For my monthly “kitchen sink” column, let me toss out some observations about recent events, prefaced with a question. Let’s begin with some school board news. 

 How much homework is too much homework? This question is just one issue relating to the changes made to the Arlington Public Schools (APS) homework policy. One challenge for any school system is to quantify time limits, and also to include other limitations. As one might guess, there are always lots of opinions about homework. I have a special interest in this topic, going back over 30 years ago, when I chaired an APS Homework Committee that was tasked with making policy recommendations. One hot issue involved homework to be completed over spring break. We put an end to that! The current policy now prohibits assignments that are due on the return date after a three-day weekend. The latest APS policy does address my question about “too much homework,” by creating maximum time limits. For high school students, it is 60 minutes per course per week (prior to 2022, it had been 120 minutes per week). As one might imagine, there are plenty of caveats and exemptions to these time limits (they do not apply to Advanced Placement courses). I was able to access good information from the APS website, and from the website of an educational advocacy group, Arlington Parents for Education. Their response to the current policies is very detailed and informative. My overall opinion of the APS homework policy, in general, is that (a) it is important to have some guidelines; and (b) there is no perfect policy.  

 At what age should “travel teams” for sports begin? I noticed an announcement last month for tryouts for a third-grade girls’ basketball team, organized by a private group. I am revealing my “Baby Boomer Bias” by wondering if this might be a bit early for the travel team experience. 

 Do you want to make daylight saving time permanent? Whatever might be your opinion on this issue, I suspect we all get tired of the “clock-switching” twice a year. The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent. However, a number of members of the U.S. Senate are extremely cautious; some acknowledge that switching clocks is a pain, and contend that the scientific evidence shows that permanent standard time would be the better option for public health. Anyway, as of this date, it appears that we will “fall back” this year – get ready to turn back the clock to standard time on November 1.  

What’s your latest news source? Earlier this year I raised this question, in my attempt to discover helpful local news sources in this age of what might be called media fragmentation. As an update, there is a “new name in town,” called The Washington Sun, a digital news outlet that got its start in 2024 as a national politics site called NOTUS (an awkward acronym for News of the United States). Last month it took on the new name, and expanded its coverage to include local news, with a separate Metro section. There are familiar names from The Washington Post (Thomas Boswell, Tom Sietsma), with weather forecasts from what used to be called the Capital Weather Gang (which has returned with the shortened name of “Capital Weather”, an independent offering with its own website). The jury is still out, but so far, The Washington Sun’s Metro section does not appear to provide any significant amount of Arlington news.  

 Should Flock cameras be used in Arlington? The County Board voted in September to remove the 41 Flock cameras that have been located around the County. This vote, which reflects a growing national controversy about the use of these cameras, came after a closed Board session. The County Board decision is likely to generate more questions in the coming months, based on the substantive question but also due to procedural concerns (e.g., why have a closed session on this issue?).