year. Tickets start at $100 (plus $5 convenience fee).

Friday

Arlington Historical Society Banquet
Holiday Inn (1900 N. Fort Myer Drive)
Time: 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Arlington Magazine founder Greg Hamilton will serve as the keynote speaker for AHS’ annual awards banquet. Tickets are $45 for members and $60 for non-members.

Saturday

Youth Multisport Festival*
Washington-Lee High School pool (1301 N. Stafford Street)
Time: 7:30-10:30 a.m. (Same time on Sunday)

The first Triathlon USA event for children in Arlington is this weekend. Saturday features a “Splash N’ Dash” and Sunday features a triathlon for children between 7 and 15 years old. Register here.

Discover Cherrydale
Lee Highway from I-66 to N. Quincy Street
Time: noon-5:00 p.m.

The celebration of the North Arlington neighborhood includes unveiling of a Capital Bikeshare kiosk, demonstrations from dance and yoga studios and a ribbon-cutting for undergrounding utility lines.

Sunday

Free Concert: IBIS Chamber Orchestra*
Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ (5010 N. Little Falls Road)
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m.

The IBIS chamber quintet plays, joined by soprano Elizabeth Kluegel singing the words of American poets Robert Frost, Walt Whitman and others, set to music.

*Denotes featured (sponsored) event

#Arlington Agenda

New Boutique Grocery Store Coming to Pershing Drive

By Ethan Rothstein

Published May 23, 2014 at 2:30PM

A new grocery store is expected to open in Lyon Park on Pershing Drive within the next month or two.

A boutique grocery store called Streets Market is hoping to open by late June or early July on the ground floor of the new 2201 Pershing apartment complex, at the corner of Pershing and Route 50, according to company official Kathryn Lee. Streets Market just opened its first location, at 2400 14th Street NW in D.C., last month, but they have been undergoing construction for seven months, Lee said.

“We are a more of a healthy, natural store,” Lee told ARLnow.com this afternoon. “We have everything you would need with natural, plus organic, plus generic, instead of just health nut stuff. You won’t have to make another stop.”

The grocery store will be 3,300 square feet of space — about half the size of its D.C. location — and ground-level customer parking will be available at the 2201 Pershing building, Lee said. The grocery store was founded by owner Jimmy Na, who works as a wholesale distributor in Maryland.

“We have a lot of wholesale background, and now [Na] is venturing into retail,” Lee said. “He has a lot of insights into the market, new trends and customer’s needs.”

Streets Market is planning to have a grand opening celebration when it opens this summer. It will sell beer and wine along with its produce and grocery offerings.