Alexandria City Public Schools told students in today’s morning announcements to respect the decisions of their peers who choose to not wear face masks in schools or on buses.
Senate Bill 739 went into effect today, allowing for Virginia parents to elect to opt their children out of mask wearing — reversing course on a rule that has been in effect since the beginning days of the pandemic in 2020.
Alexandria voted in 2019 to stick with one high school across two campuses, but how exactly students get from one location to the other remains a topic of some consternation.
The City Council was supportive of plans for the Minnie Howard campus of Alexandria City High School presented at the meeting on Saturday — with the Council voting unanimously in favor and Mayor Justin Wilson calling it an example of positive collaboration in an occasionally fraught relationship. But getting students from Minnie Howard to the King Street campus and vice-versa is still a nagging cause for concern.
Rather than an end-of-week wrap-up like we usually do, we at ALXnow figured it might be more fitting to do a look back at all the stories from the last year — our second full year of publication.
Thanks for reading and see you next year!
Days after both school resource officers at Alexandria City High School were put on administrative leave, the Alexandria Police Department and Alexandria City Public Schools system are still unclear as to if or when those officers will be replaced.
The officers were placed on leave last Thursday after a “serious complaint” from a former student alleging “sexually inappropriate conversations” while she attended ACHS, according to the Washington Post.
Well, it hasn’t exactly been a good news-heavy week in Alexandria.
There’s a possible serial killer in the area of Fairfax just south of Alexandria and the much-debated School Resource Officers have been removed from their posts pending an investigation into alleged inappropriate sexual messages to a former student, according to the Washington Post. A local juvenile was also killed in a fatal shooting this past weekend, though police said there’s no threat to public safety and the death is being considered an isolated incident.
SROs in hot water over alleged inappropriate sexual messages — “The investigation stems from a recent report by a former student about alleged sexually inappropriate conversations that occurred during her time at the school, according to two people familiar with the inquiry but not authorized to speak about it on the record.” [Washington Post]
Holiday theft down in the city — “According to data collected by the Alexandria Police Department, a total of 56 shoplifting and concealment incidents have been reported for November and December, with a few weeks still left in December. This marks a decrease from 2020, which had 93 cases over the same two months, and 2019, during which 111 cases occurred over the same two months.” [Alexandria Times]
Updated 1:15 p.m. — ACHS King Street Campus has returned to normal operating status and Alexandria Police have finished their sweep of the Minnie Howard campus.
12/10/21, 12:50 p.m. APD threat assessment completed & ACHS King St campus back to normal operating status & normal student schedule
Update at 12:20 p.m. — The Minnie Howard campus is being evacuated as police investigate a bomb threat against the school.
Both Alexandria City High School’s main campus and the Minnie Howard campus are on lockdown after threats made on social media.
ACHS basketball coach resigns — “Alexandria City varsity boys’ basketball coach Darryl Prue said he resigned from his position Thursday morning following an in-game incident Tuesday night in which he went into the crowd to confront heckling fans at Wakefield High in Arlington.” [Washington Post]
French bakery ‘Fresh Baguette’ crossing the river into Old Town Alexandria — “Fresh Baguette bakery will be opening its fourth location — and first in Alexandria — at 1101 King St. in early 2022. The French bakery has stores in Bethesda, Rockville and Georgetown.” [Alexandria Living Magazine]
Earlier this month, Alexandria City High School senior Abdelraman Aboud Abdelsadig received life-changing news. After submitting all his paperwork and waiting a month, Abdelsadi was awarded the competitive QuestBridge Scholarship to attend Colby College in Maine.
The scholarship is worth about $300,000, and Abdelsadig found out about the award at school on Dec. 1.
A barricade and shots-fired situation at Woods Place is still ongoing one day after it allegedly started with a nearby road-rage incident.
Police said the man inside the house has fired at police outside the building, but police have not returned fire:
