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.
Update at 12:20 p.m. — The Minnie Howard campus is being evacuated as police investigate a bomb threat against the school.
Both Alexandria City High School’s main campus and the Minnie Howard campus are on lockdown after threats made on social media.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is working on implementing a new strategy that aims to create an “early warning system” for students at risk of dropping out of school.
At a school board meeting tomorrow (Thursday), Superintendent Gregory Hutchings is docketed to present a proposal for ACPS to develop and adopt the new system.
A student was suspended last month at Francis C. Hammond Middle School for allegedly writing about ‘shooting up the school’ on Discord with another student.
On October 26, the school resource officer at Francis C. Hammond Middle School was alerted by school staff that the student was interviewed and suspended.
Alexandria City Public Schools staff and the Police Department are hammering out a revised memorandum of understanding (MOU), and while few details have been released, the school system says that the school resource officer (SRO) program will change next year.
It’s been more than a month since City Council reversed its decision and brought back SROs. The initial decision to defund the officers redirected $800,000 in SRO funding toward mental health resources for students. It created a rift between City Council and the School Board, but after numerous violent incidents with weapons in schools, School Board Chair Meagan Alderton and Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. pleaded for their return.
After the 2019 decision to maintain one high school, Alexandria City Public Schools is finally getting ready to send its expanded campus concept to the city for review.
Plans specifically for the current Minnie Howard campus are scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Jan. 4:
