April 2, 2024 Newsletter
In This Edition:
1. Hello, Again!
2. Community Corner: Ranked Choice Voting Explained
3. County Proposes Cutting Behavior Intervention Services Program
4. From the Teacher's Lounge: Class Size Still Matters
5. ICYMI: Learn About the Upcoming School Board Caucus
6. What We're Reading
7. March 21st School Board Meeting
8. Happening Soon
Welcome to our new subscribers!
As our advocacy grows, we want to take a minute to introduce ourselves to new subscribers and share what we do and why.
Fast facts about APE:
We are a bipartisan, grassroots group of parents, teachers and community members with a common goal: a better APS.
We advocate on a wide range of issues from smaller class sizes to higher teacher pay, learning loss recovery, more instructional days, educational rigor, proper supports, evidence-based device and curriculum usage, improved budget priorities…and much more!
Our 100% volunteer team produces high-quality, original content for YOU. From our newsletter, which includes bi-monthly school board meeting recaps, to in-depth reporting and analysis in APE Reports and the APE Think Tank - we are writing about the issues that matter.
Our Why:
All APS students deserve a dynamic and engaging public school environment where they are challenged educationally through excellent, equitable and effective instruction and high expectations. Our APS teachers deserve smaller class sizes, in-school supports and priority in the budget for their compensation and benefits. And our community deserves transparency and accountability from our school leaders and our elected school board members when it comes to decision-making and community engagement.
Learn more by exploring our website and follow us on X. Join our Facebook forum to meet other Arlington parents and post your own questions. We also have a Facebook page where we post our newsletters and official positions. Have questions about donating? See our FAQ.
Community Corner
By Dave Schutz, Arlington Civic Federation Board Member
(Editor's Note: From time to time we will offer op-eds, which are the unedited perspectives of an APS parent, teacher, or community member on a topic of interest or concern to APS.)
This is a short explainer about the effects of the proportional ranked choice mechanism—also referred to as “single transferable vote” (STV) proportional ranked choice voting—that is being used in the School Board Caucus this time, and how it differs from the block preferential mechanism that was used in the SB Caucus in 2020.
The Arlington Democrats’ method of using ranked-choice voting for its party-run SB caucus multi-member election is the same as that required by the Virginia Board of Elections (and which nominated Susan Cunningham and Maureen Coffey last year); it is called proportional ranked-choice voting. It’s very well described in this YouTube video.
Preferential block is more intuitive than the proportional method, and it gives very different outcomes. It is equivalent to holding a single-member election for the first seat, and then holding a separate single-member election for each additional winner.
The multi-member method used in the 2020 Democrats’ SB Caucus, and also being used in some Republican Utah jurisdictions, is called preferential block voting. Each candidate must get half the vote to get a seat, and it takes multiple counts. If there is no majority winner on first count, the candidates who have the fewest number one votes lose and the number twos from those ballots are counted as a first choice. This process is repeated until a candidate exceeds ½ of the votes, and that candidate is elected. Then the winner's name is struck from all of the ballots, and the process is repeated with the number twos on the winner’s ballots taken as number ones. This video from Brigham Young University describes this process.
Under the proportional ranked-choice system, factions/minorities are represented approximately in proportion to their numbers. We saw a proportional result in Arlington in 2023 when Roy and Cunningham had backing from many of the same voters, as did Spain and Coffey, and Cunningham and Coffey got the nod. With preferential block, if there are factions, the largest faction will win every seat, even if that faction is only 51% of the voters.
For more detail and a theoretical example, read the full explainer.
County Proposes Cutting Important
Behavioral Intervention Services (BIS) Program
The County Manager has proposed the elimination of the children's Behavioral Intervention Services (BIS) Program in the FY 2025 budget. Arlington Special Education PTA (SEPTA) recently wrote a letter to County Board members to advocate for maintaining this important program.
BIS is a County-run program (not an APS program) operated by Arlington's Department of Human Services which is staffed by two behavior specialists. These specialists observe students in the school environment and at home, complete an assessment, and then meet with parents/caretakers and teachers to make targeted recommendations for the home and school so they can successfully and safely participate in school, family, and community activities. BIS services are provided to families for up to 6 months at a substantially reduced fee, which makes them widely accessible.
Why It Matters
The type of support provided by BIS is not available within the public school system or through other community resources. APS routinely refers children--who often have disabilities--to the County BIS program. The program is a bridge for behavioral support between home and school, so that students have a consistent approach, which leads to better success at home and school. This type of parent and family support often makes the difference between a child with unique behavioral needs being able to go to school or not. Without these services, children in this situation will continue to deal with issues like school refusal and behavioral challenges that prevent them from learning foundational academic skills. Families in this situation are forced to seek expensive private therapists and often sit on months- or even years-long waiting lists to get help for their children.
From the Teacher's Lounge:
Class Size Still Matters
Sharing with the permission of Francesca Lee Winch, APS Teacher
(Editor's Note: From time to time we will offer op-eds, which are the unedited perspectives of an APS parent or teacher on a topic of interest or concern to APS.)
Let me preface my remarks by stating that I taught high school English, most recently 10 Adv and 12 AP, for APS for 36 years, from 1984 to 2020. I have an institutional memory that has gone untapped, as when I retired (granted, during the pandemic) I was never contacted either to wish me well or to ask my opinion on anything.
In the first decade + of my teaching career, APS limited class size in English classes to fewer than 24 students, specifically so that English teachers could assign, comment on, and grade more student writing. For a few of those years, high school English teachers were all provided professional leave to meet as departments off-site to discuss student writing and come to an agreement as to what common issues we were seeing and our end goals for each grade level. This was helpful, unifying, and psychologically energizing. Michele Bajek, then the APS English Supervisor, was both supportive of our struggles with facing the workload and consistently involved in providing practical advice. For MANY of those early years, I had fewer than 100 students on my class rolls. Those were the halcyon years.
At some point (I wish I'd kept a diary) it all went south. I don't know enough about the history of the budget to assign blame here, but I can speak to the fall out. By the time I had retired, totally burned out by the workload but not by the kids, I had 150 students a day. IF I spent 10 minutes on each student's essay, reading it twice and writing comments, that was 25 HOURS of grading per assignment and we were expected to have more than one assignment a week. The solution, I was told by various subsequent supervisors, was to have them peer edit and grade, or not to read the whole paper but to grade it for just one thing like thesis statement or topic sentences, or just to skim it. I couldn't bring myself to do any of that, so I was frequently criticized for taking too long to return their essays. But I read each of them twice and tried to write thoughtful comments. Most of the time...But I was always feeling defeated, as I wanted to give them more time, more comments, more support.
Right about now, you might be wondering about our planning periods. Couldn't we get a lot done then? Well, no. In my first decades of teaching, we would get MAYBE two phone calls a week from parents who would call the English dept office with a question or concern. The English dept secretary would take a message and we would phone back during lunch or a planning period. With the advent of the Internet and online grade books, this ballooned into constant emails from both parents and students requiring an almost daily explanation of an assignment or a grade that, horror of horrors, might be an B+ rather than an A. (Grade inflation and related student and parent anxiety with the online grade books is an entirely different, but equally important, post.) Add in IEP and 504 meetings, which also have ballooned, and students coming in to make up work, and there's little time to grade during the school day.
I understand that there are new theories about assessing student work, but CLASS SIZE STILL MATTERS! There are only so many hours in a day and APS will lose a lot of dedicated teachers who leave the profession if they feel they are being asked to do an impossible job.
I still miss the kids. And care about APS.
ICYMI: Learn About the School Board Candidates & How to Vote in the Caucus
We held a forum with the four School Board candidates running in this year's School Board Caucus. Watch this informative question-and-answer session to learn about the candidates and where they stand on important APS issues. Also see our past newsletter with detailed biographies of each candidate.
Per the Arlington Dem's website, in order to vote in this year's School Board Caucus, community members will need to be a registered voter AND register specifically for the caucus before they attempt to vote online or in person. Fill out this online form to register specifically to vote in the upcoming School Board caucus run by the Arlington County Democratic Committee. Online voting is available from April 20 through May 11. In-person voting will take place at the following locations and times:
Sunday, May 5th, 2024
10 AM to 6 PM
Washington-Liberty High School
1301 N Stafford St, Arlington, VA 22201
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024
7 PM to 9 PM
Hoffman-Boston Elementary
1415 S Queen St, Arlington, VA 22204
Saturday, May 11th, 2024
10 AM to 6 PM
Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School
3500 23rd St S, Arlington, VA 22206
Please reach out to Arlington Democratic Committee with any questions you may have about the caucus.
What We’re Reading and Listening To
School Sports Matter. How to Make Them Matter More (EdWeek)
Sports are good, especially for kids. They’re good for fine motor skills, self-discipline, and gumption. Coaches can serve as crucial role models and mentors. Teams can be invaluable sources of friendship…As a parent, sports are a chance to see your kid hustle, succeed, fail, and improve. It’s an opportunity to play and practice together, to share experiences and impart lessons. Kids get to see the payoff from practice and make friends. And, of special import today, sports offer an array of practices, games, and experiences that are decidedly offline.
How the SAT Changed My Life (NYT)
Many colleges have embraced the test-optional rule under the assumption that it bolsters equity and diversity, since higher scores are correlated with privilege. But it turns out that these policies harmed the teenagers they were supposed to help. Many low-income and minority applicants withheld scores that could have gotten them in, wrongly assuming that their scores were too low, according to an analysis by Dartmouth. More top universities are sure to join the reversal. This is a good thing.
Educators hate holding kids back, but new research suggests it works (WaPo)
[R]ecent studies show making kids repeat grades can improve their future performance…Researchers who see good results from retention say it can work if done in grades three, four or five.…[They also] said opponents of grade retention are correct when they say being retained is a painful experience for many students.
North Carolina Works to Expand Access to Advanced Math Courses (The74)
“[M]any high-performing students are not offered advanced learning opportunities even when there is clear evidence that they are ready for higher-level academics…This is especially true for Hispanic, Black, Native American and low-income students, leading to a chronic underchallenging of many of the nation’s brightest children. As a result, these students are less likely to be ready for postsecondary education.”...[To combat such issue,] North Carolina’s [auto-enrollment] policy begins in third grade and “specifically guarantees access to high school-level math for highly qualified middle schoolers.”...[T]he percentage of high-performing North Carolina students not placed in advanced math courses “has steadily and significantly dropped.”
How COVID Narrowed the STEM Pipeline
Universities, philanthropies, and even the U.S. government are all trying to encourage more young Americans to pursue careers in STEM…That’s why it’s concerning that high-achieving students, who’ve received less public attention than lower achieving students, were also set back by remote learning and pandemic uncertainty. Fewer students with math skills shrinks the pool of people who are likely to cultivate an expertise in science, engineering and technology a decade from now. In other words, the STEM pipeline – a metaphor for the development of future scientists, engineers and other high tech workers – likely starts with a narrower funnel in the post-pandemic era.
Why School Absences Have 'Exploded' Almost Everywhere (NYT)
The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting. What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous.“Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.
See something that strikes a chord? Join the discussion on our Facebook page!
March 21st School Board Meeting Recap
The School Board Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres is now on a leave of absence until June, and Mr. Priddy will act as Chair until she returns. Ms. Kadera was not in attendance due to a work conflict.
Highlights from the meeting include:
Recognition of six Seniors who received college scholarships from the Posse Foundation and Questbridge: four Arlington students received scholarships valued at over $100k, and another 2 students received scholarships that cover the full cost of tuition as well as room and board expenses, requiring zero contribution from parents.
Video presentation by Mr. Scott Shepherd from the Program for Employee Preparedness (PEP)within the Eunice Kennedy Shriver program, an inclusive secondary school for students with special needs which teaches life skills.
Dr. Durán announced that APS Your Voice Matters Survey timeframe is extended to Friday April 5th.
Budget timeline: April 11 school board will propose its 2025 budget, April 23 will have public hearing about it, May 9th tentative schedule for adopted 2025 budget.
Public Comment: nine Speakers, who spoke on:
Chromebooks are better investment of public money than iPads (2 speakers); budget gap and need to reduce bloat at Syphax and increase student-facing positions (2 speakers); the need to implement 80/20 model in APS Spanish immersion program (5 speakers); class size report under-counts the number of classes over limit by marking classes above by 1 or 2 in green (1 speaker); Arlington County should adopt prevailing wages and other worker standards for AAC project and other construction projects moving forward (1 speaker)
Read the full recap here.
Please note, our last enews had the incorrect date listed for the recap. It was February 29th.
Happening Soon
Wednesday, April 3, 5:30pm, Committee of the Whole Meeting. Syphax, Suite 260.
Tuesday, April 9, 6:30pm-8:30pm, Budget Work Session with the Budget Advisory Council (BAC). Syphax. Watch live.
Thursday, April 11, 7pm, School Board Meeting. Sign up to speak. Syphax. Watch live.
Tuesday, April 16, 7-9 pm, Office Hours with School Board Member Bethany Zecher Sutton. Virtual.Sign up.
Don't forget! You can subscribe to APS School Calendars here.
