Another busy week in Alexandria, this one with a clash between Alexandria City High School’s Theogony student newspaper and school administration at the forefront.
The opening of the Minnie Howard campus as a second location for Alexandria City High School created a situation where, between classes, students may have to take a bus to get from one campus to the other. After weeks of reporting on transportation frustrations of students struggling to get between the new Alexandria City High School campuses, the Theogony editors wrote a scathing condemnation of the current transportation setup:
By far the biggest story of the year has been the opening of the new Minnie Howard campus and the transportation fiasco that has subsequently ensued. As we reported in Julia Gwin’s article, “Transportation Issues Plague School Year,” roughly 1,600 students transport between campuses. With a limited number of buses, our analysis found that several hundred students typically take the 0.6 mile walk between campuses, crossing — oftentimes into oncoming traffic — one of Alexandria’s most dangerous intersections.
Theogony wasn’t alone either: Alexandria’s City Council voiced concerns about the transportation plans both before the new campus opened and at the start of this school year. City Council member John Chapman said at a meeting earlier this month that ACPS “assured us this would not be an issue, but it seems like it’s an issue.”
Students are not allowed to walk from one campus to the other — in large part because at the middle of that half-mile gap between the schools is one of the busiest, most dangerous intersections in the city. Even so, Theogony reported that every day hundreds of students make the walk because it’s more reliable than the bus.
ACPS’ Chief Operating Officer Alicia Hart and Chief Academic Officer Pierrette Finney, however, dismissed the concerns to ALXnow earlier this week and said the buses are reliable and being underutilized by students.
“While we appreciate the reports regarding students walking between campuses, it’s important to clarify that the situation is not due to a lack of bus availability,” Hart and Finney said. “In fact, many students are choosing not to utilize the shuttles that are currently in place.”
Response on social media and the comments were almost universally skeptical of ACPS claims and parents told ALXnow their students are regularly late to classes because of the buses.
The bus battle carried over into a City Council debate yesterday, where multiple City Council candidates — including former School Board members — but the blame for the dysfunction squarely on the School Board.
“What’s happened with the Minnie Howard transportation issues?” Democratic candidate Abdel Elnoubi, a member of the School Board, asked. “It’s what happens when we let staff dictate direction, and the elected School Board does not ask tough questions, does not push back and does not exert its authority. It’s unintended consequences that’s not thought through.”
The most-read stories this week were:
- Virginia Tech Innovation Campus to open in Potomac Yard on January 21 (4621 views)
- Staffing crisis abated at Alexandria City Public Schools (3910 views)
- ACPS pushes back on intercampus high school transportation controversy (3773 views)
- Eisenhower Avenue overhaul heading to City Council review after local residents appeal proposed changes (2545 views)
- UPDATE: Alexandria firefighters battle multiple-alarm fire at Landmark apartment building (2465 views)
- Man arrested Monday morning after burglary at Wells Fargo Bank in Alexandria’s West End (2357 views)
- Old Town Business Improvement District vote fails yet again (2225 views)
