The 5th Grade events — Pre-Oscars Pool Party, Promotion/The Oscars, the Post-Oscars Party are coming soon. It should be a fun month!! See more…

On Wednesday, February 27 APS Staff presented a recommendation and an alternative for school boundary changes that would take effect in 2015-2016 when a new school opens on the Williamsburg campus.  You may view the recommendation and alternative online by clicking on the links in the upper right corner of the More Seats website (http://www.apsva.us/moreseats).  Both the recommendation and alternative plan move all 4 Jamestown planning units west of Old Dominion (2209-2212) to the new school.  Taylor planning units 2302 (Bellevue Forest) and 2303 (the northeastern portion of 26^th St.) are moved into the Jamestown school district in both plans.  The proposed boundary changes are expected to reduce Jamestown’s projected enrollment from  is 107.5% of capacity to 100.8% of capacity in 2015-2016 without considering the impact of grandfathering.  APS Staff also recommended that 5^th graders and younger siblings who are concurrently enrolled in grades k-4 be allowed to remain at their current school with transportation for that school year only.

APS Staff listened to feedback from attendees and plans to develop a third alternative based on feedback at the meeting.  They will present these recommendations to the Superintendent who will in turn present his recommendation to the School Board later this month.  The School Board is expected to vote on a boundary changes in April.

You may provide feedback on the recommendations at the meeting with Noah Simon on March 5 at 6:45 pm, the March 5 PTA meeting at 7:30 pm, or via e-mail to feedback@jamestownpta.org.  The PTA leadership compiles feedback sent to the Feedback e-mail and passes it on to key players in the process.

The County Board and the School Board met in November 2012 to discuss the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 2013. At that time, the County Manager estimated that revenue growth would slow to approximately 1% for next year. Based on this level of revenue growth, Arlington Public Schools (APS) estimates a shortfall of approximately $23.5 million for continuing services only, including funding for the projected increase in enrollment and a pay step increase for APS employees. Without a pay step increase, the shortfall is expected to be $16.3 million.

The Jamestown PTA would like to know what choices parents would make in closing the budget gap in order to influence the School Board and County Board’s decision making process in a way that best serves our community. Please click here to participate in an online, 6-question survey.

Through Friday, February 1, you may also use an online budgeting tool supplied by APS to develop and recommend a budget plan.  This tool may be found at http://budgetproposal.apsva.us/MyApps/index.htm.

This survey is open only to Jamestown parents.  If you are not a Jamestown parent and would like to read the survey, please click here.

Perception Art (a drawing, painting, and collage class) has been added to the Enrichment Schedule.  The class will be held on Mondays, beginning FEBRUARY 4th. Enrollment can be completed through the PTA at Jamestown.enrichment2012@gmail.com.  The cost of the class will be $235.  It will be 10 weeks (ending April 23rd) and excludes March 25th and April 1st.  Payment for the class is due to the vendor, Rosalind Fellman, on the first day of class.

School Board member, Noah Simon, attended our PTA meeting on Tuesday, January 8 to field questions and listen to feedback from our community.  The PTA also considered whether to adopt a proposed Resolution Endorsing Building of the New Elementary School on the Williamsburg Campus.  The third point was stricken from the proposed resolution, because many parents attending the meeting felt that Arlington Public Schools did not engage “in an extensive community process to plan the most feasible locations for construction of new space based on a range of relevant factors.”  Parents cited a lack of community involvement on the site selection, insufficient evaluation of alternatives (eg, Madison Center, Reed Center, relocating ATS), and late evaluation of traffic and other impacts (eg, not until being deep into the design process for the building).  Still, enough parents felt it was important to express our support of building to alleviate overcrowding that the PTA voted to adopt a modified version of the resolution.

APS Transportation Service is offering Courtesy Bus Service on a limited basis to students who live near the walk zone boundary of the school they attend.  All requests are being considered on a case-by-case basis.  First priority is being given to those students who are closest to the perimeter where there is a bus stop and on routes with available space.  See the link below for more details of the criteria and the phone number for the Transportation Call Center to make a request for Courtesy Busing. http://www.apsva.us//site/Default.aspx?PageID=20354

On Thursday, November 29 the County Manager and School Superintendent held a Joint Community Forum on the Fiscal Year 2014 budget.  The County expects a $49.2M budget shortfall for 2014, assuming tax revenue growth of only 1%.  The primary source of the shortfall is slow growth in tax revenues relative to growth in expenditures.  The County Board has provided guidance that the operating costs of new projects (Arlington Mill, ConnectArlington) and school enrollment growth be covered by tax revenue increases.  Half of remaining shortfall should be covered by tax revenue increases while the other half covered by spending cuts.  The guidance also calls for the county and schools to maintain the revenue sharing adopted in the 2013 budget (54.2% by the county, 45.8% by the schools).  Dr. Murphy mentioned several possible sources of cuts in the school budget: one-time employee payments, eliminating/outsourcing employee benefits, deferring maintenance/minor construction, reducing building custodians, reducing “overlay” staffing, increasing class size, and program adjustments or changes in level of service.  Break-out sessions were held for community members to give feedback on sources of revenue and potential spending cuts.  APS will be holding a forum for feedback specifically on the school budget on December 5 at the Education Center.  This is an opportunity to give input on spending cuts that will be considered in February’s budget.  More information about the budget will be posted at www.apsva.us/budget.