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ARLINGTON, Va. - Arlington public schools started 2008 with about 500 more students than projected and with ongoing overcrowding issues and the superintendent leaving leaving at the end of the school year, voters have to pick who will fill two seats and hopefully bring stability and guidance to the system.

With two spots up for election on the Arlington County School Board, incumbent Libby Garvey and newcomer Emma Violand-Sanchez are both running unopposed. Sanchez already has 30 years of experience as a teacher and supervisor in Arlington public schools. "I was the first bilingual teacher in the school system and since then til now, the population has grown, although it has sort of leveled off in the past five years," said Sanchez.

More than 19,000 students are enrolled in Arlington schools and more than 100 different languages are spoken. Minority students represent about half of Arlington's student body; 27% are Hispanic and 18% are African American. But as the schools' diversity increases, Sanchez says the student achievement gap does too. "We find that, for example, Caucasian students graduate about 94 or 95 percent, while Latino students only graduate about 62 percent, so there is a major gap," said Sanchez.

Superintendent Robert Smith would like to close the gap before he finishes his twelve year term. "We've made considerable progress. In fact, I'd call it remarkable progress over the last couple of years, but it slowed and kind of leveled off and we need to jump start that process and I know the board is already committed to that," said Smith.

But complicating the process is Arlington's growing number of immigrant students. The influx has drawn the attention of Todd McCracken, who serves on the schools' overcrowding subcommittee. "There's a lot of speculation and I think a lot of evidence that a good share of these kids may be coming from other places like Prince William county where a lot of the laws have changed and I think a lot of our immigrant families feel unwelcome," said McCracken.

With 850 more students than 2007, Arlington schools are being squeezed for space, especially in the northern part of the county. The challenge is to determine if school boundaries will have to more or if the changes are temporary. "No matter what else we do, it's hard to see how you can really resolve these issues and reduce crowding at some key schools without moving some boundaries," said McCracken.

Another ongoing issue for the school board is the renovation of Wakefield High School. Board member Libby Garvey said it's the last comprehensive high school to be renovated and it needs to be done sooner rather than later. "The county board understandably wants to be involved in the process of building the high school and that's new, so we're trying to learn how to work together and that's sort of added another layer and I think as all of the other schools have gotten done, it just feels more urgent that we need to get Wakefield finished," said Garvey.

But Garvey says amid all of the big items on the school board's agenda, members can't lose focus of what's most important. "We can't forget that that what it's all about. It's all about the kids. It's all about academic achievement and having every child reach their potential," said Garvey.

As the superintendent steps down and one new board member is elected onto the Arlington County School Board, it will continue its focus of closing the student achievement gap and listen to the community on long-term projects, like overcrowding and rebuilding Wakefield High School.

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