Alexandria City Public Schools is preparing to go back to school with an all-online model, school administrators are working to adapt the school systems’ athletics program to a new, condensed schedule.
James Parker, Director of Athletics and Student Activities, said that like the rest of the state, Alexandria sports will have a modified schedule with sporting events currently planned to start again in January.
“The winter season will start on the 1st of the year, then the fall season after that, in February or March,” Parker said.
All sports teams will play 60 percent of their regular seasons. So if there are ten football games in a season, the Titans will only play six of them. Parker said ACPS is still working with the Virginia High School League to figure out how playoffs would be run, if at all.
Parker said many students who were likely to get scholarships were already being scouted in their junior years, but that it could be late spring or early summer before some get their offers. The only concern is that they won’t have any information on whether some of the athletes improved, meaning some students who have outstanding seasons their senior year might not be recognized for that in scholarships. Parker said there will be a lot of college coaches taking the word of high school coaches this year.
The bigger concern, Parker said, is a backlog at the college level as students who would have graduated from the colleges are allowed to finish out their seasons the coming year.
“Lets say there’s 50 kids on a football team and ten leave,” Parker said. “If we don’t have football this year, those kids will get to stay. But what happens to the ten kids who were going to move up? They’re going to have to expand rosters, possibly, or sit out for a year.”
In the meantime, Parker said athletics programs are still planning to do no-contact conditioning days.
“That means nothing with shared equipment, so no tackling dummies or helmets,” Parker said. “So it’s more about conditioning and running. It’s like a camp.”
If the students are able to meet again in person this year, Parker said one of the lessons from the spring would be having senior night as soon as possible in case there’s a second wave.
“If we’re able to start, knowing that things can be automatically shut down, we would do Senior Nights at the beginning,” Parker said. “We would move those up, just in the event that things happen and we have to go back to shutdown, so at least those kids get recognized.”
ACPS’ Virtual Plus+ plan was submitted to the Virginia Department of Education for review today (Friday).
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St. Paul’s Episcopal Preschool, a play-based, half-day preschool in the heart of Old Town, Alexandria has limited openings for the ’23-’24 school year.
SPEP offers:
- 18 month old – Kindergarten classes
- Full day Kindergarten option (3 days/week)
- Early Care
- Transportation (ages 3+)
- Weekly Field Trips (ages 3+)
- Financial Aid available
Monarch Montessori School located in the heart of Del Ray is enrolling children 6 weeks to 6 years of age for our half day and full day program.
Our hours of operation are 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Monday-Friday. Monarch Montessori School is open year round, with intermittent breaks.
Children engage in self-directed, self-initiated activities under the guidance of a trained Montessori teacher. Classroom sizes range from 8-12 students. Our robust curriculum includes botany, sensorial activities, the social graces, culture, math, science, practical life, geography, music appreciation and language arts.
You’ll get half off of the registration fee when you register and begin care with us before April 30, 2023.
Del Ray Dog Fest & Yappy Hour
The 1st Annual Del Ray Dog Fest is a fun outdoor event that will include dog-centered activities, dog menu items, live music, vendors and food on Sunday, April 2 from 11am- 3pm at the George Washington Middle School parking lot.
