Thirty-eight Alexandria students were referred to court for alleged criminal activity in the second semester of the last school year, and there was also a significant uptick in the number of incidents requiring a police response.
That’s according to a new system-wide safety report that the School Board will receive on Thursday night.
There were 308 reported incidents requiring a police response throughout Alexandria City Public Schools, a 44% increase over 213 incidents reported in the first semester of the 2023/2024 school year.
The new numbers include four weapons-related incidents, 66 students needing EMS assistance, 69 fights/assaults and seven pulled fire alarms.
Confiscated weapons include a knife, a stun gun and two handguns. One handgun was found concealed during a weapons screening at a school entrance, according to ACPS.
There were no arrests in the second semester of the school year, but there were 38 referrals to court services for the following alleged illegal behavior:
- Assault — 18 incidents (11 on campus, seven off campus)
- Trespassing — 7 incidents (All on campus)
- Public Intoxication — 4 incidents (All on campus)
- Controlled Substance — 4 incidents (All on campus)
- Alcohol possession — 2 incidents (All on campus) Occurrences)
- Theft — 1 incident (On-campus)
- Obstruction — 1 incident on campus
- Fire Marshal Charge — 1 incident on campus
Twenty-five referrals were made against Alexandria middle schoolers, 10 against high school students, two elementary school students and one referral was made at the K-8 school level.
Below is the racial breakdown of students referred to court services.
In contrast, there was only one student arrested and 30 referred to court in the first semester of the 2023/2024 school year, according to ACPS. Of those 31 total students, 23 were middle schoolers and eight were students at Alexandria City High School.
All together, there were 69 student arrests/referrals in the 2023/2024 school year.
The difference between referrals and arrests
While there were zero arrests within the school system in the last semester of the 2023/2024 school year, that doesn’t mean that the students caught allegedly committing crimes are let off the hook.
While they might not get arrested, students still get charged for crimes.
John Contreras, the ACPS director of safety services explained the distinction when the first semester data was presented in February.
“A referral is a filing of a complaint to the court in the case of a student aged 18 or older or through juvenile court intake, in the case of a student below the age of 18. Basically that particular student is still charged with a legal code or a violation,” Contreras said. “Just instead of them being arrested and taken to detention, they are referred to the court and normally released to a parent or guardian on-site. That’s what a referral is.”
The 308 incidents in the second semester of the 2023/2024 school year include:
- 73 incidents characterized as “other” (including 11 cases of trespassing, five students in crisis, two reports of public intoxication, two threat assessments)
- 69 fights/assaults
- 66 injuries that required medical assistance
- Four confiscated weapons
- 12 controlled substances
- 16 threats (verbal/cyber/social media)
- Nine reports of suspicious activity
- Seven alarms pulled
- Four reports of sexual misconduct
- Five thefts
- Three reports of vandalism
Since the data started to be collected three years ago, the 2023/2024 school year has the most incidents across the board. 
Incidents within ACPS dating back to the 2021/2022 school year (via ACPS)
