A coalition of Arlington civic and planning leaders is urging the School Board to provide space in the current Arlington Career Center building for Arlington Community High School.
The request, made as part of a broader set of suggestions from those who wrote voicing recommendations on the school system’s capital plan, comes as it seems unlikely Arlington Community High School will get its promised space in the Pentagon City area in the near future.
That purpose-built space had been promised to Arlington officials by Amazon, but now is on hold as the company slows development of its HQ2 facilities in Arlington.
For the past year, Arlington Community High School students and staff have been housed in an office building in Ballston, after its most recent home – a stand-alone building on the Career Center campus – was razed to make way for construction of a replacement Career Center building.
Over the years, Arlington Community High School has bounced from building to building. Its student body is composed largely of immigrants, many of them adults who are finishing high-school studies while also juggling work and family responsibilities.
“These students don’t have a vocal constituency advocating before the School Board,” the letter to the School Board said.
“Each time they have moved locations, the program has lost students – especially those over 18 years of age,” they wrote. “[Many of them] likely did not complete their education.”
The letter, which also touched on issues ranging from chaotic school-system budgeting to a lack of attention to neighborhood schools, was signed by a who’s who of local civic leadership: Ginger Brown, John Giambalvo, Greg Greeley, Kelly King, Kathleen McSweeney, John Milliken, Jason Rylander, Stacy Snyder and Tannia Talento. They were writing in their personal capacity, not on behalf of any organizations to which they belong.
The letter also notes that while earlier school-system planning was predicated on increasing enrollment, it now appears growth will be limited, which can allow the district to focus on maintaining its existing facilities rather than building new ones.
When the new Arlington Career Center building opens in several years, the program name will be changed to honor Grace Hopper (1906-92), a U.S. Navy computer scientist and mathematician who at one time was an Arlington resident.
