School Board Update
September 1, 2020
Arlington School Board
Email: school.board@apsva.us
Website: www.apsva.us
Location: 2110 Washington Boulevard, Arlington, VA, USA
Phone: 703-228-6015
Twitter: @APSVaSchoolBd
September Calendar for School Board Meetings and Work Sessions
Upcoming Work Sessions
Agendas and background information for Work Sessions will be posted on BoardDocs at
https://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/vpublic?open as information becomes available.
These meetings will take place virtually using Microsoft Teams. Work Sessions are available for viewing live on the APS website. Dates listed are subject to change.
Upcoming Work Sessions:
- September 3, 2020: Work Session on Arlington Public Schools and School Resource Officers, 6:30 PM
- October 13, 2020: Work Session on Boundaries
Superintendent's Return-to-School Update
The Superintendent will provide a Schools Status Update as a Monitoring Item at all upcoming School Board meetings, now through the fall. Watch School Board meetings at https://www.apsva.us/school-board-meetings/watch-school-board-meetings/.
Next School Board meeting: September 10
Citizen Comment at School Board Meetings
At this time, no in-person public comment will be allowed at Board Meetings, however limited Public Comment will be allowed using a call-in service.
The Public Comment Agenda Item will take place at the beginning of each Board Meeting. ALL public comment will be heard at that time, on both Agenda and Non-Agenda items, and there is a limit of 1 hour for all public comment.
Please note, the deadline for signing up to speak is 4 PM two days prior to the Board meeting. The speaker form is posted at https://www.apsva.us/school-board-meetings/sign-up-to-speak/. When you sign up you will receive an acknowledgement. The day of the meeting, you will be provided with detailed directions for calling. During the meeting, speakers will be announced in the order that the calls are received.
School Board Policies Available for Public Comment
On April 15, the School Board launched a new public comment process to seek feedback from the community on policy drafts and revisions. After the internal policy process is complete, policy drafts will now be available for 30 days on the APS Engage site to ensure that all interested stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input. Staff will review comments and any suggestions submitted during the public comment period before completing and presenting the final draft as an information item to the School Board.
Arlington Public Schools is soliciting comments on the draft revisions to the following policies.
- K-14.30 Volunteers
- F-1 Financial Management – Capital Improvement Plan
- F-5.7 Construction and Maintenance
Feedback should be provided through the APS Engage online feedback form. Please be sure to include the policy you are referencing in your correspondence. Or by submitting the corresponding policy questionnaire at https://www.apsva.us/engage/policies-for-revision-amendment/ under the Public Comment on Drafts section. The policies noted above are available for public comment from Sept 1 - 30, 2020.
Advisory Committees that have opted into the Enhanced Feedback process for these policies may also submit a supplementary memo in addition to responding to the survey. The survey response should note that you have submitted a supplementary memo. The Supplementary memo is due the day the survey closes.
Open Office Hours for the 2020-2021 School Year
The schedule for Open Office Hours for the 2020-2021 school year is now posted at https://www.apsva.us/contact-the-school-board/open-office-hours/.
2020 Census
School Board Liaison Assignments for the SY 2020-2021
Each school at APS is assigned a Board liaison to engage and become familiar with particular issues affecting that school community. The Board has approved the revised School Board liaison assignment list for the new school year.
We encourage you to share your thoughts and comments with the School Board by email at School.Board@apsva.us. We ask that you minimize messages to individual board members, as they will be focused on communications about maintaining safe operations during the pandemic. A copy of all messages received at School.Board@apsva.us is made available to each Board member. Board members receive regular reports of emails received.
Update on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
APS has the following information available for families:
- The APS COVID-19 webpage has the latest updates and new FAQs about instruction, technology, meals for students, family resources and more.
- APS Expands Grab-and-Go Meal Service to 21 Schools for New School Year Beginning Sept. 8: https://www.apsva.us/distance-learning/meal-services/
The Annual Online Verification Process (AOVP) Begins on August 31:
https://www.apsva.us/post/the-annual-online-verification-process-aovp-begins-on-august-31/Comcast Internet Essentials Details: https://www.apsva.us/digital-learning/internet/
Food Resources from Arlington County: https://www.apsva.us/post/food-resources-from-arlington-county/
- Need assistance? See who to contact at https://www.apsva.us/post/who-to-contact-for-help/
Questions related to APS and the change in operations due to COVID-19 can be sent to engage@apsva.us