It’s been more than a month after the school resource officers were placed on leave at Alexandria City High School, and police have yet to replace those officers.
The officers were placed on leave shortly before the winter break after a former student alleged having “sexually inappropriate conversations” while she attended ACHS, according to the Washington Post.
Alexandria City Public Schools received 88,000 KN95 face masks for all students and staff last week, not long after newly installed Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order removing face mask mandates in public schools.
Alexandria, along with Arlington and Fairfax County, defied that order and are still requiring students, staff and visitors wear masks indoors. The Alexandria City High School athletic department has also reinstituted mask wearing during practices and competition.
Three years after Alexandria’s School Board voted to stick with one high school, plans are headed to Alexandria’s City Council that could help shed light on what that one high school system looks like.
As a quick refresher: the Minnie Howard campus currently hosts 9th-grade classes but will be expanded to act as a larger satellite campus for Alexandria City High School with a total of 1,600 students.
Alexandria City Public Schools is sticking with its proposed 10.25% salary increase for all employees, and Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. says that number will not change based on potential guidance from Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“Regardless of what the governor says or does, we have positioned ourselves to continue to increase compensation for our staff,” School Board Chair Meagan Alderton said at a budget retreat last week. “This is the type of proactive intentional work that will, I think, makes us successful to be able to sustain what it is we’re trying to do right now.”
Say farewell to the Fairies of Del Ray–just for now! — “You might have noticed the petite doors and houses and stained glass windows hidden in the crooks of trees and crannies of rocks in the Del Ray neighborhood.” [Zebra]
I-395 Seminary Road ramp conversion OKed by VA board — “The conversion will allow solo riders to use the ramp for a toll and HOV-3 carpoolers to continue using it for free.” [Patch]
In a release to parents and staff put out today (Sunday), Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) said everyone in Alexandria schools will still be required to wear a mask despite an order issued by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to the contrary.
The state executive order came as a result of a back and forth between Virginia Democrats and Republicans over requiring masks in schools. Both Arlington and Fairfax County have issued similar messages to parents and staff.
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.
