Etienne Pierre

Weslie Etienne Pierre has been hired as the first director of communications and family engagement in Arlington Public School, the district announced recently.

Her role will be to oversee creation and implementation of the district’s first “Family Welcome Center” and to direct all aspects of communication, registration and family engagement, according to APS.

“The appointment of Mrs. Etienne Pierre follows a thorough search that included more than 50 individuals from across Arlington, and I am grateful to the many community members who participated in the initial screening committee and joined finalist focus groups,” said APS Superintendent Elizabeth Homan.

“Throughout the interview process and performance tasks, Weslie impressed us with her exceptional technical and interpersonal skills -- and feedback unanimously praised both her technical and interpersonal skills,” Homan said.

As part of the rise of technological advancements, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful tool, and some at Arlington High School are feeling its impact.

Consider one AI option: ChatGPT, a language-processing and -generating tool with the ability to respond reasonably to just about any question.

The platform, launched last November, performs with an intelligence and functionality that has attracted both praise and criticism.

AHS to date has, for the most part, essentially adopted the latter stance. A firewall blocks ChatGPT on the public schools' network, said Patricia Sheppard, chief information officer, making the resource inaccessible to students when they are on campus.

What is the program's danger? Cheating is one fear.

ChatGPT has the ability to respond to various kinds of questions with essays and written responses, using information pulled from across the internet. It is quick and efficient -- and therefore may appear to be an easy way for students to “borrow” work rather than doing their own.

Amelia Ruppel How of Arlington, a student at Buckingham Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, is in the first group of winners in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarships.

About 840 distinguished high-school seniors nationwide have won corporate-sponsored National Merit Scholarship awards financed by about 107 corporations, company foundations and other business organizations.

How won a national merit specialty materials manufacturing and materials technology scholarship from Specialty Materials of Lowell, the world's leading supplier of boron and silicon carbide-based composite materials.

Her probable career field is materials engineering, a news release said. The company says it believes that sponsoring scholarships in the STEM area is an investment in future leaders.

Collage of peaceful demonstrators at schools March 17.

UPDATED March 23: Educators, local government officials, students and parents took part in a brief “standout” Friday morning March 17, that occurred at nearly a dozen locations simultaneously.

They were there to demonstrate acceptance of all identities and to reject the bigotry of incidents of hate speech discovered in recent weeks at public schools as well as elsewhere in Arlington.

Since then, local authorities announced on Thursday, March 23, the arrest of a suspect in one of those cases, which occurred off campus near Spy Pond.

The peaceful gatherings took place between approximately 8 and 8:20 a.m.

The effort at all 11 public-school buildings was led by the Arlington Education Association, whose president is Julianna Keyes.

“The standout was inspired by the Belmont Education Association and the Belmont Educators of Color and Allies, who hosted a similar event against racism earlier in the month,” she told YourArlington via email over the weekend.

“In Arlington we have seen several incidents of hate speech and acts of bias recently and felt it was important to take a stand for our students and staff who are members of targeted groups. Our schools should be safe and welcoming environments for all. 

“We are thankful to the town and the school administration for their support, and to the Massachusetts Teachers Association for quickly printing signs and stickers for us. We can't solve discrimination in 20 minutes, but we can send a clear message to the perpetrators that it is not welcome in our schools.”