Alexandria City High School (ACHS) Principal Peter Balas announced that, after graduation in June, he’s heading north to become the new principal at Arlington’s Wakefield High School.
Balas, who has been with Alexandria City Public Schools for 22 years, took over at then-T.C. Williams High School in 2017. Since then, Balas has navigated the school through Covid, the “One T.C.” decision, the school renaming and issues around violence in the school.
After years in development, a new agreement was released between Alexandria City Public Schools and the Alexandria Police Department to provide school resource officers (SROs) at the city’s high school and middle schools.
The new memorandum of understanding between ACPS and APD has been a long time coming. SROs were defunded by the City Council in last year’s budget, and Alexandria City Public Schools spent the first few months of the 2021-2022 school year without the officers in its high school and middle schools. The officers were returned after ACPS pleaded with Council for their return in the wake of multiple incidents with weapons in schools.
Good Friday morning, Alexandria!
More gunfire was reported near the Braddock Road Metro station yesterday afternoon, prompting the Alexandria Police Department to tweet that it’s “determined” to solve recent crime issues.
(Updated 11:10 a.m.) After the death of Alexandria City High School student Yonathan Isaí Vasquez Méndez earlier this week, friends and family are raising funds to help cover funeral expenses and other costs.
While no cause of death has been officially announced, scanner traffic at the time indicated first responders were administering Narcan and later that day, the City of Alexandria issued a warning about fentanyl-laced drugs after “two recent suspected drug overdoses involving school-aged youth,” the Alexandria Times first reported.
With the 2022-2023 school year coming to a close next month, it’s been another banner year for Alexandria City High School (ACHS) student newspaper Theogony.
In recent years the student newspaper has been at the forefront of stories about ACHS, from breaking the story about former Superintendent Gregory Hutchins Jr. sending one of his children to a private school rather than ACHS to publishing a study about phosphorus levels in nearby Taylor Run.
Adding police presence to high-crime areas, putting more cops in communities and strategically placing mobile camera units are just a few of the initial strategies that the Alexandria Police Department is employing to confront a crime surge.
APD Assistant Chief Easton McDonald briefed City Council on the uptick on Tuesday night, and also said that there is an increase in juvenile crime and crimes being committed by young people.
(Updated 8 p.m.) A band consisting of former T.C. Williams High School students and a current Alexandria City High School (ACHS) teacher were recognized at the Wammie Awards last Saturday, a regional music award.
Rock band Hanoi Ragmen, an Alexandria-based six person band that started at T.C. Williams High School (before it became Alexandria City High School), won Best Rock Album for their debut album The Oldlight and Best Rock Song for Foolhearted off the same album.
A new survey shows widespread support for the installation of metal detectors within Alexandria City Public Schools.
There were 4,374 respondents to the survey, which ACPS opened on Feb. 24 and closed on March 8. Included in the survey were 1,181 students, 609 staff, 2,295 family/guardians, and 289 community members. About 85% of survey respondents supported using weapons screening equipment in all or some schools, and 58% of respondents want the metal detectors in every school.
Alexandria City High School’s Minnie Howard Campus has been taken off of “secure the building” mode after a handgun was confiscated from a student.
ACHS Executive Principal Peter Balas notified parents of the incident in an email. A teacher reported the weapon to school administrators at around 9 a.m., and the building was placed in “secure the building” mode at 9:15 a.m.
Alexandria City High School teachers are applauding increased wages and other recent changes to the Alexandria City Public Schools’ proposed fiscal year 2024 budget.
The School Board approved the proposed $359.9 million fiscal year 2024 combined funds budget proposal on Thursday night. The budget is a 4% increase over last year’s approved budget and includes funding to develop an official ACPS plan and policy for collective bargaining with employees.
Around 1:15 p.m. an Alexandria City High School student was taken to the hospital for a suspected overdose.
Fire department spokeswoman Raytevia Evans confirmed that emergency personnel responded to a possible overdose at the school.
