<b>Schools to Hear Report on
Diversity at Alternative Schools</b>
A year ago, Arlington School Board members adopted a new admissions process for three countywide alternative schools. On Thursday, they will find out how well the process works.
Administrators from the school system’s staff will present a report to the board on the results of the process in maintaining ethnically and economically diverse student populations at Drew Model School and Arlington Traditional School, alternative elementary schools, and at H-B Woodlawn, a secondary school open to middle and high school students from across the county.
The report shows an overall increase in the ethnic diversity of the three schools’ student populations. There was also generally an increase in the ethnic diversity of the applicants to the schools.
Under the guidelines adopted by the school board last year, students in the preschool programs at Drew and Arlington Traditional get priority in admission to the schools’ kindergarten programs.
Admissions at Woodlawn were once run on a random lottery, with numbers assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Slots for sixth grade students are now assigned to elementary schools across the county, based on their population as a proportion of the elementary school population.
Parents said they were largely pleased with the results of the new guidelines, but were eager to see the particulars of the report.
"This will be our first look at the results," said Larry Fishtahler, a parent and a member of the advisory commission on closing the minority achievement gap on standardized tests.
"It’s a first indication, and we need to follow through on it," he said. "These things take years. This is not intended to be a quick fix."
Monique O’Grady, one of the co-chairs of the Drew Model School Association, the parent association at the South Arlington School, said she hoped to see a different kind of diversity at Drew.
Drew parents hope to attract students from all over the county, and there was no evidence of that in the new report.
"It’s admirable that the school board is trying to make sure that all the groups in the county are represented at each school," O’Grady said. "But they neglected diversity at Drew – not just multicultural diversity, but diversity from all across Arlington."
<b>County Considers Neighborhood
Projects, Delays to Fire Station</b>
This Saturday’s County Board agenda includes nearly $1.5 million worth of neighborhood projects, and delaying money for a new fire station for a decade after the project was initially approved.
Board members are set to approve a $1.42 million slate of Neighborhood Conservation Priority Projects already approved by the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Commission. The projects include signs, traffic islands and curb and gutter improvements in the Yorktown, Williamsburg, Leeway, Glencarlyn, Donaldson Run, Columbia Forest, Clarendon-Courthouse, Claremont, Ballston and Alcova Heights neighborhoods.
During county budget discussions this spring, the NCAC asked the board to increase funding for the Neighborhood Conservation program to over $10 million, over a two-year cycle. At the same time, County Manager Ron Carlee proposed combining county traffic calming and sidewalk programs under the leadership of the NCAC.
Board members will also consider a further delay to money funding a new Fire Station 3, in Cherrydale. The county initially approved almost $2.8 million to build a new firehouse in 1994.
But polluted soil and failed negotiations at the first choice for the new facility means the board must extend the issue date for the bonds by two years, or they will expire this November.
The current station is a 90-year-old building at 3900 Lee Highway not owned by the county.