Schools

Enrollment uptick continues for Arlington’s private schools post-Covid, while APS makes a comeback

By Jo DeVoe
Catholic students at St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington (courtesy the Diocese of Arlington)

Arlington’s private schools say they are still riding a wave of enrollment increases that started early in the pandemic.

More than three years ago now, Covid lockdowns shut down schools, which reverted to distance learning. That fall, however, local private schools affiliated with a church or the Catholic Diocese of Arlington reopened their doors while Arlington Public Schools continued with virtual learning for most students for the better part of the 2020-21 school year.

While some APS families relied on virtual learning, even after the shutdowns, other parents urged for a faster return to in-person learning. Some in this camp enrolled their children in local private schools, confirmed by their rising figures and a steep drop among some public elementary schools, particularly in North Arlington.

Three years later, growth continues at some of these schools, albeit at a slower pace, with high retention rates among those who transferred during Covid.

“We’ve been holding pretty steady,” says Lori Bodling, the office administrator for Our Savior Lutheran Church and School in Barcroft. “We’ve kept most of the families — a few moved out or went back to public schools, but the majority who came to us during Covid times have stayed.”

This is not, however, the only enrollment story and families who made the switch due to Covid considerations do not wholly explain the changes. As the long-term effects of the pandemic on education reveal themselves, one school leader says a small — but growing — group of students with anxiety, school avoidance and academic struggles are opting for non-public options in Arlington.

APS, meanwhile, projects to recover from the Covid slump and continue seeing a steady growth in enrollment that began in 2006. It is preparing, however, for downward pressure on enrollment starting in 2025, due, in part, to falling birth rates.

Rising enrollment in private schools

Both Our Savior Lutheran School and Arlington’s Catholic schools saw enrollment suddenly jump in the early years of Covid that has since slowed down.

Our Savior jumped more than 26% since 2020, while St. Ann and St. Thomas More Cathedral School, which both run from preschool through eighth grade, increased 27% and 21%, respectively.

“The uptick you saw at St. Thomas More Cathedral School and St. Ann [was] more pandemic-related,” says Renee Quiros White, the Assistant Superintendent of Catholic Identity, Enrollment & Marketing for the diocese. “In other words, they had the space to accommodate additional students.”

White adds that retention percentages have remained high, at 88% for both 2021 and 2022, suggesting families who changed schools have mostly stayed on.

Two remaining Catholic schools did not have these growth spurts. St. Agnes, another school for preschool through eighth grade, increased 6% at the start of the pandemic and has since remained steady while enrollment Bishop O’Connell High School has been in decline since 2020. Both were considered “full” prior to the pandemic, says White, noting “you wouldn’t necessarily see a big increase” as a result.

White says the growth in Arlington tracks with the predicted population growth tracked by the U.S. Census and population estimates from the University of Virginia. The diocese is seeing a third straight year of overall enrollment increases, with an average increase of 10% since 2020.

“Enrollment numbers can vary from year to year, due to a number of factors,” she wrote. “Regardless of the reason(s), we are very pleased that so many families have sought a Catholic education for their children and have become part of our communities.”

New needs among students

Meanwhile, a private school recognized as non-traditional option for middle- and high-school-aged students is also reporting an enrollment uptick.

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APS students head back to school amid new focus on literacy and student wellness

By Jo DeVoe
1/9

(Updated at 4:15 p.m) Arlington Public Schools students headed back to school today and the positive energy, according to Superintendent Francisco Durán, was palpable.

“It was so wonderful,” he told ARLnow on a phone call this afternoon, debriefing from his morning spent visiting the half-dozen schools with new principals, including Gunston Middle School. “People are excited to be back.”

Going into this year, Durán says APS has its work cut out for it.

The system spent two years focused on improving literacy among kindergarten through second-graders, and is starting to see more students who are proficient the basics of reading. Now, the system is developing an all-hands-on-deck approach to another area of concern: middle and high school students who cannot read or write on grade level, either.

“We haven’t done a systemwide approach to secondary literacy,” he said. “How do we shift and go intensely, and in a strategic way, to supporting… those who are really struggling?”

Already, APS has identified struggling readers who he says could benefit from a new reading curriculum and the extra attention. The school system also is looking into ways to assess and identify struggling students better. Families can expect more information coming online about this shift in the coming months.

Likewise, the school system says a big challenge ahead will be tackling mental health. Last year saw the death of a 14-year-old due to an overdose as well as a rash of reported deaths connected to worsening mental health.

“We’ve had challenges at secondary level with substance abuse and students feeling depressed, isolated or having anxiety,” Durán said.

Middle and high schools have new intervention counselors and APS is working with Arlington County Dept. of Human Services to bring therapists to the schools. Three middle schools and all high schools have new deans focused on providing supports to students and getting their families involved.

“When we see students who are experiencing behavioral challenges — being suspended or being sent out of class or experimenting with substance abuse — we have to take an approach that’s not just punitive,” he said.

Part of that work, for Washington-Liberty High School Principal Tony Hall, is holding students to the school’s policy to keep phones “away for the day.” This week on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, he outlined the academic and social reasons for keeping phones off.

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Nottingham parents claim plan to make the school a ‘swing space’ is based on flawed assumptions

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Two months after Arlington Public Schools floated plans to turn Nottingham Elementary School into a “swing space,” parents returned to the School Board with a message.

The assumptions the school system relied on for this plan are flawed, they said.

Arlington Public Schools is planning how to use its buildings in the coming decade. The goal is to balance enrollment among schools with empty seats in North Arlington and over-capacity schools in South Arlington, while keeping costs down. It aims to do so by improving how it uses existing schools with a surplus of seats.

One solution could be closing Nottingham Elementary School, in the Williamsburg neighborhood at 5900 Little Falls Road, and turning it into a “swing space.” For $5 million, it could become home to any school community temporarily displaced by renovations. Reaction to this idea, proposed in June, was swift. Several parents mobilized, forming a Facebook group and circulating a petition, which had nearly 750 signatures as of publication.

After receiving a charge from the School Board in June to “poke holes” in the data, a group of Nottingham parents told ARLnow they did just that.

“We found, in a bunch of ways, the forecasts are critically flawed… The main issue is that APS used pandemic enrollment to project future enrollment,” one parent, Aaron Beytin, said. “At the beginning, I was upset about Nottingham. Now, I’m worried about the direction of the overall county. We’re looking at a probable capacity crisis.”

Enrollment had been increasing by 3% on average in the decade prior to the pandemic, statistician and parent Paul Winters said last night (Thursday) during a School Board meeting. Rather than assume this trend would continue, he says APS assumes Covid-induced falling enrollment would continue.

“Ignoring these concerns will lead to overcrowded schools and a worse educational experience for our children,” he said. “A more reasonable approach would be to discard the Covid data and use the pre-pandemic years, or even APS’s own projections from 2019.”

The school system maintains that its staff are in lockstep with county counterparts on these projections.

“APS and Arlington County demographers collaborate to ensure the longer-term projections are using the same factors,” it said.

APS says it used the three most recent school years — which the parents consider pandemic years — to project enrollment for grades 1-12. The school system projected kindergarten rates with actual births going back to 2018-2019, using addresses associated with births to map where new students are located.

The parents say the strongest sign that projections relied on pandemic years is how APS weighted the ratio of births to kindergarten enrollments.

The school system says it placed more weight on birth-to-kindergarten ratios for 2016-21 and 2017-22 than 2015-20 because “of the impacts of the pandemic on that cohort that year.”

The birth-to-kindergarten ratio in these years had fallen as a result of the pandemic, the parents say. They argue APS gives 2020, 2021 and 2022 outsized influence compared to the 2015-2019 school years, when the birth-to-kindergarten ratio was higher.

APS counters that birth rates are in fact declining in Arlington, like the region and nationwide.

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Yard work builds bonds and bots for Arlington robotics team

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

An Arlington Tech robotics team has an unusual strategy for building camaraderie and raising money ahead of competition season: yard work.

Every fall, members of the Koibots weed, rake and landscape around 40 yards in Arlington. Money funds the cost to pay for robot parts and travel and lodging when competitions start in March.

“We’re kids, we all we have the ability to go out and break our backs for four hours on a weekend, shoveling, raking leaves and whatnot,” says rising senior Madeline Florio. “It is a service that people do need and we are able to provide it. Our customers are pretty loyal.”

The team’s coach, engineering teacher Steve Nystrom, says yard work hones their ability to communicate and work together, which comes in handy during the building phase.

“So when you start making the robot, you need to know, who can I depend on? Who can I count on? Who has the skill sets?” he said. “Ironically, you can build a lot of that and know a lot of those answers by going out on yard jobs.”

This kind of fundraising makes the Koibots an anomaly, says rising junior Anna Litwiller. Most teams get large sums of money from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and sometimes the Dept. of Defense.

The yard work might provide the team a competitive advantage, especially considering how well they’ve performed in their short existence.

Despite being in existence for just five years and having constructed only three robots, the team has twice made the cut-offs for districts — where the top 50% of teams in D.C., Virginia and Maryland compete in the spring.

This year, the Koibots came in 36th out 0f 60 and won an award for its design and branding, which leans heavily into its quirky culture influenced by marine life.

Nystrom said he chose the name “Koibots” because Arlington Tech’s Frisbee team is called “The Kois.” After naming their second robot “Sharkbait,” the aquatic theme stuck.

“We try to do as much as we can send her around the fish, and the IKEA shark, and all sorts of aquatic things,” says rising junior Shangwen Cheng. “We highly encourage our team members to get a shark because they’re wonderful but it really brings together our team in a way that you really can’t from the engineering alone.”

“Obviously, we’re here to encourage a love of STEM and building things and learning all things technical, but it’s also a lot of fun and you get to throw sharks around at people,” she continued.

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APS proposal to change middle school boundaries already has some opposition

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Plans from Arlington Public Schools to redraw middle school boundaries have already prompted opposition from some families.

A new petition is circulating that calls on the Arlington School Board to reject the proposal and keep Dorothy Hamm Middle School, one of the affected schools, walkable.

“This proposal is being rushed through an approval process in the summer/early fall without the benefit of proper input from those who will be most impacted by the change,” reads the petition, which had 148 signatories before publication. “Middle schoolers from a great many households located within a few short blocks of Hamm will now be forced to take a bus to a school 3 miles away.”

APS is developing plans to address declining enrollment at Williamsburg Middle School and over-capacity problems at Gunston and Swanson middle schools. It proposes bussing several students from Dorothy Hamm and Swanson to Williamsburg, even though many live within walking distance of their current schools. Additionally, to reduce enrollment at Gunston, APS is considering relocating the Spanish language immersion program to Kenmore Middle School.

The proposal has elicited negative reactions from some parents of both current and former Dorothy Hamm students.

The Parent-Teacher Association of Taylor Elementary School, which feeds into Dorothy Hamm, also sent an email to families expressing its opposition to the changes and shared its plans to advocate against them.

For its part, APS says it is aware that fewer students would be able to walk to school if the proposed changes go through. Per a presentation from the school system, about 55% and 70% of students live within walk zones for Hamm and Swanson. These numbers would drop to 40% and 60%, respectively.

“We know that, in order to fill capacity at the building, we’re going to move probably quite a few walkers from Swanson and Dorothy Hamm to Williamsburg in order to even out capacity across schools,” APS Planning and Evaluation Dept. Executive Director Lisa Stengle said during a June work session on the proposal.

Current conditions for middle schools in Arlington (via APS)

The proposed changes would reverse a decision APS made in 2017 boundary process to prioritize sending students to schools within walking distance. Stengle said staff at the time knew the tradeoff would be overcapacity at Swanson and vacant seats at Williamsburg.

Swanson is currently projected to reach 105% capacity by 2025, while Williamsburg is expected to drop to 71% capacity in the same timeframe, per the APS presentation. Although Swanson’s overcapacity issue is predicted to lessen by 2027, Williamsburg’s enrollment is forecasted to continue declining.

“This recommendation possibly fills middle schools closer to capacity, increases the number of students who require transportation based on current policy and practices and requires more information to determine transportation costs,” Stengle said.

Projected school utilization rates in Arlington in 2027 (via APS)

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APS mulls moving Spanish immersion program from Gunston to Kenmore Middle School

By Jo DeVoe
Gunston Middle School (file photo)

Arlington Public Schools is mulling moving the Spanish Immersion Program at Gunston Middle School to Kenmore starting two years from now.

The move would be part of a planned middle school boundary process also set to go into effect the same school year. APS is looking to balance middle school populations, as, without boundary changes, Gunston and Swanson are projected to become overcapacity and Williamsburg and Kenmore are projected to have seats available.

The school system says relocating the immersion program would also bring it to an easier-to-access school. In the Glencarlyn neighborhood, off of Route 50, Kenmore is more centrally located than Gunston, which is near the border with the City of Alexandria.

“We believe that by moving the program to a centrally located school, we will be able to enhance the program’s offerings and create new opportunities for our students to flourish,” staff said in a letter to parents, posted on the DC Urban Moms and Dads forum. “The decision to relocate this program was driven by our commitment to provide the best possible educational experience for our students.”

The change would apply to incoming sixth grade students. APS administrators say they will be spending the summer studying how this would impact students and whether those in grades 7 and 8 can finish their time in the immersion program at Gunston.

“Students who are enrolled in the program at that time will remain in the program and will be transferred to Kenmore when the program relocates to Kenmore,” reads the letter to parents.

Two-thirds of immersion students at Gunston are projected to fall within the new boundaries for Kenmore after a potential boundary process, per a presentation during a recent work session.

“I understand the rationale for wanting to move immersion out of Gunston for a variety of reasons, but what caught my attention is talking about transportation impact and congestion,” School Board member Mary Kadera said during the work session. “This is not meant to throw a total wet blanket over the idea of immersion at Kenmore but I would be interested… to understand congestion on Carlin Springs Road and the Kenmore site specifically.”

As a parent of students who went to Kenmore, she says she can appreciate the congestion on Carlin Springs Road and difficulties getting in and out of the Kenmore parking lot.

“We already have a bit of a knot there,” she said. “I’m concerned about moving an immersion program to that school when we know that a healthy number of immersion students end up being driven by a parent.”

Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Renee Harber agreed that transportation is top-of-mind for staff with this potential change. She projects the total number of buses going to Kenmore would increase from 11 to 19, without any decrease to Gunston, which needs buses for the Montessori program also located there.

“[Transportation] is a concern of ours,” she said during the work session. “We have to really review and study additional transportation demand options for this.”

Cristina Diaz-Torres, who is now the School Board Chair, encouraged families to “poke holes” in the handful of programmatic changes on the table so they can be improved.

“Our doors are open and are going to be open for the entirety of the summer and we really want to hear your thoughts and perspectives now and also in the fall,” she said. “This is not a decision that any of us are going to be taking lightly.”

Independent School Board candidate James ‘Vell’ Rives drops out

By Jo DeVoe
Independent School Board candidate James ‘Vell’ Rives IV (courtesy photo)

An independent candidate for the Arlington School Board is bowing out of the race.

On Monday, four months ahead of the general election in November, James “Vell” Rives announced in an email that he was suspending his campaign. His announcement hinted that he may run again for School Board in a later election cycle.

“For various reasons, I am suspending my 2023 campaign and am instead working on a future run for Arlington County School Board,” he said in the email. “Thank you for your encouragement and support this year! For now, please stay involved in our schools, and help out where you can.”

Rives was running for the second time as an independent after a failed challenge to Democratic-endorsed candidate Bethany Zecher Sutton last year.

The psychiatrist and a member of the School Health Advisory Board — a citizen committee advising Arlington Public Schools — has campaigned on student health, improving academic performance and reducing technology use.

His opponent, Miranda Turner, who has the endorsement of the Arlington County Democratic Committee after its May caucus, will be running unopposed.

This is also Turner’s second School Board bid, losing two years ago in the Democratic endorsement caucus to now-School Board member Mary Kadera.

This year, Turner bested political newcomer Angelo Cocchiaro, who had the endorsement of outgoing School Board Chair Reid Goldstein and that of the local teachers union, the Arlington Education Association.

Ahead of the Nov. 7 general election, the first day of in-person early voting will begin on Sept. 22. The last day to apply for a mail ballot is Oct. 27.

Plans to turn Nottingham Elementary into ‘swing space’ prompt swift backlash

By Jo DeVoe
Nottingham Elementary School (via Google Maps)

A new proposal from Arlington Public Schools (APS) would send Nottingham Elementary students to other schools and use the building to house other students temporarily displaced by school renovations.

Parents of students at Nottingham were notified of the proposal yesterday (Thursday) by APS, ahead of a School Board work session discussing the proposal last night.

Within 24 hours, some current and prospective parents mobilized and formed a group, Neighbors for Nottingham, to learn more about the proposal and formulate next steps before a potential School Board vote a year from now.

The school system says it needs a “swing space” to prepare for renovation projects and balance enrollment in North Arlington, where there are more seats than students. APS staff are currently developing a timeline and list of schools to be renovated for the 2025-2034 Capital Improvement Plan, which will be approved next June.

“By serving as swing space, our school will continue to play a vital role in supporting education in our community while other schools undergo necessary improvements,” planning staff told parents in an email, shared with ARLnow.

Elementary capacity by zone in Arlington (via Arlington Public Schools)

APS considered 61 sites before settling on the Williamsburg neighborhood school at 5900 Little Falls Road, eliminating options based on size, location and cost needed to prepare the building for young students. It says Nottingham works because enrollment is low and stable, and nearby schools can absorb many of the 413 displaced students — though APS noted that receiving schools may need to add some capacity.

If the CIP is approved next year, Nottingham could be repurposed as early as the 2026-27 school year. Students would be transferred to surrounding elementary schools such as Discovery, Jamestown, Taylor, and Tuckahoe, and staff would begin to be reassigned in the spring of 2026.

Ways to create a swing space and potential costs (via Arlington Public Schools)

Would-be parent Coco Price says she and her neighbors are devastated.

“We have been so looking forward to sending our now-toddler-age children there when they reach elementary-age in a few short years and would be sincerely crushed to see them reassigned to another Arlington school — one that is potentially either not within walking distance or not as highly-rated as Nottingham,” Price said.

The proposal could disrupt educational plans for new homeowners, like Price.

“Should the motion pass, it would… potentially drive us to consider moving to a more stable school district outside of Arlington,” she said. “We also worry how this decision would impact our home’s resale values down the line.”

Others questioned the need for this work and criticized APS for not evaluating alternatives to a “swing space” in its 272-page report.

“We didn’t see any serious discussion about options such as portable learning trailers for schools going under renovations or for temporarily displacing just the students at schools that were under renovations for the limited time period of those renovations,” would-be parent Jeff Heuwinkel told ARLnow.

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Parents call on APS to address slow academic growth, teacher turnover at Oakridge Elementary

By Jo DeVoe
Oakridge Elementary School in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood in May of 2023 (via Google Maps)

A small group of parents from Oakridge Elementary School are asking Arlington Public Schools to take a hard look at student achievement and teacher retention.

Student assessments show low growth and lower pass rates in math and science tests at the school in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood. Meanwhile, it has higher teacher turnover than the school system as a whole, according to the group, named Concerned Parents of Oakridge

“We’ve looked at the data as of the end of the 2022 school year and we did not see academic growth but we did see significant staff turnover and a widening equity gap,” group representative Anna Hudson told the Arlington School Board last week. “We know that many teachers will not return to Oakridge in the fall.”

Hudson is one of four parents who co-wrote a letter on behalf of this group, urging APS to hold students to higher academic standards.

APS has been talking with parents and the Arlington Ridge Civic Association about these issues, per an email that the school system shared with ARLnow.

It has developed a plan that addresses academics and staff satisfaction, as well as family engagement and behavior management, the email says. Not long after this plan was developed, a fight broke out among Oakridge parents at a fifth grade commencement ceremony.

The school began sending iPads home at the end of April so students and families can access the learning software APS has on these devices throughout the summer. Last year, Oakridge restricted iPad use at home due to inappropriate content found on the device of a student.

Before the school year ended earlier this month, English and math supervisors and other administrators began meeting regularly with teachers and making rounds at the school and teachers have quarterly planning days to prepare their lessons.

Demonstrating growth in reading and math are part of the school’s strategic plan. Oakridge committed to increasing small-group and one-on-one instruction and regular staff meetings to reach this goal.

When it comes to performance in English, Oakridge students are close to on par with their peers countywide, with 74% passing a state assessment in the 2021-22 school year, compared to the countywide average passing rate of 78%, per a state school quality dashboard.

In math, history and science, the Arlington Ridge elementary school performs lower than APS as a whole, though some of the elementary schools with high rates of children from low-income families have lower pass rates, per data from a state dashboard.

In math, 64% of Oakridge students passed state assessments compared to the APS rate of 74%, and in science, 40% pass rate compared to a 64% pass rate. Pass rates in Arlington for these subjects range from 95% to 21% and 90% to 16%, respectively.

Schools with some of the highest pass rates, like Nottingham Elementary School, registered low “growth rates,” while schools with lower pass rates register high growth rates, such as Randolph and Drew elementary schools. The Oakridge parents say they are troubled by the zero growth registered in math and science.

“Equity in education relies on strong academics. Reading, writing, math and problem-solving are critical foundations, whether you go to tech school, 4- year university or enter the workforce after high school,” Hudson said. “Low standards in elementary school lead to kids falling out in middle school and high school. Our kids are capable and they deserve better.”

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Arlington Career Center project approved despite some resident concerns

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board approved plans to redevelop the Arlington Career Center on Columbia Pike.

Arlington Public Schools will be building a new 5-story Career Center building at 816 S. Walter Reed Drive to house students in vocational courses, such as veterinary sciences. Also set to be built: a standalone 4-story parking garage.

Plans to update the building have gone through many iterations over the years and were most recently reprised last February in a process fraught with concerns.

In the end, four of the five Board members voted in favor of the $180 million project, with Takis Karantonis dissenting. The new facility will have capacity for up to 1,619 students.

The vote came after they heard, and in some cases echoed, concerns from representatives of civic associations and citizen commissions, as well as neighbors. Before Saturday, the Planning Commission was also divided, voting 5-4 two weeks ago with the chair abstaining after a weighty pause.

Board members who greenlit the project justified their decision using variations on the saying “the perfect is the enemy of the good.”

“The cost of the pursuit of a delay and the pursuit of a more perfect project are so high and the project brought before us — though not perfect — when delivered in its full vision… is going to be indeed a spectacular addition to an area that I think of as my broader neighborhood,” Board member Katie Cristol said. “And, more importantly, a home befitting of the incredible education happening within it.”

Some of the neighbors who spoke say they support the idea of the project and say they are not seeking perfection at all.

“The current APS plans, while ambitious, cut corners in ways that are unacceptable to the community and contrary to the our shared vision of a safe and equitable Arlington,” a coalition of leaders of civic associations along Columbia Pike said in a letter.

Top concerns from neighbors included the future of open space on the site and the environmental commitments of the proposed building. There were calls for sidewalks, undergrounded utilities and fencing that match those at other schools in Arlington, as well as a more forward-thinking solution to parking than a stand-alone, above-ground garage.

Former Arlington County Planning Commissioner Stephen Hughes said in a letter to the Board that the county should have deferred approving the use permit until APS addressed these issues.

“The Career Center site deserves to be the ‘Jewel of the Pike’; however, any claim of that today is disingenuous at best,” he wrote. “APS has failed for over a decade to address facility planning in a comprehensive way and besides the inclusion of the existing facilities on the [General Land Use Plan], we have no planning guidance to rely on with APS facilities.”

APS and the School Board intend to retrofit the current Career Center for the Montessori program now housed in the former Patrick Henry Elementary School. This building, in turn, would be torn down and turned into a green space.

Some people wanted these commitments included in the use permit that went before the County Board on Saturday. Otherwise, they say, no legal document binds APS to executing this vision and — absent funding and a plan — the Pike will lose a baseball diamond, basketball court and open green space with no commitments to recover them.

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Parent fight at elementary school graduation ceremony draws police response

By ARLnow.com
Oakridge Elementary School (photo via Google Maps)

(Updated at 11:20 a.m.) A physical fight among 2-3 adults marred a promotion ceremony for fifth graders at Oakridge Elementary on Thursday.

Police were called to the school in the Arlington Ridge neighborhood around 4:45 p.m. for a report of a sizable fight, involving adults and possibly children as well.

“At approximately 4:46 p.m., police were dispatched to the 1400 block of 24th Street S. for the report of a fight,” Arlington County police spokeswoman Ashley Savage tells ARLnow. “Upon arrival, it was determined that adults who are known to each other became involved in a physical altercation during an event at the school. The parties were separated and no significant injuries were reported. The investigation is ongoing.”

Savage said that no children were injured, though medics were dispatched to the school for a child who may have been bitten during the fracas.

An email sent to parents, obtained by ARLnow, further describes what happened.

Dear Oakridge Families,

I wanted to inform you that an altercation occurred between two adults this afternoon during our Fifth Grade Class Promotion. Staff intervened and were able to separate the parties involved as quickly as possible. The police were called to the school to investigate the matter and there were no injuries.

If your children have questions or would like to discuss this matter with a counselor, the student support team will be available all day tomorrow.

A tipster tells ARLnow that the fight might have been a bit larger, involving three women and a group of school staff and parents trying to break up the brawl.

“There was a fight amongst the parents… that got physical resulting in parents on the ground and other parents and staff breaking up the fight,” the tipster said. “Children were crying. Police and EMS were called.”

“This isn’t safe for our children,” the tipster added.

This is at least the second significant, traumatic incident this year for the fifth grade class at Oakridge. An alleged “sexual incident” among two students during an overnight visit to the Arlington Public Schools Outdoor Lab in Fauquier County — which was investigated by local law enforcement — involved fifth graders at Oakridge, according several sources.

Photo via Google Maps

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