It’s been a busy week in Alexandria with City Council coming back into session for the first time in 2022.
With a majority of the Council being new, there are fresh names and perspectives stories about city decision-making. Highlights from this week’s City Council meeting included a first look at plans for the city to — kind of — invest in a luxury hotel and bids to develop broadband internet access citywide.
(Updated at noon, Jan. 12) In the midst of declining enrollment, Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. wants to give all ACPS employees a raise.
That’s the gist of Hutchings’ $346 million fiscal year 2022 Combined Funds Budget, which he presented to the School Board last Thursday night (Jan. 6). The proposal is a nearly 4% increase over last year’s budget, and asks for approximately $248.7 million from the city. The City Council ultimately provides ACPS with 80% of its operating fund.
Alexandria School Board members say they want to keep in-person instruction going, but amidst a surge in Covid cases the Alexandria City Public Schools system now has an official plan to revert to virtual learning on a school-by-school basis.
“There may be cases in the future where we have to transition into a virtual learning setting due to that and we want to just prepare for that,” Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr., told the Board Thursday night.
As it turns out, Wednesday was the last day this week kids would return to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) as both students and teachers get their snow day.
At 5 p.m. today (Thursday), ACPS announced that school would be fully closed on Friday. All activities in school or on school grounds are canceled, and ACPS officials told ALXnow that there won’t be virtual school tomorrow either.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) has announced that school is canceled for tomorrow (Thursday) after three days of virtual learning to allow for a virtual workday.
Classes were held online Monday, Tuesday and today as the city continues to recover from Monday’s snowstorm and as the city goes through a resurgence of COVID-19. Extracurricular activities are also canceled.
Today (Monday) marked a return to virutal learning due to a severe snow storm, and with many roads still dangerous or impassable, Alexandria City Public Schools has announced that tomorrow will be a virtual day as well.
ACPS announced late last year that snow days might be a thing of the past after the school division became relatively proficient in virtual learning — a necessity caused by COVID-19.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) will be closed for in-person instruction tomorrow (Monday) with classes shifted to virtual learning.
With a winter storm warning in effect for tomorrow from 1 a.m.-4 p.m., ACPS announced at 6 p.m. on Sunday that Monday would be a virtual learning day.
Despite high numbers of new COVID-19 infections, Alexandria City Public Schools plan on fully reopening from winter break on Monday, Jan. 3.
“ACPS continues to use the current health and safety guidelines provided on our 2021-22 Health & Safety Guidance web page,” Julie Crawford, ACPS Chief of Student Services and Equity, told ALXnow. “At present, there is no change to our return plans after winter break.”
Days after both school resource officers at Alexandria City High School were put on administrative leave, the Alexandria Police Department and Alexandria City Public Schools system are still unclear as to if or when those officers will be replaced.
The officers were placed on leave last Thursday after a “serious complaint” from a former student alleging “sexually inappropriate conversations” while she attended ACHS, according to the Washington Post.
Alexandria’s COVID-19 infections jumped after Thanksgiving, and the numbers continue to rise going into the winter holidays.
There were 116 new cases reported in the city today (Friday), which is the most single-day cases reported since January 2021. There have been 301 new cases reported in the City in the last three days alone, and this “exponential” jump in COVID-19 cases, as described by the Health Department Thursday night, has stretched to Alexandria City Public Schools, as it waves farewell to 15,000 students for the two week winter break starting Monday.
(Updated at 12 a.m, Friday, Dec. 17.) The two school resource officers at Alexandria City High School have been removed from their posts and placed on administrative leave after a “serious complaint,” according to the Alexandria Police Department.
“APD takes complaints regarding misconduct seriously and is working diligently to investigate this situation,” the department told ALXnow.
