APS Virtual Learning Program May Be Paused For Next School Year

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington Public Schools will be hosting a virtual webinar via Zoom Tuesday night for families with students in the county's Virtual Learning Program. VLP was offered last fall as a program option for K-12 students when the school system went back to in-classroom learning.

Superintendent Dr. Francisco Durán; Kimberley Graves, chief of school support; Bridget Loft, chief academic officer; and Danielle Harrell, VLP principal, will participate in the virtual discussion from 7:30-8:30 p.m. to answer families' questions about the proposed changes to the VLP.

In his presentation to the Arlington School Board, Durán recommended pausing the VLP for the 2022-23 school year. He added that time was needed to develop a more comprehensive virtual option that would serve students who thrive in the virtual environment.

Instruction would be provided by a third-party vendor and enrollment would be limited to students who met certain eligibility requirements, including health impairments that impact daily school attendance and an exemption due to a family member's health.

The school board will vote Feb. 17 on Durán's recommendations.

The VLP Parent Coalition, a group of families concerned about maintaining the same level of services for the program, said that marginalized groups are overrepresented in the 573 students currently in the program, based on APS' own data:

• Twice as many English learners as the average APS school
• 83 percent of students enrolled are students of color; and 60 percent rely on free or reduced lunch
• 50 percent more special education students than the average APS school
• A higher proportion of underserved and marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Asians 15 percent, Black 24 percent, Hispanic 37 percent) than the average APS school (Asian 9 percent, Black 10 percent, Hispanic 28 percent).

Families can join the VLP Zoom webinar from 7:30-8:30 p.m., by following this link and using the passcode 411557. Participants may also join by calling 301-715-8592 and giving the Webinar ID: 885 4402 7495 and passcode: 411557. Questions can be submitted to panelists using the chat feature.

Interpretation will be provided during the meeting in Amharic, Arabic, Mongolian, Spanish, and American Sign Language. The meeting will also be recorded in English and made available to those who are unable to attend