School is back in session, and this year Alexandria City Public Schools wants to make sure kids go to class.
That was the message from outside George Mason Elementary School (2601 Cameron Mills Road) this morning, where Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt and School Board Chair Michelle Rief joined teachers and staff in welcoming back students. Kay-Wyatt said her priorities this year are on improving the welcoming culture within ACPS, academic achievement and absenteeism.
Kay-Wyatt said she didn’t get much sleep the night before school started.
“We really want to focus on making sure that all of our family and our students are welcome into our schools,” Kay-Wyatt said. “We’re also going to be focused on instructional practices and academic achievement. And then my third priority for the year is around absenteeism, and really focusing to get strategies and initiatives in place to make sure that our students are in school within school on time, so they can engage in all that we have to offer them.”
More than 15,000 ACPS students got up early for school today. In the wake of the pandemic, chronic absenteeism increased exponentially over the last several years within the school system.
It’s also the first school day for new George Mason Principal Christopher Finan.
“Our staff has been working very, very hard to get ready for this day,” Finan said. “Our teachers, our instructional assistants, our custodians, our cafeteria staff, our front office staff, everybody has been working very hard. I’m happy to say we are ready to go and excited to have students and staff back inside of our building. This year at George Mason we are focusing on our teams, leveraging all of the passionate, dedicated and skilled individuals, our staff, our families, our community members to ensure that we support student success across the board.”
Rief asked that parents reach out to the School Board as it embarks on next year’s budget.
“We welcome your input as your School Board,” Rief said. “We have a very full agenda this year and we want to hear from our parents.”
After years in development, Alexandria leaders and students cut a blue ribbon and toured the rebuilt Douglas MacArthur Elementary School today.
“It feels like I’m floating through the school and marveling at each and every new feature that has been brought from design to full construction,” Principal Penny Hairston said at the ribbon cutting. “The only thing that’s missing are all of our students, and they will be here soon to enjoy this modern and welcoming school building.”
There remains work to be done, including the installation of a turf field and a courtyard playground for young kids, but the school will open for the first day of classes on August 21.
It took three years to rebuild the 154,000-square-foot school at 1101 Janneys Lane. MacArthur first opened 80 years ago, and during construction its students used the old Patrick Henry Elementary School as swing space. The project was initially planned to wrap in January.
“The 1943 building only had eight classrooms and one common area,” said Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt. “Very different than this new three-story, very innovative space where there’s natural lighting coming into each classroom, there are restrooms accessible to the classrooms that give students more privacy, I think we’ve come a long way.”
MacArthur’s three-level “Forest” plan sets the school back from Janneys Lane, putting classrooms at the rear of the building and providing a view of nearby Forest Park.
“This new school building represents our city’s commitment to educating and empowering all of our students to thrive in this diverse and ever- changing world that we live in,” said School Board Chair Michelle Rief. “I know that this new school building is going to positively impact the lives of children and families in this community for generations to come.”
The new school has an 840-student capacity, and the current student population is at around 650, according to ACPS. Those numbers are expected to change as the School Board will engage in a redistricting process over the next year.
The new school has one set of boys and girls restrooms, and a number of individual restrooms to accommodate gender fluid students — directly going against the recommended policies of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration.
“Amazing things are gonna happen in this building,” said Mayor Justin Wilson. “Kids are going to come out of this building prepared to take on the world, and that is through an investment that we all made as a community.”
Ahead of the start of the new school year, Alexandria City High School (ACHS) Principal Alexander Duncan issued a warning reminder that students are “discouraged” from going to nearby shopping centers during school hours.
The specific shopping center isn’t named, but it’s no secret that the Bradlee Shopping Center has been afflicted with violence in recent years linked to students from the nearby ACHS. There have been multiple shootings and brawls, including one that ended with the murder of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez in the parking lot of the Bradlee Shopping Center.
“Students are strongly discouraged from patronizing local shopping centers or establishments during school hours (unless permission has been received per the process shared above),” Duncan said in a message to ACHS students and families. “This constitutes ‘skipping class’ and is in direct violation of our attendance policy and the Student Code of Conduct.”
Duncan said that ACHS is partnering with the Alexandria Police Department and the shopping centers to increase police presence and deter truancy. The new ACHS Principal said the concern is not only about safety and security, but students missing vital instructional time.
“Please be advised that students will face disciplinary consequences by ACHS administration for intentionally missing class to patronize local shopping centers, and will also be held accountable for any behaviors when they are supposed to be in school,” Duncan said. “I am confident that we all agree that our students need to be in their classrooms engaged in learning.”
(Updated 8/11) After years in development, City and Alexandria City Public Schools leaders will cut the ribbon of the refurbished Douglas MacArthur Elementary School next Friday (August 18).
The project took three years of planning and two years of construction, and the 154,000-square-foot school at 1101 Janneys Lane will open for the first day of classes on August 21.
During the last two years, MacArthur students used the old Patrick Henry Elementary School as swing space. The new school has an 840-student capacity and ACPS projects the student population to stay at around 775 students over the course of the next decade.
MacArthur’s three-level “Forest” plan sets the school back from Janneys Lane, putting classrooms at the rear of the building and providing a view of nearby Forest Park. The $75 million project was initially planned to wrap in January, and construction delays elicited criticism from Vice Mayor Amy Jackson.
Jackson has one child who graduated from MacArthur in the swing space and another who will attend the refurbished school.
“I was concerned that construction wasn’t getting off the ground fast enough,” Jackson told ALXnow. “My children wanted to see the school one more time before they started, but I realized that we could still get on the property. So I took a video, as much as it caused angst with the community and school board, but when I’m asking staff several times and can’t get an answer, I took it to the public and sure enough the ball then got rolling the fencing was put up on the perimeter and they got the ball rolling.”
The event includes a brief tour and will be held from 9:30 to 10:15 am. Remarks will be made by Mayor Justin Wilson, School Board Chair Michelle Rief, ACPS Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt, ACPS Chief Operating Officer Alicia Hart and MacArthur Principal Penny Hairston.
ACPS will share the event on Facebook Live.
(Updated 3 p.m.) Alexandria’s teen pregnancy rate is falling, although Hispanic girls are disproportionately high, according to new data presented by the city.
The numbers are on the rise for Hispanic girls, with 22.4 pregnancies for every 1,000 female ages 15 to 17 reported in 2021, according to the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy (ACAP), part of the Department of Community & Human Services. That’s an 8% increase from the previous year, but still below the 26 pregnancies per 1,000 females reported in 2020.
In its 2021 – 2023 Report Card on Sex Ed for All, ACAP says its programs are working and the campaign is working on installing condom dispensers at “various community sites where disproportionately impacted groups reside, work and attend school.” ACAP is also developing a plan for condom distribution, as well as the launch of the Wrap Up Alexandria condom distribution by 2025.
ACAP says it has fully implemented the El Camino sexual health program with Black and Latino youth.
“Sex education can occur at all grade levels with information that is age- and culturally appropriate,” ACAP reported.
Citywide, the teen pregnancy rate fell substantially between 2010 and 2021, according to ACAP. The program is a collaboration between Alexandria City Public Schools, the city’s Department of Community and Human Service, the Alexandria Health Department and a number of community partners.
In the meantime, ACPS is ignoring the Virginia Department of Education’s recommended restrictions against transgender students.
Kids start learning about sex at an early age in Alexandria.
According to ACAP:
In elementary school, sex ed covers foundational building blocks around things like consent and boundary setting with friends, understanding our bodies, and the beautiful diversity in the ways people form and have families.
In middle school, sex ed addresses relevant issues such as puberty, healthy peer relationships and anti-bullying, and media literacy skills to support kids in developing a healthy body image.
In high school, sex ed covers everything from birth control and safer sex, to sexual decision making and communication skills, to understanding how society and culture shape our ideas about sex, gender, and race, and how we can work towards more equitable communities.
It’s been a scorching week in Alexandria, punctuated by two major crime events.
Someone was shot multiple times in an alley several blocks east of the Braddock Metro station last Saturday, followed on Monday afternoon by the city’s fifth homicide this year — the fatal shooting of a 29-year-old man on W. Glebe Road in Arlandria.
It is not believed that the incidents are connected.
The Alexandria Police Department is now looking for a silver Nissan Rogue allegedly linked to Monday’s shooting.
No arrests have been announced from either incident, and this week Mayor Justin Wilson, City Manager Jim Parajon and Police Chief Don Hayes asked for the community’s help in identifying the suspects.
Top stories this week:
- Alexandria ditching ‘pay and display’ parking meters citywide (32618 views)
- Notes: Many federal employees who report to work Alexandria are still mostly remote (7448 views)
- Del Ray Gateway project construction to start before end of year, city says (6510 views)
- Construction suspended for Holiday Inn Express at former Towne Motel site in Old Town North (5346 views)
- ACPS ignores Gov. Youngkin’s recommended policies on treatment of transgender students (4829 views)
- DEVELOPING: Man transported to hospital in critical condition after shooting in Arlandria (4747 views)
- Pupatella Neapolitan Pizza opening before end of year in Old Town North, owner says (3857 views)
- Duke Street affordable apartment complex ‘Witter Place’ could be ready by late 2025, developer says (3598 views)
- Arlington man busted for allegedly selling stolen car to Alexandria man on Facebook Marketplace (2509 views)
Have a safe weekend!
More than a dozen Alexandria Sheriff’s deputies and police officers played soccer in the blazing heat with about 30 Latino kids yesterday.
It was the last day of the Capital Youth Empowerment Program‘s second annual summer soccer camp at AlexRenew’s Limerick Field. Every Wednesday since June 26, kids who can’t get to the field are picked up by van. Before they play soccer, the kids are given an hour’s worth of the El Camino sexual health program before being let loose on the luscious soccer field.
“We talk about about not doing drugs, about better choices in the life,” said 16-year-old Max Martinez, a rising junior at Alexandria City High School. “It’s worth it. This field is better than the one at school.”
Fredy Martinez (no relation), a substance abuse counselor for Alexandria City Public Schools, is a facilitator/coach for the program.
“We deliver the message of avoiding teen pregnancy and to have a healthy lifestyle without compromising their futures,” he said.
Deputy Carlos Canas is a gang and intel investigator for the city, and said that gangs are active in the city.
“It’s never easy, especially when kids are not in school,” Canas said. “And we all know what happens in our city when it comes to gangs, but lately it’s been active. However, our job is to be out here like today and be proactive, try to show them that we’re here to help and to prevent them from even ever joining a gang.”
Program coordinator Isaac King said that summer camp recruitment will start earlier next year, and that the program has grown largely through word of mouth.
“We want kids to learn about decision making,” King said. “And we want to broker better relations with the police department, so that when the police see the kids on the street, outside of the program, they have relationships with the kids, because they were their coaches and played soccer with them.”
All students are eligible to participate in the program, but it’s geared toward Latino youth.
“We’re always looking for opportunities to engage with kids,” said Chief Deputy Shahram Fard. “If I came out here in uniform, they would not talk to me. But if I come in here and talk to them like this (in workout clothes and soccer cleats), they’ll talk.”
Alexandria City Public Schools says it will not comply with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policies restricting transgender services.
School Board Chair Michelle Rief and Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt informed parents of the school system’s stance on Monday. It’s the second straight year that ACPS has refused the policies, which are updated annually and recommend restricting trans bathroom and pronoun use.
Rief and Kay-Wyatt were “dismayed” when the policies were introduced and wrote that ACPS will uphold gender affirming policies that go back to 1996.
“(W)e want to reaffirm our commitment to all students, staff and families, including our LGBTQIA+ community, that ACPS will continue to both implement and develop gender affirming policies for all ACPS students,” they wrote. “School Board Policy JB: Nondiscrimination in Education protects students from discrimination due to gender expression, gender identity, sexual harassment and transgender status.”
The Virginia Department Of Education’s 2023 Model Policies include “clear and useful” suggestions to school systems for preferred pronoun usage, the “maintenance of student records,” the “identification of students,” the “enforcement of sex-based dress codes” and more.
“Practices such as compelling others to use preferred pronouns is premised on the ideological belief that gender is a matter of personal choice or subjective experience, not sex,” according to the model policies. “Virginians reject this belief.”
Not so in Fairfax County and Arlington County, which both rejected the 2023 policies, according to The Washington Post.
Youngkin, a Republican, made waves in 2022 when the Virginia Department of Education first introduced his administration’s model policies, which reversed the more liberally minded policies of former Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam.
Rief and Kay-Wyatt also wrote that the School Board will discuss the policies at the beginning of the school year.
“ACPS will continue to ensure that its policies are in alignment with the ACPS Strategic Plan while also complying with federal and state laws,” they wrote.
A new principal has been chosen for the Mount Vernon Community School (MVCS) and George Mason Elementary School.
At a School Board meeting last night, Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt announced that Jen Hamilton, the ACPS dual language coordinator, was picked to be the new principal of Alexandria’s largest elementary school.
Hamilton will be replacing Principal Liza Burrell-Aldana, who resigned earlier this year just a few months after being named Washington Post’s 2023 Principal of the Year. Burrell-Aldana had been the principal of the school since 2017 and got a new job in neighboring Arlington Public Schools.
Hamilton was an assistant principal at MVCS from 2018 to 2022. The 800-student school is known for its dual language program, a program Hamilton said she wants to continue building on.
“I’m not a candidate who is seeking a principalship somewhere,” Hamilton said at an early Q&A. “I’m a candidate who is seeking a principalship here specifically at Mount Vernon, which is a school that I’ve served at for the last five years and where I feel a commitment to and a passion for the students, staff, community and program.”
At the same meeting, it was announced that Christopher Finan would be taking the helm of George Mason Elementary School.
Finan comes to ACPs from New Mexico where he’s been an elementary school principal for the last two years.
According to ACPS:
Mr. Finan comes to ACPS from Albuquerque Public Schools in New Mexico where he has served as an elementary school principal since July 2021. Prior to that, he was an elementary school principal at the Community Day Charter Public Schools in Lawrence, Massachusetts and previously served as a principal intern within Boston and Framingham Public Schools. Mr. Finan was a curriculum facilitator at New Haven Public Schools in Connecticut and also served as a fellow of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was a school operations manager with Teach for America. He also served as a Teach for America corps member and taught seventh and eighth grade science at Clinton Avenue School (K-8) in New Haven, Connecticut.
Mr. Finan received a bachelor’s degree in biology and Hispanic Studies at Boston College. He has a master’s in school leadership from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He studied Spanish language and literature at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain and is fluent in Spanish.
Image via Google Maps
Tonight, residents can meet the two final candidates for the principal position at Mount Vernon Community School (2601 Commonwealth Avenue) on Zoom.
After tonight’s meet-and-greet, the finalists to lead the Del Ray school will interview with Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt on Thursday and the new principal is expected to be hired by the School Board in a special meeting on Thursday, July 20.
The candidates, whose identities aren’t yet public, will meet with community stakeholders on Zoom from 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
“We expect to have a new principal in place before the start of the new school year,” Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt wrote in a June 26 letter.
Former MVCS Principal Liza Burrell-Aldana, who was named the Washington Post’s 2023 Principal of the Year, resigned last month.
Kay-Wyatt said that the process is being run by former Alexandria City High School Principal John Porter and Rene Pachal, the acting executive director of ACPS human resources.
“Ultimately, the selected principal will be a school leader who can provide excellent educational, social, and personal outcomes for students, staff, parents, and the community,” Pachal wrote.
An ACPS community survey on the MVCS principal position is also open until Wednesday.
The salary for the principal position is between $118,000 and $181,000. More details from the MVCS principal job listing are below.
