Schools Champions

Kate Waller Barrett Elementary School has been educating students in the Ballston-Buckingham area since 1939. Barrett Elementary School is a hands-on, science-focused school with almost 50% of its diverse student body walking to school on a regular basis. Staff have also begun to embrace healthy commuting, with an increase in walking and transit ridership. Through Champions, Barrett aims to increase carpooling and make it fun for everyone to walk, bike, ride the bus and share the ride.

Key School/Escuela Key is a bilingual immersion school in Courthouse that teaches students in English and in Spanish, emphasizing cooperation, creativity and community. Through Champions, Key will expand its cooperation and community by educating staff and students about healthy and green transportation options. By the end of the year, everyone will be as fluent in transportation choices as they are in English and Spanish.

To graduate students who experience a rigorous academic program and emerge as confident critical thinkers who embrace challenges, demonstrate resiliency, and are empowered to pursue personal goals and contribute positively to their communities.

The northernmost Arlington middle school, Williamsburg Middle School has been around since 1954. The Williamsburg Wolves were recognized as one of 12 schools in Arlington that earned a 2014 Virginia Index of Performance (VIP) award for advanced learning and achievement. Along with its new neighbor, Discovery Elementary School, Williamsburg encourages biking, walking and carpooling for staff and students to help the environment and to be more active.

Yorktown High School is a community of learners engaged in the process of systematically building connections to knowledge, to each other and to the world. We believe in working together to validate knowledge and give meaning to community, citizenship, career, leadership, integrity and civility beyond success in school.

Alice West Fleet has Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade. A full range of educational services are available including preschool, gifted, ESOL/HILT, Spanish (Foreign Language in the Elementary School), special education, and related services such as speech, occupational and physical therapy.

Our student’s families speak more than 20 different languages, and over 140 second language learners are enrolled in programs focusing on English language training.

Ashlawn is a close-knit neighborhood school and has a well-deserved reputation for being a friendly, caring place where most of the families know each other by name. The diverse student population reflects the changing demographic in Arlington, with families from over 30 different countries and cultures. Located next to Bluemont Park, Bon Air Park and several convenient multiuse trails, Ashlawn has plenty of opportunity for biking and walking. Ashlawn staff and students take pride in taking care of the planet and understand the importance of sustainable transportation.

The H-B Woodlawn Program is based on a proposal developed by Arlington students and teachers over forty years ago. The program is designed to give students more control over their education, and prizes self-motivation and self-discipline. Students, chosen by lottery from across the County, make choices in use of time and personal behavior; educational goals; and school governance. By participating in the Champions program, the H-B Woodlawn Program seeks to encourage different transportation choices for students and staff alike.

The Syphax Education Center is the location of APS’ Department of Instruction, which provides leadership in the development of curriculum and the implementation and evaluation of the instructional program. The staff works with schools on methods of assessing student learning, emphasizing a variety of approaches which include objective tests of knowledge and skills as well as more complex measures of students’ abilities to apply what they have learned.

Arlington Career Center is a special program for Arlington Public School students offering a range of classes and education opportunities. Students experience hands-on learning while earning real-world certifications ranging from aviation technology to culinary arts and sciences. The staff embrace transportation options while encouraging students to expand their horizons the same way. The Career Center supports transit training and is created a bike library during the 2017-2018 school year, complete with an app.

Dorothy Hamm Middle School is the newest school to inhabit 4100 Vacation Lane in Arlington. From 1951 – 1978, it housed Stratford Junior High School for students in grades 7 through 9. On Feb. 2, 1959, Stratford Junior High School became the first public secondary school in the Commonwealth of Virginia to desegregate with the admission of four African-American students: Ronald Deskins, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, and Gloria Thompson. The event signified the end of “massive resistance” to desegregation in Virginia schools. Because of this distinction, the building is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register (2003) and the National Register of Historic Places (2004). It was also designated as a local Historic District by the Arlington County Board in 2016.

The staff at Kenmore Middle School is committed to providing educational programs that stimulate academic excellence and intellectual curiosity. It is our expectation that every child who attends Kenmore will plan to attend college.

We are prepared to work together with each member of our community – each student, each parent and each staff member – to achieve these goals in an atmosphere that fosters respect and understanding.

Each of us will have an important role to play as we recognize and appreciate one another’s individual contributions to the growth and success of Kenmore and our students.