Virginia Tech Initials Officially Added to Potomac Yard — “The Metro board on Thursday unanimously approved a plan to add Virginia Tech’s initials to the future Potomac Yard station and remove the University of Virginia’s initials from the West Falls Church station.” [Washington Business Journal]
City Advises Preparation for Wednesday Winter Storm — “While Wednesday’s winter storm forecast evolves, we encourage you to make time now to ensure you & your family are prepared.” [Twitter]
Alexandria City Public Schools is still hoping to hear from local parents whether they are comfortable sending their children back to school.
“We are extending the deadline for the Family Choice Form until Friday, Dec. 18,” ACPS said. “We have not yet heard from everyone and we need to hear from all our families to be able to refine our transition plan to reopen our school buildings for in-person learning.”
As of late November, a little under half of ACPS’ staff said they are unwilling to return to work.
Stephen Wilkins, chief of staff for ACPS, said at a School Board meeting last Thursday that 45% of ACPS staff reported an inability to return in a survey sent out in late November. The highest reason — 43% of those who said they would not return — said it was due to fear and anxiety, while 29% said it was because of underlying medical conditions.
ACPS Eyes Late January as Earliest Date for In-Person Classes — “Frustrated parents are continuing to push Alexandria City Public Schools officials to reopen schools for in-person instruction, but the earliest possible date for some students will be in the second half of January” [Alexandria Living Magazine]
Free Coffee for Frontline Workers at Alexandria Starbucks — “Front-line workers can get free coffee throughout December from Starbucks locations throughout the United States, including these three in Alexandria.” [Patch]
Andras Jacobson, a second grade student at Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, will get a unique opportunity later this week to take some of his space questions to the experts: an astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station.
Jacobson, a space exploration enthusiast, is scheduled to take part in a discussion with NASA officials on Thursday, Dec. 3, according to ACPS. Jacobson will get to direct his question to astronaut Victor Glover. Jacobson’s mother reported that his question focused on how human muscular systems respond to conditions in space.
With the Alexandria School Board approving changing the names of two Alexandria schools, the question is what to call the school formerly known as T.C. Williams High School?
Several alternatives have been raised in online forums and in meetings. Some have suggested other local figures that could replace Thomas Chambliss Williams, including longtime former principal John Porter or Petey Jones, a member of the 1971 championship team and an employee at the school who died last year.
After a unanimous vote at the Alexandria School Board meeting last night, the names T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School were voted out — with the replacements still to be decided.
Over the next few months, the School Board will seek public feedback before settling on a new pair of names. The new names will be chosen by the Board in the spring and go into effect at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.
Alexandria Featured in Profiles on Region’s Oldest Homes — “One of the interesting aspects of the Ball-Sellers House is that some of the original roof is protected under a later roof. That’s also the case with the oldest surviving house in Alexandria: 517 Prince St., or what’s known as the Murray-Dick-Fawcett House. The oldest part of the house dates to 1772. There is access to the space between the old roof and the roof that was later built above it at a less-severe pitch.” [Washington Post]
West End Contractor Wins Big Missile System Contract — “The U.S. Navy awarded Alexandria-based Systems Planning and Analysis Inc. (SPA) an $85 million contract to provide technical support for the Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missile system, the company announced this week.” [Virginia Business]
Families received a note from ACPS on Tuesday morning stating that school for students with disabilities in grades 3-5 and who are in the citywide Special Education program would need to stay home.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to return students in the (grades) 3-5 program as part of our targeted date of November 17, as the superintendent has said that all of our plans are contingent upon staffing and building capacity issues,” Terry Werner, the ACPS executive director of specialized instruction told parents in a Zoom call on Wednesday night. “We ran into some issues around staffing and we were not able to staff classes to bring students back from our next phase of students are scheduled to return on 30th.”
In a joint work session on Tuesday with the Alexandria City Council, Alexandria City Public Schools laid out its side of upcoming cuts and compromises in light of what promises to be a strained upcoming fiscal year.
One of the large items was that the planned modernization for George Mason Elementary School and Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology will be delayed by one year.
Heading into a School Board vote on Nov. 23, Superintendent Gregory Hutchings had thrown his support in with those supporting changing the names of T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School.
Hutchings explained his support for the name change in an opinion piece in Tes, an educator trade magazine.
