The start of the 2026-27 school year is just around the corner in Alexandria.
The first day back for most Alexandria City Public Schools students is Monday, Aug. 24. That’s not the case for students and staff at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary, which started on July 27. Still, below are some important dates to be aware of, as the school system gets back into the swing of things.
Alexandria City Public Schools is making a push to get new students registered in time for the new school year.
The city’s public school system has already seen 1,637 early student registrations between April 15 and July 1, a 15.5% increase of early new student registrations compared to April 23 and July 1 last year. Over 900 families have been fully registered or are completing enrollment.
David Paladin-Fernandez was elected the president of the Alexandria teachers union in a recent runoff election, the Virginia Education Association announced Tuesday (July 21).
Paladin-Fernandez won the runoff with 217 votes against 196 votes cast for his opponent, Christina Bohringer. The news comes two months after Paladin-Fernandez was disqualified from running in the Education Association of Alexandria’s officer elections for alleged campaign violations.
An 11-year-old student at Hammond Middle School is behind a new resource covering everything from budget calculators to random password generators.
In July, Emmanuel Adu-Wadier launched CalcHub, a free website with more than 50 unique calculators covering finance and investment, mathematics, science, health and wellness, education and everyday tools. The rising seventh grader built the site using JavaScript, HTML, CSS and AI.
With a new principal at the helm, Alexandria City High School administrators will focus their efforts this school year on chronic absenteeism and implementing Virginia’s stricter ban against smartphones and other smart devices in schools.
On Wednesday morning (July 15), new principal Michael Burch told students, parents and administrators that he’s been sending out emails about the “bell-to-bell” phone ban signed into law by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D).
The Alexandria City School Board on Thursday (July 9) unanimously elected new leadership for the next year.
Without opposition, School Board Member Christopher Harris was elected as chair, and Alexander Crider Scioscia was elected vice chair. Both are graduates of Alexandria City High School (when it was T.C. Williams High School), and the one-year appointments went into effect in the beginning of Thursday night’s meeting.
Along with new school boundaries, newly drawn school walk zones went into effect in Alexandria on July 1.
The new walk zone maps show where students walking to school will find hazardous road crossings, bridge crossings and areas without sidewalks. Outside Alexandria City High School’s King Street and Minnie Howard campuses, for instance, there are dozens of hazardous crossing points identified by the school system.
With the start of the school year around the corner, Alexandria City Public Schools is asking for donations of backpacks and school supplies.
For the second year in a row, the school system has set a goal of filling 3,500 backpacks in its annual backpack and school supply drive between now and Aug. 10.
After failing to secure 50% of votes from members, the top two candidates running for president of the Alexandria teachers union are headed to a runoff.
The election was overseen by the Virginia Education Association after it invalidated the results of the Education Association of Alexandria’s officer elections in May. Votes for union officers and building representatives were collected online on June 29 and 30. EAA presidential candidate David Paladin-Fernandez got 190 votes (47%), followed by 115 votes (29%) for Christina Bohringer and 96 votes for Madeline Wingate Alfonso (24%).
As outgoing Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt takes an unexpected leave, the School Board has designated three administrators to handle her duties.
School Board Chair Michelle Rief announced in an email to ACPS families and staff that Kay-Wyatt is going on leave due “to a matter that arose unexpectedly.” On Tuesday night (June 23), the School Board appointed ACPS Chief of Staff Grace Taylor, Chief Accountability Officer Clinton Page and Chief Academic Officer Pierrette Finney as designees of the division superintendent.
Public safety leaders and their counterparts from around the region reaffirmed a commitment to mutual aid today (Thursday) at the Alexandria Police Department’s Public Safety Summit.
The three-hour event was held at Virginia Theological Seminary, and attended by Mayor Alyia Gaskins, Sheriff Sean Casey, Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter, City Manager Jim Parajon, Fire Chief Felipe Hernandez, Jr, as well as officials from Alexandria City Public Schools and other city departments. Speakers included Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn, Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham, and Stanley Meador, the Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
