Alexandria City Public Schools

Amid transparency concerns, School Board forms school law enforcement partnership advisory group

Published April 22, 2022 at 2:45PM | Updated April 22, 2022 at 3:55PM

Alexandria Police at Alexandria City High School’s Minnie Howard Campus (staff photo by James Cullum)

The Alexandria School Board gave its blessing to Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. on Thursday night (April 21) to form an advisory group to make recommendations on the controversial school resource officer program within Alexandria City Public Schools.

The 16-person school law enforcement partnership (SLEP) advisory group will be made up of students, ACPS administrators, Alexandria Police and members of the community. The group will evaluate the partnership between ACPS and police for the school resource officer program, and also on school safety initiatives, and deliver a report in December.

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Alexandria City High School goes to ‘secure the building’ status after threat

By Vernon Miles

Published April 19, 2022 at 10:15AM

The Alexandria City High School marquee (staff photo by James Cullum)

All Alexandria City High School (ACHS) campuses have gone into a “secure the building” status while the Alexandria Police Department (APD) investigates a threat to the school.

According to a release from ACPS:

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Alexandria’s uptick in new Covid cases could reach February levels

By James Cullum

Published April 11, 2022 at 3:45PM | Updated April 11, 2022 at 11:19PM

(Updated at 11:15 p.m.) Just as the spring weather blooms, Covid cases are on the rise in Alexandria.

As of Monday (April 11), the number of reported Covid cases in Alexandria reached 30,566, and the seven-day average of cases is 40.9 — nearly double what it was at this point last month. There have also been 415 cases so far this month, putting Alexandria on track to eclipse the number of 593 reported cases in March and reach the 1,227 cases reported in February.

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ACPS says parent FOIA request on sexual assault investigations would cost $84,300

By James Cullum

Published April 11, 2022 at 2:15PM

School buses on W. Braddock Road on Dec. 10, 2021 (staff photo by James Cullum)

Soon after allegations of a sexual assault surfaced at Alexandria High School’s Minnie Howard Campus, a parent filed a Freedom Of Information Act request to find out more. Two weeks after filing her request, the parent was told that it could be fulfilled, but it would cost $84,300.

On March 21, Devon Runyan Wells, a parent of five ACPS students, requested all email communications over the last two years regarding Title IX complaints and investigations between Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr., School Board Members and staff. Wells also asked for any emails that contained the words rape, harassment, assault, sexual abuse, weapon, police, law enforcement, gang and gang violence.

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ACPS Superintendent Hutchings defends critical race theory, says schools should abolish policing

By James Cullum

Published April 8, 2022 at 2:30PM | Updated April 8, 2022 at 4:56PM

Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings is making a case for critical race theory (CRT) and abolishing policing practices, although not within the school system he manages.

In an opinion piece published by EducationWeek on April 6 (Wednesday), Hutchings said that school systems need to employ six steps if they want to “embrace” building an anti-racist school or school system. In “The Anti-Racist Counternarrative Public Education Needs Now: Six steps for escaping the trap of attacks on ‘critical race theory’“, Hutchings wrote that most public school educators never heard of the term before it became politicized during the 2020 election cycle.

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Alexandria breaks ground on new Minnie Howard campus expansion

By Vernon Miles

Published March 30, 2022 at 10:45AM

Minnie Howard groundbreaking, photo via Canek Aguirre/Twitter

The long-discussed and debated Minnie Howard project — part of adapting Alexandria City High School to handle ever-increasing capacity — finally broke ground yeterday.

City and school officials gathered at the site to mark the beginning of construction on a new Minnie Howard campus. The project is scheduled to be constructed around the current school and open in the 2024-2025 school year.

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Extension of school resource officers program will give ACPS time to map out future, says superintendent

By James Cullum

Published March 25, 2022 at 3:00PM

Alexandria Police cruiser (staff photo by James Cullum)

Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. wants another year of funding for the school resource officer program — time he says that will allow Alexandria City Public Schools to map out its future without a rush.

Hutchings says the extension will allow for the formation of a School Law Enforcement Advisory Group next month, which will closely study the SRO program and hammer out a proposal for a new bi-annual memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Alexandria Police Department in December.

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Suspect breaks into Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy through roof

By James Cullum

Published March 21, 2022 at 1:00PM | Updated March 22, 2022 at 11:38AM

Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy at 530 S. St. Asaph Street in Old Town. (via Facebook)

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. on March 22) Not much was taken in an overnight break-in at Lyle’s Crouch Traditional Academy earlier this month, although the suspect gained entry through the roof and no alarms went off.

On Wednesday morning, March 9, staff at the elementary school at 530 S. St. Asaph Street in Old Town called police after finding classrooms vandalized. Parents were not notified of the incident since there is no threat to school safety.

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Superintendent advises Alexandria School Board to not talk to the media

By James Cullum

Published March 15, 2022 at 1:00PM | Updated June 8, 2022 at 11:48AM

ACPS Headquarters in Alexandria (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Updated at 6:30 p.m. — The Alexandria School Board on Monday (March 14) was advised against talking to the media, as the Board received a refresher on their operating procedures.

Board members were told that they have to be careful of what they say out of concern for the division as a whole, prompting some members to question toeing the line of Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. and staff.

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Update: Just 75 cases of COVID-19 reported in Alexandria since last week

By James Cullum

Published March 14, 2022 at 2:15PM

Dining in Old Town. (Staff photo by James Cullum)

There were just 75 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Alexandria since this time last week, according to the Alexandria Health Department.

There are now 29,809 reported cases of the virus in Alexandria, up from 29,734 last Monday. The number of deaths remains at 184, and the seven day average of daily new cases is now 21, down from 84.5 this time last week.

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ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles

Published March 11, 2022 at 3:45PM

It’s been a busy week in Alexandria, with some controversies at the school, city, and even state levels.

At ACPS, a new report detailed the arrests and safety incidents that have occurred in this school year, and then last night some School Board leaders butted heads over a lack of transparency in the creation of a new advisory board to review school safety issues.