Wednesday, April 23, 2008

HeraldTrib Today April 23, 2008

A couple items about Barrett this week…

Scroll down, and you’ll find a story about the final year of Barrett’s NASA Exploratory School status. I took a look at professional development, especially grant funding for conferences and the like.

One thing I did not mention, and perhaps should have, was a paragraph in the letter of transmittal Superintendent Robert Smith sent with the the fiscal year 2009 Arlington Public Schools’ budget (approved April 17). The letter summarizes a new initiative for professional development:

“We propose an Elementary Professional Development and Testing Initiative that would assign to each elementary school a full-time assistant principal. This strategy will strengthen the instructional leadership team in each school and will provide instructional coaching support for all teachers, especially in mathematics and reading. The assistant principal will also support principals in providing testing coordination and data analysis, very important functions if we expect to benefit from the extraordinary investment in assessing student progress that is a prominent feature of education today.”

Barrett currently has a half-time principal. In the budget that is raised to full-time.

Also below, I posted a few pictures from last Friday’s garden redevelopment at Barrett.


Feds and County Continue to Share…

The county and the State Department will continue to maintain together some property near the National Foreign Affairs Training Center just south of Buckingham along S. George Mason Drive after the county board voted Saturday to update a 14-year-old Memorandum of Understanding between the two bodies. The county can use the property as parkland, but they will continue to maintain it.

County Manager Ron Carlee’s report to the board said there were “minor amendments,” and “There are no issues identified with the requested amendments.”

The report went on, “the County will have continued temporary joint recreational use of the parcel of the federal property known as the ‘West Parcel’ (a portion of the National Foreign Affairs Training Center west of George Mason Drive), and a portion of the parcel of federal property known as the ‘East Parcel’ (the main portion of the NFATC site located east of George Mason Drive)…for a period of ten years from the date the Amended MOU is executed. The County Manager would be authorized extend the term of the MOU for additional five (5) periods, on the same terms specified in the Amended MOU.”

The parcels contain soccer fields and playground on the “West Parcel” and a walking path on the “East Parcel.”


View Larger Map


UUCA Celebrated 40 years…

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, just south of Buckingham, on S. George Mason Drive celebrated 60 years earlier this month. The story was carried in the Sun Gazette—I just plain missed it. Rather than write my own, I’ll just point you that way. Click here.


Some day, son, all this will be yours…

I think it was the writer Flannery O'Connor, a Catholic who found Southern Baptists a bit funny,who put together a book of photos of marquis (marquises?) that graced churchyards and businesses throughout The South. The best that I remember was one that talked about the second coming of Christ and a dirt-cheap oil change. I think of that during my morning dog walks the few times I have passed this marquis on S. Taylor Street:


It is not nearly so crass as the Second Coming Oil Change, but it is fun to read.

Just around the corner on S. 9th Street, you’ll find this sign:


Actually, there is a house on the property that I believe the sign goes with. But one tends to notice the sign and the entryway and the open space where a house should be before one actually notices the house!



The Week’s Headlines…
As always, you can scroll down to see all the recent stories, or simply click the links below (if the link doesn't work, scroll down to find the story, and email to tell me what's busted: heraldtrib@gmail.com --Steve Thurston).

Today's Headlines:

  • Police Notes for Buckingham

  • Headlines from Earlier in the Week:

  • Barrett Will Miss NASA-funded Conferences
  • Barrett’s Garden Party
  • Another Accident at Thomas/Pershing
  • Letter: Bham Center Could Use Many Stores
  • Letter: Men Are Illegals (this letter continues to get comments—take a peek).
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    Comments:
    FYI: it's "marquee."
     

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