Schools

New Study Ranks APS Second-Best School System in Virginia

By Jo DeVoe

Arlington Public Schools has been named the second-best district in Virginia for the second year in a row.

The education research firm Niche ranked APS behind Falls Church City Public Schools in its new 2022 rankings of Virginia public schools. Prior to the 2021 rankings, APS enjoyed two years as the top public school system in the Commonwealth.

Niche, which specializes in K-12 school data and rankings, also ranked APS the best place to teach and the second safest school district in Virginia for 2022.

“I am proud of our staff, students and community for making APS one of Virginia’s best school systems, according to Niche’s ranking,” Superintendent Francisco Durán said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have excellent teachers and staff who are devoted to serving the diverse needs of our students. Every accolade that we earn is the result of their talent and dedication to student success.”

Among individual high schools, Fairfax County Public Schools dominated the list, with seven of the top 10 in the state. In Arlington, Yorktown High School has climbed up the ranks while Wakefield High School lost ground and Washington-Liberty High School fell a few spots.

Between the 2019 Best Schools list and this year’s, Yorktown High School climbed from 21st to 13th, while Wakefield High School dropped from 44th to 55th, and Washington-Liberty High School slid from 13th to 17th.

Niche uses ratings from students, alumni and parents and data from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources to award overall grades and category-specific grades.

APS earned an “A+” in college preparation and an “A” in academics, teachers, clubs and activities, health and safety, sports and resources and facilities, according to APS’s Niche report card. It earned a “B” in administration and food.

Some users, described by Niche as seniors, gave APS high marks and constructive criticism. An H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program student, for instance, praised the school and the arts programming but said APS has to work on diversity at W-L and Yorktown.

This year, Wakefield ranked the second-most diverse public school in Virginia.

APS Staff Say Virtual Learning Program Needs ‘Drastic’ Improvements

By Jo DeVoe

The union representing Arlington Public Schools teachers is calling for “drastic and immediate” improvements to the school system’s new remote learning program.

This school year, when most students returned to their brick-and-mortar buildings, others continued online learning through the newly-created APS Virtual Learning Program.

Four weeks in, staff say that the program still has deep problems, in addition to the staffing shortages which ARLnow previously revealed. We’re told by teachers that the issues range from communication to teacher treatment to a lack of needed resources.

“Every day our educators are being forced to go above and beyond the call of duty,” Arlington Education Association President Ingrid Gant said during a press conference yesterday afternoon on the steps of the union’s headquarters along Columbia Pike. “We, the members of AEA insist the School Board members take action regarding the poor state of communications, staffing and support across APS, particularly in Virtual Learning Program.”

She outlined a variety of concerns, including missing textbooks, incomplete schedules, inadequate substitute coverage, and programming for special education students and English learners, as well as abrupt teacher transfers and long work days.

In response, APS spokesman Frank Bellavia said the school system has not yet had a conversation with AEA about these concerns.

“We welcome that dialogue and have been transparent about the challenges with the Virtual Learning Program and the steps we are taking, as well as the timeline for the distribution of summer school bonuses,” he said.

A number of teachers — some speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution — tell ARLnow that they feel abandoned. They say there are no regular faculty meetings, emails to administrators go unanswered, and new teachers do not know where to turn to for instructional support and lesson plan help.

“Everything is falling on the teachers to make it work, with no leadership whatsoever. Where is the leadership? Where is the support? There’s no community, nothing,” said one secondary teacher.

“Communication has been dreadful,” said a special education teacher. “It has gotten better, but it has a long way to go. It’s not just with administration, but with home schools as well.”

Bellavia suggested that VLP staff struggling with internal communication issues use the same paths available to other employees.

“As is the expectation for all APS staff, they should start with their administrator to seek help or express concerns,” he said. “If they continue to have concerns, teachers are welcome to reach out to Office of Academics content supervisors or directors.”

Educators also say they’ve been moved to other positions within the program but have not had instructional support or tools to develop lesson plans. Veteran teachers say they’re grateful to have years of experience and their own resources at their disposal in order to get through the myriad of problems.

In one instance, seven teachers signed up to teach English learners were reassigned to teach whatever else they had certifications in — from elementary classrooms to specific high school subjects — in order to address shortages. Teachers tell us that this hasn’t been good for morale.

“Based on teacher credentials, teachers were placed in classes for which they were certified to teach or reassigned to a brick and mortar school​, as necessary,” Bellavia confirmed.

Up until this week, staff say they did not know who within or outside the VLP to consult for instructional help, absences or problems with students’ schedules. Each physical school has support staff and administrators equipped to handle these problems, but the chain of command in the VLP has not been clear, they say.

In contrast, Bellavia said VLP has support staff, including a math coach, a reading coach, a counselor and an assistant administrator. Teachers have been informed about available resources and can begin picking up items at APS headquarters.

“A counselor? What counselor? I don’t think that’s accurate,” the secondary teacher said in response.

Meanwhile, the special education teacher described her program as “a mess.” Special education teachers’ caseloads have yet to be finalized, and in some cases, students with varying needs and different education plans are placed in one classroom, with the teacher expected to deliver individualized instruction.

Still, she said, “I’m not going to give up. I’ll keep beating my head against the wall until things change.”

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Global Nonprofit Gives A+ to Arlington’s Energy-Efficient Schools

By David Taube
1/3

For Arlington’s environmentally-sustainable schools — one of which was praised as a model for the country during an event yesterday — the buildings are teaching tools.

Agency heads from former presidential administrations and other boldface names in education toured Alice West Fleet Elementary School yesterday, highlighting the building as an exemplary, energy-efficient school, while teachers noted the impact it has on students.

The visitors, representing the nonprofit Aspen Institute, came to the school to help unveil the organization’s K12 Climate Action initiative environmental plan for schools.

“I hope school districts around the country can learn from Arlington,” said John King Jr., former Secretary of Education under Barack Obama.

The school opened in the fall of 2019 and cost around $59 million, according to Arlington Public Schools. A contract allowed a company to put solar panels on the roof at no upfront cost to APS. Seventy-two 560-foot-deep underground wells exchange heat with the ground.

“It’s an all-electric building, so no fossil fuels are burned operating this building,” Wyck Knox of VMDO Architects, whose firm designed the school, told visitors.

Fleet is one of three schools that the school system considers net-zero in terms of energy usage — the others being Discovery Elementary School and the newly opened Cardinal Elementary School.

“Generally, the building doesn’t cost more to do these features,” said Jeffrey Chambers, the director of design and construction for Arlington Public Schools. “A sustainable building should not cost you anymore than a regular building if you’re smart about what you do.”

Discovery’s energy costs are less than $15,000 per year, which compares to around $120,000 for a typical elementary school, said APS Director of Facilities and Operations Catherine Lin, as visitors toured a classroom overlooking a playground and the solar panel-covered roof.

The school also takes advantage of the sunlight to turn off electric lights and illuminate classrooms naturally whenever possible.

Aspen Institute leaders lauded Fleet Elementary as an example of what districts can do with new and retrofitted buildings.

“This is an amazing school and precisely the thing we want to highlight,” said New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who served in President George W. Bush’s administration.

King and Whitman, the co-chairs of the climate initiative, noted the impact the nation’s school districts have on the environment with the amount of land, buses and other resources at their disposal. Others in attendance included American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, teacher and philanthropist Valerie Rockefeller, and APS Superintendent Francisco Durán.

Along with other environmental efforts, APS announced last month that it’s getting three fully electric school buses to replace those with diesel engines. The district aims to debut them next fall.

Fourth grade history and science teacher Ashley Snyder said that the school’s sustainability efforts have inspired students to talk with their families about the environment — including one family that’s now getting a rain barrel and another that’s talking about installing solar panels in the community.

She noted how the building itself is part of a student’s education. Each floor teaches students about earth science, while a cylindrical column with blue and red lights displays live data about how much energy the building is creating and using.

“Being able to have a field trip right at our school has been so life changing,” Snyder said.

ACPD, APS Work on New Agreement As ‘Youth Outreach Unit’ Replaces SROs

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington police officer interacts with kids (photo via ACPD)

Arlington Public Schools and the Arlington County Police Department are hashing out their new working relationship following the School Board’s decision to remove School Resource Officers from school grounds.

Rather than place officers in school buildings, ACPD has formed an off-site Youth Outreach Unit tasked with developing engagement opportunities for and building relationships with kids. This summer, the Arlington School Board became the second in the region to remove SROs from school grounds out of concern for racial disparities in juvenile arrests.

While the new unit builds up its presence, ACPD and Arlington Public Schools are discussing their respective roles in maintaining school safety, which will be outlined in a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

“We are meeting with the Youth Outreach Officers now to determine how they will interact with students and schools during the school year,” APS spokesman Frank Bellavia said. “We are also beginning the process developing the new MOU ACPD/APS MOU. As part of that process, we are creating focus groups with school-based staff and administrators to further discuss the future of our SRO relationship with the shared goals of best serving our students, schools, parents and the broader community.”

Work on the new MOU began on Aug. 30, according to APS. A final draft will be posted for review on Nov. 1, at which point the community will have 15 days to provide feedback on it.

Currently, ACPD’s Youth Outreach Unit has four corporals, two sergeants and a lieutenant who also oversees the Community Outreach Units, ACPD spokeswoman Kirby Clark said. Two team members were previously School Resource Officers.

“The [Youth Outreach Unit] team was selected following a standard internal process, open to all members of the department who hold the rank of officer or corporal,” Clark said.

The unit has fewer than half the 17 officers once assigned to the SRO unit, according to a March 2021 presentation.

Members were assigned to the unit in August and have started attending community events, including the Community Conversations with the Chief and the Arlington Police, Fire and Sheriff 9/11 Memorial 5K Race, Clark said.

“While attending community events and conducting proactive engagement on a daily basis, members of the Youth Outreach unit regularly seek to have meaningful conversations, answer questions, and build relationships with community members,” Clark said.

Feedback from the community conversations will inform the Youth Outreach Unit’s “specific programs, mission and objectives,” she said.

The unit is developing educational programming that could cover topics once addressed by SROs, such as Virginia’s legal system, internet safety, cyberbullying, dating safety and substance abuse. The unit also aims to partner with community groups and organizations to host relationship-building activities, such as sports.

“Given the very recent formation of the unit, specific programs and partnerships are still in development,” Clark said.

The unit and ACPD patrol officers will continue to respond to school-based incidents, which can be reported by calling the Emergency Communications Center at (703) 558-2222 — or 911 in an emergency, ACPD said last month. Non-emergency incidents can be reported through the Online Police Reporting System or by calling (703) 228-4300.

Arlington Public Schools’ German Language Program Struggles to Stay Afloat

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

Parents and students are once more rallying behind the German language program at Arlington Public Schools, the future of which is unclear.

When students returned to school on Monday, Aug. 30, those enrolled in German 2 and 3 found out they had no in-person teacher. They instead received links to virtual German classes taught by Fuel Ed and Oklahoma State University, respectively, while German I students were told to choose another language, as virtual education would not be conducive for beginning instruction.

Germanophiles are worried about the program’s existence now and in the long term. For some, it feels like déjà vu, as the community rallied around German and Japanese a few years ago when enrollment was low and APS was considering the future of these programs.

“APS is cutting programs, pushing things online, and making it harder to learn language, when they should be starting early, making it fun and making it so they are actually learning something,” said Suzette Lohmeyer, whose son is enrolled in German 3, and would’ve been bussed to the Arlington Career Center this year for German before his class went online.

Two weeks after school started, the school system tells ARLnow it now has a temporary teacher for German I until a permanent replacement is found. APS added that it remains committed “to providing strong in-person linguistic support” to German 2 and 3 students.

“Our current German teacher has agreed to stay and teach German synchronously (she will be virtual while the students will be at the Career Center with a classroom monitor) until a permanent replacement is found,” spokesman Frank Bellavia said. “Schools will begin modifying student-schedules so that they can begin German 1 by next week. We will continue with our search, but this news gives us time to make sure that we hire a highly qualified German teacher.”

This teacher had resigned before the start of the school year, and APS attributed the problems to the timing of her announcement.

“The timing of the departure of our German 1 teacher has presented some scheduling and recruitment challenges but we are committed to finding a solution,” Bellavia said.

Low enrollment has threatened German in the past. It has the fewest students enrolled of the world languages offered, according to APS data. While Japanese was also on the chopping block a few years ago, enrollment has since increased, resulting in a second teacher getting hired for this fall. German, meanwhile, hovered between 43 and 56 students between 2015 and 2020. This spring, 35 students listed German as their preferred course for the fall, according to APS.

Regardless of enrollment, Lohmeyer and Judith Davis, whose children are studying German and whose families are dual U.S.-German citizens, say the program should stay because one of Arlington’s sister cities is in Germany.

Further, the parents say that the now-returned teacher has been thrown under the proverbial bus. They have built a coalition of other families frustrated by situation, as well as other current and former students and parents, and are pushing for more information, greater transparency and stopgap solutions.

“We have a values gap at the moment,” Davis said. “This is not just a bunch of parents trying to cause trouble: We’re just saying ‘This is not acceptable.'”

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APS Hiring a New Diversity Chief and Head of HR

By ARLnow.com

Less than two weeks after announcing to Arlington Public Schools employees that its Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer was on leave, the school system has posted a job listing for the position.

ARLnow first reported that Dr. Arron Gregory was on “approved leave” to start the school year. Newly-hired Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Jason Ottley is filling in for Gregory on an interim basis, an APS spokesman said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Gregory’s position  — which was created in 2019 and which reports directly to the superintendent — was being advertised as open.

“Human Resources announces an opening for the position of Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer,” the job ad says. The position “is responsible for District-wide initiatives and programs that promote instructional equity, create diverse and inclusive environments for employees and students to ensure equal opportunity for academic success across APS. Areas of focus include the recruitment and retention of employees from diverse backgrounds (broadly defined) as well as eliminating opportunity gaps for students at all levels.”

APS spokesman Frank Bellavia confirmed to ARLnow that the school system is now hiring for the position. No explanation for Dr. Gregory’s leave or apparent departure was given. It appears to have been sudden, with Gregory saying via his official Twitter account at the beginning of August that he was looking forward to a DEI staff retreat “in a few weeks.”

Separately, Bellavia also confirmed that APS is hiring a new head of human resources to replace the retiring Dan Redding.

A job ad for the open Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources position was posted on Aug. 11.

“Dan announced his retirement a while ago to relocate with his family,” Bellavia said. Asked about the timing, at the beginning of the school year, he responded that “retirements happen at all times of the year.”

APS Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer On Leave to Start School Year

By ARLnow.com
Dr. Arron Gregory (photo courtesy APS)

The virtual learning staffing shortfall is not the only issue facing Arlington Public Schools. APS is also starting the school year without its Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.

Dr. Arron Gregory, who was appointed to the then-newly-created position in December 2019, is currently on “approved leave,” APS spokesman Frank Bellavia confirmed to ARLnow. He has been on leave since at least last week, as the new school year got underway.

No further explanation for the leave was given, nor is there any word on how long Gregory might remain on leave.

“I have no additional details,” said Bellavia.

In Gregory’s place, Dr. Jason Ottley, the newly-appointed Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for APS, is assuming the top DEI job — which reports directly to Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán — on an interim basis, according to a staff memo obtained by ARLnow.

The full memo, sent on Tuesday, August 31, is below.

Dear APS Staff,

I am writing to inform you that Dr. Arron Gregory, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, is currently on approved leave from Arlington Public Schools. In the meantime, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Jason Ottley, the newly appointed Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, will step into this role temporarily as Interim. Dr. Ottley will assume this position on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, and will help advance the priorities of the office.

Dr. Ottley has been a teacher, school-based administrator and has worked in higher education as faculty and administration.  His body of work demonstrates a commitment to data-informed practice, and he has experience with equity audits and policy reform. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Ottley as he assumes this interim role.

Thank you.

Dr. John Mayo
Chief Operating Officer

A 2020 podcast episode on education reform described Ottley as a race scholar and founder of The Bond Educational Group, “which strives to promote greater inclusivity and representation through the American education system and entrepreneurship.”

A D.C. area native, Ottley received his doctorate in 2018 from West Virginia University and has been focused on finding ways to promote student advancement in underserved communities while also boosting minority representation among teachers, according to the podcast. He has also taught at American University.

Before joining APS, Gregory served as Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the school district in Trotwood, Ohio.

“Gregory brings over 18 years of experience in education with the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) including the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio,” APS said in a press release when he was appointed. “His responsibilities included leading the development and implementation of proactive diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which support the APS strategic plan.”

Staff Shortages Cause ‘Frustrating and Unacceptable’ Start to New APS Virtual Learning Program

By Jo DeVoe

(Updated 9:25 a.m. on 9/8/21) The new virtual learning program in Arlington Public Schools, available to anyone uncomfortable with going to school in-person, has gotten off to a rocky start due to severe teacher shortages.

During the first week of school, 340 of the more than 700 students enrolled in the program were assigned subs rather than permanent teachers, and many did not receive class schedules. Instead, many virtual students saw their classes canceled or they were shuffled into multi-grade classes and “virtual waiting rooms” without teachers or monitors.

And today (Tuesday), APS announced another upheaval: the administrator assigned to the new program, Verlese Gaither, has been replaced. Amy Jackson, Supervisor of Educational Technology & Programs, will lead the Virtual Learning Program until a new administrator is appointed.

Complaints started shortly after the first day of school. A discussion thread on a local parenting message board titled “APS VPL is a dumpster fire” has garnered more than 200 comments since it was first posted last Tuesday.

Parents of virtual students are also raising their concerns with the School Board and administrators, asking for appropriate staffing and improved communication. One of their requests — a meeting with APS — will be met with a town hall set for tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 7 p.m.

“The VLP is a critical program for vulnerable students and their families during this unprecedented pandemic,” Laura Haltzel, whose son is learning at home for health reasons, tells ARLnow. “Families want the virtual program to succeed and would like to work with APS to try to resolve some of the challenges we experienced in the last week. We believe that many problems can be solved with the appropriate allocation of teaching staff and administrative support.”

APS apologized in a School Talk email sent to families this afternoon.

“As we prepare to start the second week of school, we want to apologize for the challenges students encountered accessing their classes in the Virtual Learning Program last week,” the school system said. “We understand that this was a frustrating and unacceptable start to the school year for our VLP families and are working to ensure that these issues, related to staffing, scheduling, technical support and communication, are addressed as quickly as possible. We are also committed to ensuring that VLP students will have permanent teachers assigned to their classes as soon as possible.”

School Board Chair Barbara Kanninen likewise apologized and affirmed the board’s commitment to making the program work.

“I want to personally apologize to our VLP students and families,” she tells ARLnow. “Our goal is for the Virtual Learning Program to be an innovative, engaging, and rewarding academic experience for our students. The School Board is 100% committed to the program and we support the immediate steps APS is taking to ensure its success.”

Haltzel is part of a group of parents who wrote to administrators and School Board members on Monday outlining their concerns, which include a lack of staffing and a lack of communication.

“The combination of these above concerns, coupled with the silence from the APS School Board and Dr. Duran, has left VLP Parents concerned, frustrated and unsatisfied,” the group’s letter said. “Most critically, VLP students are demoralized and distraught.”

There are about 740 students enrolled in the VLP, including 63 students added since Aug. 16 via medical exemption appeals, a fluidity that APS says impacts staffing and class sizes.

With the changing class sizes and staffing shortages, some students were placed in courses through Virtual Virginia and other similar programs, while others were placed in a temporary classes to work on asynchronous assignments developed by APS teachers assigned to brick and mortar schools. These classes were monitored by an adult and students will receive feedback on their work from their teachers in September.

Families report incidents of online bullying between the younger and older unsupervised students in these mixed-grade “waiting rooms.” They say their younger students are upset and no longer enthusiastic about school.

Meanwhile, APS said in its email to parents today that it is committed to solving the teacher shortage quickly. As of Thursday, APS had 92 virtual teachers, but it still needed 106 teachers to fill out the program, a spokesman said. According to parents, some teachers initially assigned to the virtual program were later reassigned to teach in-person.

Parents say it wasn’t until they started asking questions that APS acknowledged that staffing was the problem.

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ACPD Offers Safety Tips As APS Students Head Back to School

By Jo DeVoe

The Arlington County Police Department is reminding folks to navigate school zones and bus stops safely as Arlington Public Schools students return to class today.

“More travelers will soon be on our roadways as students begin walking, bicycling, and riding the bus to school when classes resume on Monday,” the department said in a release said. “With a little awareness and prevention, all travelers can arrive at their destinations in a timely and safe manner.”

It’s the first time APS students will be in class five days per week since before the pandemic.

Motorists will see variable message boards on county roadways reminding them to slow down, avoid distractions and watch for students, according to the release. The “high-visibility transportation safety campaign in and around school zones and bus stops” is intended “to ensure the trip to class is as safe as possible.”

Police recommend families talk to their kids about safety, too.

“Safety is everyone’s responsibility and back-to-school is an opportune time to remind students about important steps that can help keep them safe while out in the community,” the department said.

The police department and Arlington Public Schools published a video with safety reminders.

The press release included the following safety tips for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

Transportation Safety Tips

Drivers are reminded to:

  • Obey speed limits which may change during school zone times.
  • Avoid distracted driving and keep your attention on the road.
  • Watch for students walking and riding bikes to school.
  • Don’t pass a stopped school bus loading or unloading passengers.On a two-lane road, vehicles traveling in both directions must stop.
  • On a multi-lane paved road, vehicles traveling in both directions must stop.
  • On a divided highway, vehicles behind the bus must stop. Vehicles traveling in the opposite direction may proceed with caution.
  • Have all vehicle occupants wear their seatbelts.
  • Pick-up and drop-off students in designated locations.

Pedestrians are reminded to:

  • Cross the street at marked crosswalks and never against a red light.
  • Look before you cross and follow the direction of school crossing guards or APS staff members.
  • Always walk on designated sidewalks or paths, never along the side of a road.

Bicyclists are reminded to:

  • Wear your helmet. Helmets are required for riders ages 14 and younger but are recommended for all.
  • Keep right and ride with traffic.
  • Secure your bicycle with a lock when not in use

General Safety Tips for Students

Safety is everyone’s responsibility and back-to-school is an opportune time to remind students about important steps that can help keep them safe while out in the community. Parents and guardians are also encouraged to role-play possible situations with students and discuss personal safety and awareness tips.

Ensure students:

  • Know their address, telephone number and how to contact a parent or guardian.
  • Remain aware of their surroundings.
  • Walk or bike with another person, whenever possible. Stay in well-lit areas.
  • Limit the use of devices that may distract them.
  • Avoid engaging with or answering questions from strangers.
  • Immediately report anything that makes them feel unsafe to a trusted adult.

Learning Gaps, Outdoor Lunch Top of Mind for APS Administrators, Parents

By Jo DeVoe
1/10

For the first time since March 2020, most Arlington Public Schools students will be in their classrooms for five days of in-person learning, starting Monday.

Some students will continue at a distance, but overall, the school system says it is focused on three areas this year: accelerated learning, health and safety, and social-emotional learning, according to last night (Thursday’s) School Board meeting.

Parent groups meanwhile, tell ARLnow they are keen to see how these plans to close learning gaps and mitigate the virus’s spread are implemented at local schools.

“Accelerated learning is a key focus for us,” Superintendent Francisco Durán told the School Board during the meeting last night. “What that really means is helping teachers help students focus on grade-level material, while reinforcing what they know from the previous year and what gaps they may have to help them move forward.”

Students will be taught grade-level material with any supports needed to make the content accessible, he said. Teachers will build social-emotional learning into the school day.

Administrators pointed to performance this spring on state standardized tests to illustrate the impact of distance learning. But the data, which contrasted performance in the 2020-21 year with those of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, came with a number of caveats from the Virginia Department of Education.

Participation in VDOE’s Standards of Learning (SOL) testing during the 2020-21 school year was down “significantly” in all subject areas compared with pre-pandemic participation, according to a presentation. For example, only 75.5% of students in tested grades took reading tests in last year, and just under 79% took math tests, compared with 99% in both subjects in 2018-19.

“The major takeaway is that districts should not use 2021 SOL results to compare to previous years,” according to a presentation slide. “Given the wide variability in participation and modalities, comparison of APS students’ scores with neighboring divisions scores is discouraged.”

A few drops were particularly stark, especially in math. Performance rates dropped 20-40 percentage points for students in grades 3-8, for low-income students, for Black, Hispanic and Asian students and for emerging English-language learners.

“Virtual learning had a tremendous impact on mathematics progress,” Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Bridget Loft said last night.

In a statement, Arlington Parents for Education — which advocated for full-time in-person learning while APS was offering remote and then two-day-per-week in-school learning — said the results should surprise no one.

“Superintendent Durán and the school board made a choice to keep Arlington public students from receiving a full day of instruction for over a year. That choice had many consequences —  none so obvious now as the staggering drop in academic decline illustrated in this data,” APE said. “[It’s] the students who didn’t have access to outside tutors, at-home support from parents or pod coaches who were set even further behind their peers.”

The group said APS must tackle educational disparities with research-based best practices and increased instructional time.

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Parent Group Calls On Arlington Dems To End School Board Caucus

By Jo DeVoe

A parent group that got its start advocating for a full return to school during the pandemic is calling on the Arlington County Democratic Committee to end its School Board caucus.

Arlington Parents for Education (APE), which has been vocal recently in its criticism of School Board leadership and Arlington Public Schools’ American Rescue Plan spending amid the coronavirus, says the caucus — most recently held in May, to determine who local Democrats endorse in the general election — discourages broad election participation and makes officials beholden to the political party.

“This ‘endorsement’ effectively decides the outcome of the general election during a little-known caucus in May, because the ACDC places the endorsee’s name on its coveted November sample ballot. To wit: every School Board member since 2003 has been endorsed by the ACDC,” APE said in a statement.

The group added that until this process ends, “the Arlington School Board will continue to put students’ needs last, move in lock-step, and avoid even voting on issues that may be unpalatable to the caucus-voting-minority within the party.”

In Virginia, all School Board races are nonpartisan, meaning parties like Arlington Dems can only endorse candidates, not nominate them as in a primary. But as part of the endorsement caucus, candidates agree not to run in the general election, making the end result similar to a primary.

In a statement, ACDC Chair Jill Caiazzo said the group has the same right as any private organization to support candidates for elected office.

“Arlington Democrats fights every year to elect candidates who will advance Democratic policy priorities at all levels of government, including local races,” she said. “Voters need look no further than the recent alt-right fracas at a Loudoun School Board meeting to understand the importance of Democratic leadership in our schools at this time. Arlington Democrats choose our endorsed candidates for this critical leadership position using the most robust endorsement process of any organization in Arlington, with record-breaking participation in each of the past two years.”

This year, the caucus was held to decide who Democrats will endorse during the Nov. 2 general election to fill a seat held by School Board member Monique O’Grady, who’s not seeking a new term. The 2021 caucus, in which ACDC endorsed former educator Mary Kadera, had in-person and online voting options due to the pandemic, and brought in 6,207 ballots, setting a local record. The lockdown-era mail-in caucus in 2020 brought in 5,700 votes.

For the parent group, that turnout is low, even if record-breaking.

“This means that a School Board seat for a 25,000+ student school system in a county of 233,000 is decided by just 2.5% of the population, and in most years it is even lower,” APE said. “We believe broad participation and civic engagement are cornerstones of democracy.”

The group pointed to a list of self-identified Democrats who also want to see the caucus abandoned, including Parent-Teacher Association members, local NAACP members and former School Board candidates Symone Walker and Miranda Turner.

This spring, Kadera and Turner also critiqued the caucus during a candidate dialogue hosted by the Arlington NAACP.

“With all due respect to Arlington Dems, I’d like them to see them be able to endorse a candidate in the normal way other community organizations do, without running a caucus that can artificially constrain the participation of some people,” Kadera said.

Turner agreed, saying the process — which happens in the spring — confuses people and generates low turnout.

“I think it does tend to discourage folks from voting who would otherwise be very interested in voting for a school board candidate,” she said. “It is in fact a nonpartisan race, and I do think it might be better for the school system as a whole to treat it as such.”

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