Better get the Slip ‘N Slide out of storage, because this year’s Alexandria City High School seniors are getting their diplomas a week early.
The commencement ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 28, at George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena, instead of on the first Saturday in June. Here’s why.
After a firestorm of criticism from city leaders and student journalists over proposed oversight changes to Alexandria City High School’s student newspaper, Theogony, this morning (May 2), the Alexandria School Board’s Governance Committee returned to the drawing board.
From reporting on a transportation controversy to investigations into the School Board, transgender policies, or even lampooning metal detectors in cartoons, Theogony student journalists take their roles seriously. Now, with City Council members warning of potential “censorship” and “authoritarian” behavior from the school system, student journalists are alleging a concerted effort from the administration of Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt to suppress touchy or controversial stories from appearing in the monthly publication.
Last year’s win was unbelievable. Without coaching, organization, or outside help, Alexandria’s Harlow Babic and Andrew Bell won the Virginia High School League’s debate state championship.
This year, after spending hundreds of hours building arguments, the defending state champs from Alexandria City High School were gearing up for two wins in a row. Their hopes were dashed three days before the April 26 tournament at James Madison University when told that they missed the registration deadline and couldn’t participate.
The Baltimore Ravens selected Robert Longerbeam, a 24-year-old cornerback from Alexandria, in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL draft on Saturday (April 26). Picked 212th overall, Longerbeam is a graduate of T.C. Williams High School (now Alexandria City High School) and played college football for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from 2020 to 2024.
At 5’11” and 175 pounds, Longerbeam is currently unsigned but shows promise as a draft pick for the Ravens. His college career demonstrates steady growth and improvement. In his first two seasons, he played 18 games, racking up 30 tackles, 10 pass deflections, and two forced fumbles.
Around 150 students from Alexandria City High School participated in a financial literacy workshop at the Minnie Howard campus on Monday (April 21). Wells Fargo and the Society for Financial Education and Professional Development, Inc. (SFEPD) organized the event as part of the Hands on Banking Initiative.
Students received personalized financial profiles and had to manage expenses within a set budget.
Alexandria City High School Senior Kalina Janevski recently earned two of the highest awards Girl Scouts can receive based on her volunteer service, including an initiative to register voters.
Inspired partly by her experience working as a Senate Page, Janevski initiated a voter registration drive, earning the Gold Award. Janevski hosted voter registration booths at local colleges and high schools, collecting 168 completed registration forms and helping others navigate the registration process. Janevski also partnered with the Center for Common Ground, the Black Student Union, and the National Honor Society to send out postcards to victims of voter intimidation and disenfranchised voters in Virginia and Florida.
What’s in a name? Everything.
The School Board will consider three naming requests for Alexandria City Public Schools facilities at its meeting on Thursday night (April 3). One request is to rename Alexandria City High School’s Parker-Gray Stadium Field after Keith Burns, a 1990 graduate of the school and 13-season NFL linebacker.
Scores of Alexandria City High School students are descending on local businesses that sell tobacco today (April 1) with big red stickers.
Alexandria City High School was placed on “secure the building” status earlier today when police received an anonymous phone call of a person with a firearm in the parking lot of the King Street campus (3330 King Street).
Executive Principal Alexander Duncan III sent the following note to parents:
A new historic interpretation sign now stands at Alexandria City High School's Minnie Howard Campus, commemorating five young Black students who integrated the formerly all-white Minnie Howard Elementary School in 1960.
The sign, unveiled Saturday during a special ceremony attended by more than 100 people, honors Judy Belk, Vickie Belk, Marie Bradby, Deborah Bradby, and James O. Bradby – known as the "Minnie Howard Five."
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) data showed a decline in school safety incidents, but a notable uptick in fights/assaults.
The ACPS School Safety Data Review covers the first and second quarter of this 2024-2025 school year. Compared to the third and fourth quarters of last year incidents declined from 73 to 62, though that total still wasn’t as low as the first and second quarters from last school year at 57 incidents.
