Alexandria parents are up in arms over a staffing crisis within Alexandria City Public Schools.

Kelly Organek says that her ninth-grade son at Alexandria City High School’s Minnie Howard campus hasn’t had a geometry teacher since school started in August and that he only recently got a new biology teacher.

“We are in a staffing crisis that is not okay for our children,” Organek testified to the School Board last Thursday night (Oct 5). “Since August 21, my son has had to teach himself biology and geometry. We have no way to know if he’s learning the material.”

ACPS staff also provided an update on staffing woes. The school system currently has 55 central office vacancies, as well as more than 100 licensed and non-licensed school-based positions. Just how many teachers are needed is not clear, and ALXnow is awaiting a more comprehensive breakdown of ACPS staffing needs.

“We’re at a point now where people are just looking for bodies to put in classrooms and that makes me so sad,” said Board Member Meagan Alderton. “I think the people on the ground, the HR (human resources) folks, have got to do the work.”

The ACPS employment page lists dozens of vacant positions, including high school science, math and history teacher jobs.

“We do know that the last couple of years have been very challenging for all of our staff,” Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said.

Margaret Browne, the ACPS director of recruitment and retention, said she is working on streamlining the onboarding process so that applicants can start work faster. She also said that ACPS advertised positions on radio stations, television, newspapers and online media, and that she and her staff conducted 13 job fairs in-house and traveled to 40 career fairs around the country last school year, including to Puerto Rico.

“I anticipated that we were going to do a large number of events last year and I’m ready to set a new record (for job fairs),” Browne said. “We’ll go down the Eastern Seaboard. This time we are going west and we’ll also do Puerto Rico again.”

The school system is also short 15 bus drivers and is offering an additional 5% raise for drivers over the course of the next three years.

Browne said that ACPS will also focus on marketing to people switching careers within associations and military organizations.

David Paladin Fernandez has been an ACPS 6th and 8th grade general education teacher for eight years. He said that his salary has been frozen half that time, and that due to an impasse over collective bargaining that the school system is running short on special education teachers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, guidance counselors, therapists, audiologists and more positions.

He also brought a red velvet cake to the School Board meeting.

“Our district is facing a staffing crisis like we’ve never seen, and our management would rather spin stories than face the reality that their recruiting and retention efforts are simply not enough,” Fernandez said. “School Board members, tonight you have heard and will hear from a number of Alexandria citizens who have been personally impacted by the decisions ACPS management has made under your watch. These citizens come to you asking, nay demanding that you start holding management accountable because the things that they are saying to the public do not match the actions we see. It’s as ridiculous as offering cake at a School Board meeting.”

Rene Pascal, the acting head of human resources for ACPS, said that teachers should feel incentivized to work for ACPS by paying smaller premiums on their health plans (see graph in above gallery).

Alexandria City High School parent Sarah Schultz said that ACPS is not being transparent on staffing woes.

“We’re asking our children to receive instruction without teachers,” ACPS parent Sarah Schultz told the Board. “We feel strongly that ACPS should not take the stance that online classes are a reasonable substitute for in-person instruction, especially for required courses and question the equity of moving groups of students to online while the rest of the students receive in-person instruction.”

Two ACPS recruitment videos made earlier this year are below.

(Updated at 1:45 p.m. on Oct. 12) Alexandria City Public Schools has aligned with Virginia law in its stance against marijuana.

Students who possess, use or distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of an ACPS school, bus stop or bus can now be expelled, according to policy revisions reviewed last week by the School Board. Marijuana was not previously listed as a banned substance.

The Board did not comment on the revisions, but received a brief staff presentation. The policy is now aligned with Virginia law.

According to the ACPS policy revisions on alcohol and other drugs in schools:

No person may manufacture, sell or distribute or possess with intent to sell, give or distribute alcohol, or any controlled substance, or imitation controlled substance, or marijuana while:

• On the property, including building or grounds, of any ACPS school
• On public property or any property open to public use within 1,000 feet of the property, including building or grounds, of any ACPS school; On any school bus; or
• At any designated school bus stop or any public property or any property open to public use within 1,000 feet of such school bus stop during the time when students are waiting to be picked up and transported to or are being dropped off from school or a school sponsored activity.

Matt Smith, an ACPS policy consultant, briefed the Board on the changes, and said that they relate more to adults and not children. Smith said that marijuana was not previously listed as a conrolled substance.

“When marijuana was a controlled substance, it did not need to be listed separately but was included in the term ‘controlled substances’ in our policies,” Smith said. “Because the state of Virginia now no longer considers marijuana a controlled substance, then the policy revisions propose to list this separately to continue the ACPS prohibition. Our practices have not changed with respect to marijuana.”

Marijuana possession was legalized for adults in Virginia in 2021.

“As you know, the treatment of marijuana outside of the school system community has changed,” Smith told the Board. “It is no longer illegal. That required explicit warning in our language not as relates to students, but as it relates to adults that that’s a prohibited substance, just like alcohol regulations that is already there relating to students. There’s no change for students here, but this is adults because it’s now treated more like alcohol than it was a prohibited substance. That was a change relating to adults.”

The ACPS policy change also states that any students who is determined to have brought alcohol or marijuana onto ACPS property “may be expelled.”

A. Expulsion

A student who is determined to have brought alcohol, a controlled substance, or imitation controlled substance, or marijuana onto school property or to a school-sponsored activity may be expelled in accordance with Policy JGD/JGE: Student Suspension/ Expulsion.

The Superintendent may determine, based on the facts of the particular case, that special circumstances exist and no disciplinary action or another form of discipline is appropriate. In addition, the School Board authorizes the Superintendent or designee to conduct a preliminary review of such cases to determine whether a disciplinary action other than expulsion is appropriate. Any such disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with Title 22.1, Chapter 14, Article 3 of the Code of Virginia. Recommendations for expulsion will be communicated to the School Board.

B. Prevention and Intervention

Any student who violates this policy must participate in the prevention and intervention activities identified in Regulation JFCF/JFCI-R – Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Abuse Regulation. ACPS may require any student who has been found to have been in possession of, or under the influence of, drugs or alcohol on a school bus, on school property, or at a school sponsored activity in violation of ACPS policies, to undergo evaluation for drug or alcohol abuse, or both, and, if recommended by the evaluator and with the consent of the student’s parent, to participate in a treatment program.

ACPS also has substance abuse counselors and substance abuse prevention resources for students.

Photo via Wesley Gibbs/Unsplash

There’s a new man in charge of guiding school leadership in Alexandria City Public Schools.

The new acting executive director of school leadership is Rene Paschal, formerly acting executive director of human resources since October 2022.

He should be a familiar face for those in the Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School community: he was the principal of the school from 2011 to 2022. He was awarded the National Distinguished Principal Award by the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals (VAESP) in 2022 and was the ACPS Principal of the Year in 2019.

As acting executive director of school leadership, Paschal will be working closely with school principals on professional learning, executive coaching and training, and is in charge of maintaining a cohesive set of standard operating procedures across schools and leadership teams.

“I am truly overjoyed to welcome Rene Paschal to the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership as Acting Executive Director of School Leadership. As a well-respected principal at Samuel Tucker Elementary School, Rene was a beacon of inspiration, guiding students toward success, mentoring principals and fostering a culture of excellence,” Chief Academic Officer Dr. Pierrette Finney said in a release. “As he ascends to the role of acting executive director of school leadership, his light will shine even brighter, illuminating a path for our ACPS school leaders to follow in his unwavering commitment to educational leadership and excellence.”

(Updated at 2:55 p.m.) A School Board work session on restructuring the makeup of the Board stopped short late last night after one member, Willie Bailey, walked out of the meeting.

Board Members were hammering out whether to expand terms from three to four years, stagger elections and switch from districts to at-large elections. The work session was held after a two-hour Board meeting and ended after 11 p.m. because the Board no longer had an in-person quorum after Bailey left.

Bailey said he was so tired that he could not register the details of a presentation on the restructuring options. The moment when Bailey spoke out was not captured on the public video and the video only shows him standing up to leave.

“I don’t know if I want to continue with this,” said Bailey, a deputy fire chief for Fairfax County and former Alexandria City Council member. “I don’t know about you guys, but maybe it’s because I’m old. As it gets late and we continue talking about the same stuff… It’s just me, but you all can finish up. I’m done.”

Before his abrupt exit, the Board had whittled down their preferred restructuring alternatives to three options, all of which increase terms to four years, maintains the nine-member structure and have staggered elections starting in 2027.

After he left, Board Chair Michelle Rief questioned whether the work session could continue without a quorum.

The meeting convened with Rief and Members Jacinta Greene, Ashley Simpson Baird, Meagan Alderton, Abdel Elnoubi and Bailey in-person. Vice Chair Kelly Carmichael Booz and Members Tammy Ignacio and Chris Harris online.

Alderton left earlier in the evening, without announcing why. When Bailey left, only four in-person members remained, which meant the Board no longer had a quorum. The work session ended shortly thereafter.

Just before Bailey walked out, Rief had proposed postponing the discussion to a later work session because it was getting late. Members Simpson Baird and El Noubi disagreed and said that the Board was already in session and should finish the meeting.

“I have a hesitation about continuing to dedicate a lot of airtime to this topic when there are so many other things that we are working on and talking about,” Simpson Baird said. “I think we’ve already spent too much time talking about this and I’d like to see us come to something a little bit more concrete rather than continue to kick the can down the road.”

Although the School Board decided on some preferred options, others were still up for discussion when Bailey left.

It is likely that the discussion will be reprised in a future work session. ACPS told ALXnow it is working on response to questions about whether Bailey regrets walking out and if he wants to continue serving on Board.

The nine-member School Board has been elected in concurrent three-year cycles coinciding with City Council elections since 2012. But the Board’s high turnover after the Nov. 2021 election saw six new members joining three incumbents, and members say school leadership suffers when more than half of the body spends upward of a year getting accustomed to their offices.

In order to enact these changes, the School Board must approve a resolution, followed by a City Council public hearing to revise the city charter. If the charter change is approved, the Virginia General Assembly will then vote on making the change official in the Virginia Charter.

A new partnership launching next month should help Alexandria students have better access to mental health services, including free access to therapists.

Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is partnering with Hazel Health, a school-based telehealth provider, to offer students telehealth access to psychologists, counselors, nurses and social workers. Part of the partnership involves access to therapists with no out-of-pock costs to families.

Students can be referred to Hazel Health by a member of ACPS’ Student Support Team (SST). According to a release:

Referrals for student therapy can be made by an SST member. Families may talk to an SST member in their school to determine if a referral to Hazel Health is appropriate for their child. A parent/guardian will then receive a call from a Hazel Health family resource manager and given the option to opt into services for their student and schedule an intake visit. The division’s partnership with Hazel Health makes it possible for its therapists to see students with no out-of-pocket costs to families.

It’s been a particularly fraught year for ACPS students: a new report shows that the majority of middle and high school students in Alexandria feel unsafe.

Though it’s a telehealth service, the release says it’s only available at school during regular school hours.

“Hazel Health therapists focus on helping students learn positive ways to cope with issues that affect their ability to be in school and available for learning,” ACPS said in the release. “Therapists provide brief solution-focused therapy in approximately six sessions to assist students with building skills to support their learning. The service typically consists of a preliminary intake visit and approximately six sessions.”

Alexandria City Public Schools saw a 26% increase in student arrests last school year, and a disproportionate number of arrested students are Black males.

There were 58 ACPS students arrested last school year, according to a school safety report to be presented to the School Board on Thursday. There were also 32 weapons-related incidents, 100 students injured, 112 fights/assaults and five reports of sexual misconduct.

The news follows an ACPS report revealing that most of Alexandria’s middle and high school students feel unsafe.

There were 451 incidents requiring a police response within Alexandria City Public Schools in the 2022-2023 school year — 188 incidents in the first two quarters of the year and 263 incidents in the final two quarters. That’s a 17% increase over the 385 incidents in the 2021-2022 school year.

While 25% of ACPS students are Black, most of those arrested are Black males.

Middle School Arrests (27)

• Black male — 14
• Hispanic male — 4
• Black female — 4
• Hispanic female — 3
• White male — 2

High School Arrests (31)

• Black male — 18
• Hispanic male — 6
• Black female — 4
• White male — 3
• Hispanic female — 2

Weapons seized include a handgun, two BB guns, stun guns, tasers, knives, pepper spray and a box cutter.

ACPS made a number of safety improvements in the 2022-2023 school year, like new ID requirements for students, designating entrances and exits at schools, installing metal detectors, and renewing its partnership with the police department to provide school resource officers.

Incidents in the 2022-2023 school year include:

• 112 fights
• 116 incidents characterized as “other” (parking lot accidents, trespassing, mental health episodes, property lost/damaged)
• 100 injuries requiring medical assistance
• 32 confiscated weapons
• 21 reports of controlled substances recovered
• 19 threats (verbal/cyber/social media)
• 16 missing student reports
• Seven reports of suspicious activity
• Five alarms pulled
• Five reports of sexual misconduct
• Three thefts
• One report of possessing prohibited materials

There were 175 incidents reported at the Alexandria City High School campuses, 183 incidents at the city’s two middle schools, 43 incidents at K-8 schools and 50 incidents at elementary schools.

Updated at 5:45 p.m. — There is a slight surge of Covid cases in Alexandria, however a notification that a Halloween-themed event at a city recreation center this weekend was unfounded, according to the City.

On Tuesday, an Evite was sent to reporters announcing a Halloween festival at the Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Community Center, but on Wednesday another email was sent announcing that the event was canceled.

“In the wake of the latest surge in Covid-19 cases and the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders we are having right now we figure it is best to cancel the Chick Armstrong Rec. Center’s Halloween Fest,” the email said. “We are sorry to miss the fun but it is best to stay home and stay safe. So we hope to host next year once the vaccine is out and it is safer to gather again. We are sorry to have to cancel but health comes first. Stay healthy everyone and remember to mask up.”

Diane Ruggiero, the city’s deputy director of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities, told ALXnow that the city does not send evites, and that the message was sent from someone outside the city.

“Halloween Fest at Chick Armstrong Rec Center is scheduled for Saturday, October 14 from noon – 3 p.m.,” she said. “This free friendly spooky event will feature food, vendors, games, music, and a costume contest for the entire family. The event has not been cancelled due to Covid.”

Covid update

The Covid-19 pandemic was officially over in May, although the numbers of infected residents are climbing.

There were 614 new cases reported in the last 13 weeks, according to the Virginia Department of Health. The seven-day average for new cases is 15.86, far from the 36.86 seven-day average this time last year. The worst day of 2023 was on Jan. 5, when there were 59 new cases and the seven-day average was 41.57.

According to VDH:

• There were 98 reported cases between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4
• There were 92 reported cases between Sept. 5 to Sept. 11
• There were 62 cases of children ages 0-9 who contracted the virus in the last 13 weeks
• There were 18 new cases of children and young adults ages 10-19 who contracted the virus in the last 13 weeks
• There were 18 deaths reported over the course of the last year, no deaths in the last six months and a total of 126 Covid-related deaths in Alexandria

There are also a number of Halloween-related events scheduled at recreation centers throughout the city next month, including:

• Boo Fest at Charles Houston Recreation Center, Friday, Oct. 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. ($5 per person)
• Family October Fest 2023 at Patrick Henry Recreation Center, Oct. 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. ($15 per person)
• Family Masquerade Ball at Patrick Henry Recreation Center, Oct. 27, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. ($9 per person)
• HalloTeen Night at William Ramsay Recreation Center, Oct. 27, from 7:30 to 10 p.m. (Free)
• Family Costume Ball at William Ramsay Recreation Center, Saturday, Oct. 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. (Free)

With the new school year underway, teachers in Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) are crowdfunding everything from iPads to basic teaching supplies.

Non-profit organization DonorsChoose gives teachers in ACPS a platform to discuss their specific material needs. One teacher led an effort to help students make better social media content, but many of the requests are for basic needs like whiteboards and construction paper.

In total, ACPS teachers have raised $986,601 in funding through DonorsChoose.

“DonorsChoose invited Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) teachers to create their own classroom wish lists, with all supplies designed to benefit student learning in the 2023-24 school year,” ACPS said in a release.

So far, 1,913 projects have been fully funded from 6,480 donors. The projects have benefitted 19 schools across ACPS.

According to Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt:

We are excited to be a District Partner with DonorsChoose. ACPS seeks to empower all students to thrive in a diverse and ever-changing world, and ensure they graduate ready for college, careers and life. Our partnership with DonorsChoose allows for broader support in our work to serve our students and redefine PreK-12 education as a deliberately inclusive and supportive experience where all succeed.

The test results are in. For the most part, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) students did better on Standards of Learning (SOL) testing this year compared to the previous school year.

It’s a small but positive sign of progress at a time when the school division sorely needs some good news.

“ACPS saw increases in division performance in annual Standards of Learning (SOL) student pass rates in the areas of mathematics, science, writing and history/social sciences and a consistent pass rate in reading, when compared to the previous school year,” a release from ACPS said. “The data provide federally adjusted school, division and state pass rates by grade, content area and student group.”

While reading remains one of the stronger subjects for ACPS — a positive sign for future ALXnow readers — it did show a slight dip in the pass rate.

According to the release, the pass rates this year were:

• Mathematics: 53% / +4 percentage points
• Reading: 60% / -1 percentage point
• Science: 52% / +3 percentage points
• Writing: 65% / +3 percentage points
• History/Social Sciences: 56% / +2 percentage points

In a release, Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said the results show progress in two of the areas most impacted by Covid learning loss.

“We are pleased to see that our SOL pass rates are moving in the right direction in ACPS, especially with increases in math and science, two areas that were highly impacted by the pandemic and have been a priority in our learning recovery initiatives,” Kay-Wyatt said in a release. “We know there is still much work to be done as we continue to implement best instructional practices as we accelerate learning and focus on our students’ social, emotional and academic learning.”

Additional information on pass rate results is available online.

“These results are a welcome sign that the hard work our staff and students are doing is showing results,” said Kay-Wyatt. “I am proud of our students and commend our staff for all of their efforts and their continued commitment to advancing academic excellence for all students.”

First days back at school are always bumpy, but Alexandria City High School had a particularly rough start with an evacuation first thing in the morning.

Fortunately, the evacuation didn’t last long, but students and staff were outside of the building for around 25 minutes on their first day.

According to a message from Principal Alexander Duncan:

I want to inform you that the fire alarm at Alexandria City High School (ACHS) King Street Campus sounded at 9:40 a.m. today, resulting in students and staff evacuating the building for about 25 minutes. The evacuation was conducted in an orderly and safe manner, and the school resumed normal operations, with students and staff beginning to re-enter the building at 10:05 a.m.

The Alexandria Fire Department (AFD) responded to the alarm immediately and, once the AFD determined that it was safe for students and staff to return to the building, they provided the all clear to school administrators. The normal school schedule is in place.

In other news, both Alexandria City High School leadership and Alexandria City Public Schools leadership at large have said a major goal this year is combatting absenteeism and keeping students in their seats at school — particularly after issues in recent years at the nearby Bradlee Shopping Center.