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Arlington Public Schools is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
school division A school division is a geographic division over which a school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elec ...
in
Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County is a County (United States), county in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the Washington, D.C., District of Co ...
. In 2019, student enrollment was 28,020 students, with students coming from more than 146 countries. In 2015, there were 2,166 teachers. There are 24 elementary schools, 6 middle schools, 4 high schools, 1 secondary institution and 4 other educational programs within the school district. ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine named the
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and Arlington area as the top place in the nation to educate one's child in 2007. In
fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
2019, close to $637.1 million was budgeted for the school district.


History

The first public schools in Arlington County, Virginia (then known as Alexandria County) were established in 1870: the Columbia and Walker schools, which were for whites only, and the Arlington School for Negroes in Freedman’s Village, which was located on land seized from Robert E. Lee's
plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. In 1932, Hoffman-Boston Junior High School, opened, allowing black students to pursue education past primary school in Arlington for the first time. However, since Hoffman-Boston was not accredited until the 1950s, many black Arlingtonians commuted to Washington, DC to pursue secondary education. In 1947, the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
sued the Arlington School Board for not providing equal educational facilities to black students in ''Constance Carter v. The School Board of Arlington County, Virginia''. In 1950, the courts ruled in the NAACP's favor. As a result, increased funding was earmarked to the segregated schools for black students and black teachers began receiving equal pay. In 1949, after advocacy from a local citizen's group, Arlingtonians for a Better County, Arlington's school board became the first in Virginia to be democratically elected rather than appointed. In 1954, after the ''
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'' ruling, all public schools in the United States were required to
desegregate Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
. The political leaders of Virginia and the
Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...
, led by United States Senator
Harry F. Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. ...
, adopted a policy of "
massive resistance Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...
" to desegregation. Under massive resistance, schools that desegregated would be closed and students would be given money to attend private schools until the schools could be resegregated. Ten days after the ''Brown'' ruling, the Arlington County School board began a committee to research how to comply with the ruling. In January 1956, a plan to gradually desegregate Arlington's public schools was released by the committee. Less than a month later, the Virginia General Assembly voted to remove Arlington of its democratically elected school board, which the more conservative
Arlington County Board Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
replaced with officials more sympathetic to segregation. The integration plan was overturned by the new school board. That same year, the NAACP, on behalf of black and white students and their families, sued the new school board in an attempt to compel them to integrate in ''Clarissa Thompson v. the County School Board of Arlington'', which was filed concurrently with other integration lawsuits around Virginia''.'' Many white racial moderates feared that the Board would close public schools rather than allow them to be desegregated. On May 1, 1958, the Arlington Committee to Preserve Public Schools, an all-white group which was neutral on segregation, and dedicated to preventing the closure of public schools, was formed. On January 19, 1959, the
Supreme Court of Virginia The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrative ...
effectively ended massive resistance by ruling in ''James v. Almond'' that public school closures in violated of the
Constitution of Virginia The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the document that defines and limits the powers of the state government and the basic rights of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Like all other state constitutions, it is supreme ...
. On January 22, the Arlington County School Board announced that Stratford Junior High would be the first school to be desegregated. On February 2, four black students- Ronald Deskins, Michael Jones, Gloria Thompson and Lance Newman- arrived at Stratford, protected by nearly 100 police officers, hoping to avoid what had happened to the
Little Rock Nine The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering ...
. The desegregation of Stratford, the first public school in Virginia to be desegregated, ultimately passed without incident, and an
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
newsletter declared it "The Day Nothing Happened". With this, Arlington County became the first school system in Virginia to desegregate. Arlington's public schools gradually continued to integrate, although courts only approved of its pupil placement system as being racially neutral in 1971, twelve years after desegregation began. School dances and athletic events were ended in 1959 by the Arlington County School Board after integration began. Athletic events were reinstated in 1961, but school dances were held privately for years afterwards. Hoffman-Boston Junior-Senior High School closed in 1964 and its students were placed in formerly all-white schools. By 1969, all Arlington high schools were desegregated. The only two schools to remain almost completely segregated were Drew Elementary School and Hoffman-Boston Elementary School. In the case ''John E. Hart et al. v. County School Board of Arlington County, Virginia'', parents of Drew Elementary School students sued the Arlington County School Board for further integration. The School Board announced a plan, which the courts approved of, to
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
Drew and Hoffman-Boston Elementary School students to other elementary schools around Arlington. Arlington's school board was eventually allowed to be democratically elected again, rather than be appointed by the Arlington County Board. In the wake of the August 2017
Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...
, deadly white supremacist rally protesting the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Arlington County School Board voted unanimously in June 2018 to rename
Washington-Lee High School Washington-Liberty High School, formerly known as Washington-Lee High School, is a public high school in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9–12. Its attendance area serves the central third of A ...
to remove Lee's name, sparking outrage among many in the community. In the months prior to the name change, the Arlington County school board narrowed several options to "Washington-Loving High School", their top choice in honor of the ''
Loving v. Virginia ''Loving v. Virginia'', 388 U.S. 1 (1967), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark civil rights decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, laws ban ...
'' court case, and "Washington-Liberty High School". On January 10, 2019, the school board voted unanimously for the latter name. In 2019, Arlington Public Schools celebrated the 60th anniversary of desegregation in Arlington.


Schools


Elementary schools


Abingdon Elementary SchoolArlington Science Focus Elementary SchoolArlington Traditional Elementary SchoolAshlawn Elementary SchoolBarcroft Elementary SchoolK.W. Barrett Elementary SchoolCampbell Elementary School
(formerly Glencarlyn)
Carlin Springs Elementary SchoolClaremont Immersion Elementary SchoolDiscovery Elementary SchoolDr. Charles R. Drew Elementary SchoolAlice West Fleet Elementary SchoolGlebe Elementary SchoolHoffman-Boston Elementary SchoolJamestown Elementary SchoolFrancis Scott Key Immersion Elementary SchoolLong Branch Elementary SchoolMcKinley Elementary SchoolMontessori Public School of Arlington
(formerly Patrick Henry Elementary School)
Nottingham Elementary SchoolOakridge Elementary SchoolRandolph Elementary SchoolTaylor Elementary SchoolTuckahoe Elementary School


Middle schools


Dorothy Hamm Middle SchoolGunston Middle SchoolKenmore Middle SchoolSwanson Middle SchoolThomas Jefferson Middle SchoolWilliamsburg Middle School


High schools

* Wakefield High School *
Washington-Liberty High School Washington-Liberty High School, formerly known as Washington-Lee High School, is a public high school in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9–12. Its attendance area serves the central third of A ...
(formerly Washington-Lee High School) * Yorktown High School


Alternative programs

* Arlington Community High School - a fully accredited alternative high school for students whose life circumstances have interrupted their schooling; formerly known as Arlington Mill High School * Arlington Tech – a high school program with project-based learning *
H-B Woodlawn The H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, commonly referred to as H-B, or HBW, is a democratic alternative all-county public school located in Arlington County, Virginia, United States based on the liberal educational movements of the 1960s and 1970s. ...
- an alternative secondary program where students control much of their education and do not have “continuous adult supervision.” * Langston High School Continuation Program - offers students flexibility in the way and timeframe in which students can earn a high school diploma. * New Directions - a program designed for 30-35 students with behavioral difficulties that provides support for responsible decision making and on-time graduation *Eunice Kennedy Shriver Program (formerly the Stratford Program) - a secondary school for Arlington Public School students who have special needs. *
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (also known as TJHSST, TJ, or Jefferson) is a Virginia state-chartered magnet high school in Fairfax County, Virginia operated by Fairfax County Public Schools. The school occupies the buil ...
(TJHSST)


Former schools

* Fairlington Elementary School (1944-1979) *Nellie Custis Elementary


Students

In 2019, there was a total student enrollment of 28,020 students, with students coming from more than 146 countries and speaking 107 different languages. Arlington Public Schools has a 95% graduation rate. In 2009, the student body was 48% white, 26% Latino, 13% black and 11% Asian. In 2019, the student body was 46% white, 28% Hispanic, 10% black and 9% Asian, with American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Multiple backgrounds comprising the remaining 7%.


Teachers

As of 2019, teachers are paid an average salary of $74,554 per year. In 2009, there were 2,166 teachers, of which 78% were white, 10% were black, 8% were Hispanic and 3% were Asian.


Arlington County School Board

* Monique O'Grady, Chair * Dr. Barbara Kanninen, Vice Chair * Cristina Diaz-Torres, Member * Reid Goldstein, Member * David Priddy, Member


Arlington County School Board Staff

* Melanie Elliott, Clerk of the School Board * Claudia Mercado, Deputy Clerk and Communications Liaison * Julieanne Jones, Administrative Assistant * John Mickevice, Internal Auditor Director


Special facilities

The David M. Brown Planetarium is operated by Arlington Schools Planetarium for both Arlington school field trips and public multimedia programs. It offers shows for the general public Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the school year. The planetarium is named for astronaut
David M. Brown David McDowell Brown (April 16, 1956 – February 1, 2003) was a United States Navy captain and a NASA astronaut. He died on his first spaceflight, when the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Eart ...
, a graduate of Arlington's Yorktown High School who was killed in the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster in 2003. The Arlington Outdoor Lab is a 225-acre outdoor facility operated by Arlington Schools and located in
Fauquier County Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 160 ...
. In addition to a large classroom building, the lab facility has a pond, streams, small mountains, and forested areas.


References


External links


Arlington Public Schools

David M. Brown Planetarium
{{authority control School divisions in Virginia Education in Arlington County, Virginia