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Update at 1:05 p.m. — Alexandria City High School students will be dismissed early due to the bomb threat. Alexandria Police Department Communications Manager Tracy Walker told ALXnow that police are still searching the high school.

Alexandria City High School is being evacuated due to a bomb threat at the school, the Alexandria Police Department (APD) said.


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(Updated at 8:30 p.m.) A 17-year-old former Alexandria City High School student was sentenced Thursday to five years with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice for the 2022 murder of 18-year-old Luis Mejia Hernandez in the parking lot of the Bradlee Shopping Center, with one of those years already served.

Ryan Vega was 16 when he fatally stabbed Hernandez during a melee with dozens of ACHS students in the parking lot. In a two-day June bench trial, Judge James C. Clark found Vega guilty of second-degree murder and murder by mob, and said that Vega took advantage of his time behind bars at the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center by exhibiting good behavior and doing well with school.


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Alexandria City High School senior Mohommed Abir Rhaman was shocked when he was notified last month that he got a perfect score on the Advanced Placement U.S. History Exam.

The notoriously grueling exam takes more than three hours to finish, and Rhaman is one of 13 students in the world who aced it this year, according to Alexandria City Public Schools.


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Alexandria City High School seniors with a 3.25 cumulative grade point average or higher are now eligible for automatic admission to George Mason University.

The deal for the pilot program between Alexandria City Public Schools and GMU was struck earlier this month, and 428 ACHS seniors have since been informed that they have earned a guaranteed admission to the university. The agreement expires in August 2026.


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Police were sent to Alexandria City High School (ACHS) to respond to a possible brawl in the cafeteria.

Additional Alexandria Police Department (APD) units were requested at ACHS for a large fight in the cafeteria, according to scanner traffic.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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A grassroots social media page at Alexandria City High School, run by students and teachers, is looking for some funding to help make better content for the school.

Alexandria City High School teacher Gabriel Elias was the example in a Washington Post story and a White House briefing in 2020 of teachers adapting to virtual classrooms and connecting with students digitally. Since then, Elias has been working with a volunteer team of students and teachers to make a positive social media hub at the school. Now he’s looking for some help to take the project to the next level.


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(Updated 4:20 p.m.) The two teens who allegedly shot each other on May 31 in the Seminary Valley neighborhood got into a fight earlier that day at Alexandria City High School, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.

The teens allegedly shot each other at around 8:15 p.m. in a residential area near Interstate 395 and N. Van Dorn Street. The Alexandria Police Department received multiple calls reporting 15-20 gunshots in a residential area in the 5400 block of Richenbacher Avenue.


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