ACPS | ALXnow - Part 6

Published June 28, 2023 at 3:30PM | Updated June 28, 2023 at 4:19PM

ACPS headquarters and clock (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated 4:20 p.m.) Alexandria’s School Board is meeting tomorrow for a seemingly innocuous budget revision, but city leaders say the truth is the School Board is walking back a potentially illegal decision made without communicating with the City Council.

Like previous work sessions, a joint City Council/School Board meeting became tense as the discussion turned to funding. The fiscal year 2024 combined funds budget for Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) details the revenues and expenditures.

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Mount Vernon Community School ‘Principal of the Year’ Liza Burrell-Aldana resigns

By James Cullum

Published June 16, 2023 at 2:15PM

Principal Liza Burrell-Aldana with students (photo via Mount Vernon Community School/Facebook)

Mount Vernon Community School Principal Liza Burrell-Aldana announced her resignation today via email. Burrell-Aldana was named the Washington Post’s 2023 Principal of the Year in April, and her last day is June 30.

Burrell-Aldana, MVCS principal since 2017 and vice principal for three years before that, didn’t specify why she’s leaving, but wrote that she made the announcement with mixed emotions.

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Here are the two Alexandria City High School executive principal finalists

By James Cullum

Published June 13, 2023 at 2:50PM | Updated June 16, 2023 at 2:39PM

Marcia Rice and Alexander Duncan, the Alexandria City High School executive principal candidates, on Zoom on June 12, 2022 (via ACPS)

A longtime ACPS educator and a principal from Chesterfield County Public Schools are the finalists for the executive principal position at Alexandria City High School.

Alexander Duncan III, the Minnie Howard Campus administrator, and Marcia Rice, principal at Meadowbrook High School, answered a variety of questions Monday night in a Zoom meet-and-greet moderated by former ACHS principal John Porter.

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TONIGHT: Meet the two Alexandria City High School Executive Principal finalists on Zoom

By James Cullum

Published June 12, 2023 at 3:30PM

The Alexandria City High School marquee (staff photo by James Cullum)

Tonight, residents can meet the two candidates for the executive principal position at Alexandria City High School.

The candidates, whose identities aren’t yet public, will meet with community stakeholders at the Minnie Howard campus and on Zoom from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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Notes: It’s the last week of school in Alexandria

By ALXnow.com

Published June 12, 2023 at 8:39AM

Good Monday morning, Alexandria!

⛈️ Today’s weather: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 8am. High near 79. South wind 11 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. At night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11pm, then a slight chance of showers between 11pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 60. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

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Bradlee Shopping Center stabbing suspect implicated by videos on his phone

By James Cullum

Published June 6, 2023 at 10:45AM | Updated June 6, 2023 at 3:09PM

Police at the Bradlee Shopping Center where 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez was fatally stabbed on May 24, 2022. (staff photo by James Cullum)

The 17-year-old male suspect facing murder charges in last year’s fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez was implicated by damning evidence police found on his phone, according to evidence presented Monday.

Monday’s bench trial will continue into today for the defense to present their case, and a speedy verdict on second degree murder and murder by mob charges is expected from Judge James C. Clark. The suspect faces between five-to-40 years in prison for the second degree murder charge and five-to-40 years for the murder by mob, or lynching, charge.

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Alexandria City Public Schools responds to criticism over specialist teacher decision

By Vernon Miles

Published June 5, 2023 at 11:05AM

Last week, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) was blasted by parents and teachers at a School Board meeting over a decision to spread specialist teachers across multiple schools.

Music, art and physical education teachers are classified as encore teachers in ACPS. Currently, those teachers are assigned to individual schools, but under the new system some of those teachers could be made to float between different schools.

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PHOTOS: More than 900 Alexandria City High School seniors graduate at GMU’s EagleBank Arena

By James Cullum

Published June 3, 2023 at 2:53PM | Updated June 4, 2023 at 4:34PM

Proudly displaying a diploma at Alexandria City High School's graduation at George Mason University's EagleBank Arena, June 3, 2023 (staff photo by James Cullum)

It’s a day of happiness in Alexandria, as more than 900 Alexandria City High School seniors graduated this morning at George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena.

Perhaps student speaker Lenhle Vilakati put it best when she said: “Today we finally break apart and become our own people. Today we finally have to go off into bigger things and be amazing.”

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Alexandria parents and teachers livid over recently announced change to specialist teachers

By Vernon Miles

Published June 2, 2023 at 1:30PM | Updated June 5, 2023 at 10:54AM

ACPS headquarters and clock (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated 6/5) Parents and teachers at a School Board meeting last night said the rollout of a new plan to split specialist teachers across schools has been an unmitigated disaster.

The change affects Alexandria City Public Schools’ (ACPS) encore teachers: teachers who run classes like music, art and physical education. A new change announced in an email earlier this week, without public discussion or meetings, would split these teachers across multiple schools throughout the district.

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It could be two years before ACPS comes to a collective bargaining agreement, says Superintendent

By James Cullum

Published May 26, 2023 at 1:15PM | Updated May 26, 2023 at 2:31PM

ACPS headquarters and clock (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

It might take some time, but Alexandria City Public Schools has opened the door to collective bargaining with its employees.

On Thursday, the School Board conducted its first work session on the topic, and Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt says it could be two years before the issue comes to the Board for a vote. The Board has to develop a collective bargaining resolution (CBR) with staff representatives, who will iron out wage and other potential increases through a long process.

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Police Chief says there’s a ‘plethora’ of guns on the streets of Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published May 23, 2023 at 2:00PM | Updated May 23, 2023 at 3:40PM

(Left to right) Agenda Alexandria's May panel to discuss crime in the city, on May 22, 2023 at the Lyceum

Amid a crime surge, Alexandria Police Chief Don Hayes said Monday night that the police force is seeing a “plethora” of guns out on the streets.

Alexandria’s gun-related crime jumped 100% in 2022 over 2021, and Hayes says that overall crime is up 27% for the year.