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December 21, 2021
In This Issue:

1. APE's Accomplishments: 2021 By the Numbers
2. Please Donate to APE
3. APS: Please Make Addressing Learning Loss Your #1 Budget Priority
4. School Board Meeting Recap
Arlington Parents for Education: 2021 By the Numbers
 
What a year 2021 has been! Though there have been many challenges, there has also been great progress!  This is what keeps APE’s Steering Committee, Board, and our many involved members fighting each day for accountability, transparency, and educational excellence at APS.  

We won’t stop advocating to make APS the best it can be.

We hope APE has been helpful to you and your students with our advocacy. If you agree, we ask that you consider supporting us now by making a donation! 

Please read on for a quick rundown of what we’ve done in 2021…
  • 1000+ awesome members
  • 1.572 million impressions on our Tweets and growing by the day. (Follow us on Twitter. Read our most viral Tweet.)
  • 5400 website page views (Visit our website.)
  • 750 Safer at School buttons
  • 500 yard signs
  • 100s of emails and calls to state legislators in support of SB1303 - the legislation that keeps Virginia schools open and keeps our kids in school.
  • 50+ speakers at School Board Meetings
  • 42 eNewsletters (Sign up your friends and neighbors. Forward this one.)
  • 40 in-depth analyses and policy recommendations on every facet of APS: SOL scores, quarantines and test to stay, class sizes, accelerated mathematics, academic calendar, special education, budget, ARP funds and much more. APE members sit on many APS curriculum-related and budget-advisory committees. (Become more involved.)
  • 33% increase in Facebook members (Join our Facebook page.)
  • 5 Happy Hours
  • 2 Rallies to Return
  • 1 testimony to Congress
  • 1 membership to Arlington County Civic Federation
  • 1 member-wide survey
  • A brand-new logo, website and 501c(4) status in order to maximize our impact
  • Countless hours advocating for our students!
While we wouldn’t exist without our hardworking members, we also can’t exist without funding. Your support means so much to us and allows us to create advocacy materials, host our website, identify in-depth research through FOIA’s, and more. Please donate now. Thank you!
 
Donate Now
APS: Please Prioritize Learning Loss in Your Budget!

It's budget season for APS. We continue to urge APS to make learning loss its #1 priority in 2022. Last night's School Board featured an APE representative urging APS to dedicate funding now to combat the massive academic and socio-emotional learning loss from March, 2020-August 2021.

Research shows that the most important determinants of student educational success include:
  1. High quality teachers
  2. Small class sizes
  3. Increased instructional time
  4. Classes that challenge each student
  5. Materials that help students learn
APS currently lags our neighboring districts on many of the above factors. Our teacher pay is below our local peers, our class sizes are larger, we do not provide the same number of intensified classes at certain grade levels, and our school calendar is shorter.

APS’ budget priorities should be focused on addressing those factors, and addressing the learning loss of the last two years. Therefore, we support:
  • APS’ proposal to increase teacher pay. 
  • Reduction of class size planning factor in elementary by 3 students and in secondary by at least 1 student per teacher.
  • A longer calendar of at LEAST 180 days per year.
  • A summer program serving more students and providing full-day instruction for at least 5 to 6 weeks as the US Department of Education recommends. 
  • Before and after school instruction and intensified tutoring for students who are behind grade level – regardless of the amount of ESSER funding received from the state. 
  • More intensified classes in middle school. (We applaud APS for considering the GSAC recommendation to this end, and urge adoption.)  
  • Fully fund adoption of Math resource materials, and complete the adoption of structured literacy materials and professional development for all grades this next school year.
These priorities can be fully funded within APS’ $700 million plus budget.  Given our lower enrollment, carryover of $60 million in funds from last year, and the expected increase in county revenues, we believe resources will be sufficient to cover these programs.  If compromises must be made, we urge APS to identify savings from its non-student-facing positions rather than affect those positions most critical to our students’ instruction.

To this we would add the concerning attendance numbers at the Virtual Learning Program (VLP): between 91-97% of students accessing some platforms for online instruction, but only 73% accessing real-time class sessions, and chronic truancy reported. 

Join us in asking APS to prioritize the above in its 2022-2023 budget.
Tell the School Board to hold APS accountable for addressing learning loss in the upcoming budget by supporting the above.
Listen to an APE representative address the School Board on need for textbooks and manipulatives.
 
Forward this newsletter to a friend or neighbor. Sign up your friends and neighbors. (Please get their OK first. They can unsubscribe at any time.)
12/16 School Board Recap

At last week's board meeting, there was a considerable review of the carry forward funds from FY2021 and a Q4 CIP presentation. The Board heard from speakers on behalf of APE, discussing budget priorities and the need to address learning loss. Monique O’Grady’s farewell took place. The School Board heard from some student and parent speakers on their support for holidays such as the Jewish High Holy Days. The 2022-2023 academic calendar passed 5-0, cutting our days below our neighbors and APS’ pre-pandemic calendar rather than adding those days on the front or back end of the academic year. Dr. Durán discussed the improvement in grades in first quarter vs. last year, and presented a 10-minute video discussion on how Carlin Springs is addressing learning loss with intensive reading and math intervention with manipulatives. Read the full recap here.

See the School Board Meeting Scorecard here.
Happy Holidays to You and Your Family! See you in 2022!

Forward this newsletter to a friend or neighbor. Thank you for reading!
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