A proposal to create a new City Council/School Board subcommittee focused on Alexandria City Public Schools’ capacity challenges has won the support of a local advocacy group.
Save Jefferson-Houston (Save JH), which opposes the Alexandria City School Board’s plans to convert two K-8 schools into a middle school and elementary school, has voiced support for the proposal, which was offered by ACSB members Ryan Reyna and Kelly Carmichael Booz during a Capital Improvement Program work session last week.
In a joint letter sent to City Council and the School Board last week, Booz, Reyna, Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley and Councilman Abdel Elnoubi recommended the creation of ad hoc joint subcommittees that are “time bound to address agreed-upon issues with defined scopes and timelines, starting with one focused on long-range joint facilities in early 2026.”
The proposal identifies five topics that officials wrote could benefit from a subcommittee approach. Those are long-range joint facilities planning, budget and revenue, youth employment and out-of-school programming, shared services, and safety and security.
“We recognize that it would be challenging to take on all these issues simultaneously, thus we recommend starting with one pilot in early 2026–namely, the joint facilities planning, with a focus on middle school capacity,” the letter reads. “This would allow us to demonstrate momentum for this concept, refine the process, and determine what additional steps are needed to ensure success before expanding to other topics.”
One year ago, the School Board voted to convert Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School and Patrick Henry K-8 School into a middle school and elementary school, respectively, in an effort to address overpopulation in the city’s middle schools. Both of Alexandria’s middle schools are well over 100% capacity.
In a press release last Friday, Save JH said the subcommittee proposal is an example of responsible governance.
“Middle school capacity is a citywide issue, and it deserves a citywide solution – not a predetermined outcome that attempts to solve overcrowding by dismantling a K–8 school located just half a mile from an existing middle school,” Save JH said. “For the past year, Save JH has maintained that major facilities and programmatic decisions must be grounded in objective analysis, not assumptions or expediency. The decision by the previous School Board to close Jefferson-Houston’s elementary program failed that standard.”
The group continued, “This moment represents an opportunity to reset how Alexandria approaches major facilities and enrollment decisions – collaboratively, thoughtfully, and guided by data rather than predetermined conclusions. Save JH looks forward to engaging constructively in this process and continuing to advocate for solutions that strengthen all of Alexandria’s schools without sacrificing communities that are finally seeing progress.”
Advocates also addressed across-the-board improvements in student achievement at Jefferson-Houston, per state data released last week, particularly for the school’s Black and economically disadvantaged students.
For example, Black students’ passing rates in science assessments rose by seven percentage points to 34% last school year, while economically disadvantaged students’ passing rates in math jumped from 29% to 35%.
“These gains are not incidental,” Save JH wrote. “They are the result of intentional public investment, strong community partnership, and a school model specifically designed to serve its neighborhood. Closing JH’s elementary program at the very moment this progress is becoming visible would have been counter to equity, counter to the data, and counter to sound decision-making.”
Detailed descriptions of the proposal’s five recommended focus areas for potential subcommittees, according to the joint letter, are listed below.
- Long-Range Joint Facilities Planning – Coordinating our long-term planning for school and city facilities to maximize efficient use of limited space and identify opportunities for shared or co-located resources. For example, addressing middle school capacity issues.
- Budget and Revenue – Collaborating to set a shared long-range vision for educational investment and identifying potential opportunities for expanding revenue to serve youth, such as the creation of an Education Foundation and/or increased public-private partnerships.
- Youth Employment and Out-of-School Programming – Developing coordinated approaches to expand supports and career development opportunities for Alexandria’s youth. This could include connecting education with workforce needs, such as further alignment of (1) the Academies at Alexandria City High School and the City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) and/or (2) public and private out-of-school time programming for youth.
- Shared Services – Exploring opportunities to share services between the school system and city government that could result in cost savings, improved service delivery, or both. For example, further electrification of bus fleets, shared charging infrastructure, and maintenance.
- Safety and Security – The City and Schools already actively coordinate on key safety and security issues, including the Alexandria Police Department – Alexandria City Public Schools Memorandum of Understanding and the School Law Enforcement Partnership subcommittee.
City Council is next scheduled to convene on Tuesday, Jan. 13 for a legislative meeting.
