Alexandria, Arlington County briefs

Thursday, January 21, 2010; VA14

Snow-removal budget exceeded

City Manager James K. Hartmann told the City Council last week that the cost of the work required to remove the 20 inches of snow that fell on the city last month could total $1 million.

The city budgeted more than $800,000 for snow removal in fiscal 2010 and is applying for emergency federal funds to help make up the difference, Hartmann said.

Mayor William D. Euille (D) gave the city a B-minus for its snow-removal efforts and said, "We could have done much better. We can and we will." The mayor said the city will pay for future storms by dipping into other city accounts.

City officials said that the emergency operations center worked well but that strategies, plans for plowing priority streets and mapping equipment needs to be updated.

Arlington assessments decline

Arlington County's 2010 real estate assessments dropped 7.2 percent, for the first year-to-year decline since 1995.

The county had projected the decline would be 9 percent.

The budget gap for the county and its schools for fiscal 2011 is expected to be $65 million. County officials had expected the gap would be $80 million to $100 million.

Commercial assessments had the highest decline, 12.7 percent. Residential assessments fell 2.5 percent, officials said.

Acting County Manager Barbara M. Donnellan said in a statement, "The fiscal 2011 budget still remains a challenge. To balance the budget, we will have to use a combination of service reductions and tax rate and fee increases."

Donnellan will present her proposed budget in February.

Schools receive state honors

Arlington Science Focus, Arlington Traditional and McKinley Elementary schools were among 153 Virginia schools chosen for the Governor's Award for Educational Excellence.

The award is the highest honor for a school under the Virginia Index of Performance incentive program created by the state Board of Education in 2007 with the help of former governor Timothy M. Kaine (D).

"My administration has made it a priority to move beyond merely meeting standards to truly encouraging excellent performance in our schools," Kaine said in a statement.

Schools and school divisions must meet state and federal requirements for at least two years; achieve high marks in elementary reading; enrollment in Algebra I by eighth grade; and have a large number of students in college-level courses, among other criteria, to earn the award.

In Alexandria, George Mason and Lyles-Crouch elementary schools received the Board of Education's Excellence Award, the second-tier of the incentive program. Ashlawn, Jamestown, Nottingham, Oakridge, Taylor and Tuckahoe elementary schools in Arlington also received the honor.

Fifteen school divisions and 288 schools earned the Board of Education's Excellence Award. In addition to meeting state and federal goals, those schools have made significant progress toward the governor's award benchmarks.

The Board of Education's Competence to Excellence Award was given to Charles Barrett Elementary, James K. Polk Elementary and Samuel W. Tucker Elementary in Alexandria and Glebe Elementary, Henry Elementary and Washington-Lee High in Arlington County.

Seventeen school divisions and 281 schools earned this award, the third tier in the system.

A list of all schools and school divisions receiving Virginia Index of Performance Awards is on the Virginia Department of Education Web site at http://www.doe.virginia.gov.

Food history symposium

The Lyceum will host a Food History Symposium on Saturday, featuring lectures on early culinary heritage. The lectures will examine public markets, pottery vessels, bakeries, chocolate and African American foods, with an emphasis on Alexandria and the Chesapeake region.

The symposium, from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., will be at 201 S. Washington St. Registration is $50. Advance registration is encouraged and can be done online at http://www.alexandriahistory.org or by calling 703-838-4994. A schedule is also available online.

-- Compiled by Christy Goodman