FACILITIES ADVISORY COUNCIL
New to our Committees in 2023-2024 school year, the Facilities Advisory Council is a lead and the potential to expand to a cohort of Taylor parents and community members to advocate for continual improvement to the facilities planning process, and ensuring our building remains a safe, comfortable learning environment for all to thrive!
Requirements are attending the APS Facilities Advisory meetings on a regular basis, reporting back to the Taylor PTA Executive Board, and highlighting ways for the community to engage.
There are several news items for our community regarding Taylor Facilities in October:
Advocacy Group Update: A kick-off meeting between Katie Madigan, Principal, Jane Wishneff, PTA President, and Erin Parker, Chair of the Taylor Facilities Advocacy Group was held on October 12th. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss strategic planning and critical priorities to improve Taylor's facilities. Key topics included overall building safety and security, immediate facilities improvement needs, and next steps for advocacy at the County level.
How to Get Involved: Interested in helping advocate for Taylor's needs? There are several ways to make an impact:
Contact Erin Parker at erinmccantsparker@gmail.com or at 703-989-6708 to share specific items or areas of concern. Please also contact Erin if you are interesting in joining the Advocacy Group.
OCTOBER UPDATE
On Friday, October 27th, APS sent out its weekly "Friday Five" communication. The first topic was devoted to an update on Facilities Planning for the school system. With a focus on providing optimal learning environments for students, APS Facilities and Operations and the Advisory Council on School Facilities and Capital Programs (FAC) assessed all 41 school facilities across APS using a wide variety of metrics.
These assessments and the workbook with all of the detailed indicators can be found via this link:
An info session between the FAC and Arlington's JFAC was held on Monday, October 30 to deliver the results (the workbook). The outcome of this project is to enable APS/JFAC to better prioritize projects and funding across the school system. Taylor is currently included on a short list out of the 41 schools needing significant attention.
We will be heavily involved in the remaining meetings this month to keep Taylor's needs on that list and learn more about the scope and timing of potential projects.
If you have any questions or would like to support this effort, please contact Erin Parker at erinmccantsparker@gmail.com .