Good Friday morning, Alexandria!
☀️ Today’s weather: Expect sunny skies and a high of approximately 68 degrees, accompanied by a west wind ranging from 5 to 7 mph. As the night rolls in, the sky will remain clear, with the temperature dropping to an estimated low of 49 degrees while a southwest wind blows at about 6 mph.
Thirty-eight Alexandria students were referred to court for alleged criminal activity in the second semester of the last school year, and there was also a significant uptick in the number of incidents requiring a police response.
That’s according to a new system-wide safety report that the School Board will receive on Thursday night.
After lead exposure shut down Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School last week, the Alexandria Health Department (AHD) is offering walk-in blood lead level testing today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday).
According to Eve Elliott, communications officer for AHD, testing is being offered today from 1-6 p.m. and Friday from 1-6 p.m. The testing is free and available to all students, staff, faculty and volunteers. The Alexandria Health Department will not check class or faculty lists.
At a meeting last night (Tuesday), Alexandria City Public Schools outlined the road ahead for modernizing the 85-year-old George Mason Elementary School.
The presentation said the School Board will be selecting a concept design for the school. This concept will determine site placement, building mass and more.
Alexandria City Public Schools is working to reopen Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School by next Monday (Oct. 7) — a week-and-a-half after the school closed due to a lead exposure.
ACPS staff are deep-cleaning the entire school (at 600 Russell Road) after an environmental contractor found lead particles last Thursday (Sept. 27) in a kindergarten classroom, a fourth grade classroom, the school clinic and the main office. The school closed the following day, and students and staff transitioned to remote learning.
The Alexandria Health Department said it is working to provide lead testing for students, faculty and staff at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School, which closed after possible lead exposure.
Testing for lead requires a blood test. According to the Alexandria Health Department:
Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School in the Rosemont neighborhood remains closed today (Monday) after being closed last week due to a lead exposure incident at the school.
Principal Suzanne Hess sent a letter to the school’s community last Thursday saying contractors at the school for window replacement work discovered lead in two classrooms.
An average of 4,800 speeding tickets are being issued every month in three Alexandria school zones, and the city’s school system will soon look for locations for future speed cameras.
The data was presented at a joint City Council/School Board Committee meeting at City Hall on Monday (Sept. 23).
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) said threats making the rounds on social media this week against Alexandria City Public Schools have been investigated and found to be not credible.
A release from APD said there would be a shooting at a school, though no specific school was mentioned. APD said the threats were assessed in collaboration with the Northern Virginia Regional Intelligence Center (NVRIC), a Fusion Center of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and found to be not credible. Similar threats have been circulating around the state and the country.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said the school division is investigating threats reported against the local school division on social media.
No schools are currently closed as a result of the threats. Kay-Wyatt said in a message to the ACPS on Monday that the threats were not school-specific and are all being reported second-hand.
The last few years have been rough for Alexandria City Public Schools.
The school system and all involved with it have been impacted by the pandemic, learning loss, leadership changes, a staffing crisis, surging enrollment and more.
