A months-long federal investigation has concluded that Alexandria City Public Schools violated Title IX civil rights law with policies allowing transgender students to use facilities aligned with their gender identity.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced Friday that Alexandria’s policy providing facility access based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex violates federal law.
Welcome to Friday, Alexandria! Here’s our compilation of the most-read stories of the week.
Our top story this week is on the sad news of the death of Tiffany Barner, a longtime Alexandria educator and a Dean of Students at Alexandria City High School. The ACHS community was notified of Barner’s death in a note July 21 (Monday) from ACHS Interim Executive Principal Lance Harrell.
With the 2025-2026 school year just a month away, the Alexandria Health Department is urging parents to get their children’s school-required vaccinations.
“Scheduling vaccine appointments early makes it easier to find an appointment that fits your schedule,” Alexandria Health Department Director Dr. David Rose said, “and vaccines protect our children from getting sick and being sidelined from school and activities later on.”
Veteran School Board Members Michelle Rief and Christopher Harris were unanimously chosen Thursday night (July 10) to lead the Alexandria School Board for the 2025-2026 school year.
The unanimous vote at the Board’s organizational meeting means a third one-year term for Rief as chair, and a first term in leadership for Harris. Rief and Harris thanked their colleagues for their support and said that the upcoming year will be challenging.
Alexandria City Public Schools has launched its annual Backpack & School Supply Drive with the goal of collecting 3,500 backpacks by Monday, Aug. 4.
Groups can arrange a pickup of large donations to the school system, and individuals can drop off backpacks and supplies Monday through Thursday at Alexandria City High School (3330 King Street) and Mount Vernon Community School (2601 Commonwealth Avenue).
A joint meeting between the Alexandria City Council and School Board members scheduled for Monday evening was abruptly canceled due to mechanical problems at the ACPS Central Office building.
The City of Alexandria announced the cancellation Monday afternoon, citing “issues with the HVAC system” at the Alexandria City Public Schools headquarters where the 5 p.m. subcommittee meeting was set to take place.
City staff are recommending a phased transition to replace school buses for Alexandria City High School students with DASH buses.
The City Council asked staff in January to consider the transition for ACHS, Virginia’s largest high school with multiple campuses and over 4,500 students. Staff have returned with the recommendation for a three-phase approach that would kick off in the fall of the 2026-2027 school year.
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) has removed from consideration a controversial request that would have granted school resource officers direct access to student records, according to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS).
Following the grilling of Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire by the City Council, the School Board unanimously voted last Thursday to extend the soon-to-expire two-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) between ACPS and the police. The six-month extension means that Alexandria City High School and the city’s middle schools will continue with their assigned school resource officers as is, while the details of the draft MOU are ironed out.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) made changes to its 2025-26 school calendars, adding more instructional days and improving flexibility for weather-related closures.
The Alexandria City School Board approved updates to both the traditional and Tucker/Modified calendars during its School Board meeting on Thursday (June 12).
The PTSA of Alexandria City High School has sent a letter to the School Board, conveying “serious concerns” that behavior from the school system’s central office is resulting in high turnover.
The June 16 letter follows the resignation of ACHS Executive Principal Alexander Duncan III, who announced his departure the day before the last day of school (June 12). The PTSA says that seven veteran principals have left the school system in the last two years, “two of whom left immediately after winning Principal of the Year accolades.”
It took months of community meetings and work sessions, and on Thursday (June 12), the Alexandria School Board approved redistricting maps for its elementary and middle schools.
The Board whittled down its choices to the Triangle 3 map for elementary schools and Option E for middle schools. Here’s what that means:
