What a week in Alexandria.
Public uproar over Sunday’s flooding spilled out throughout this week, which continued to be threatened by near-daily flash flood advisories from the National Weather Service.
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Alexandria City Public Schools
Last night (Thursday), just four days before the school year is scheduled to start, the Alexandria School Board voted to require staff to either be vaccinated or take weekly COVID-19 tests.
The School Board unanimously voted approval of the vaccination and testing requirements, but with significant changes throughout the meeting over when staff would be required to submit their proof of vaccination.
With serious and unresolved health-related decisions looming, Alexandria City Public Schools is set to reopen its doors to full-time instruction on Tuesday, August 24.
“I’m looking forward to putting the stressful 18 months behind us,” an ACPS parent told ALXnow. “It’s time to move ahead and get these kids back in school. I know things will look different and we will have some rough patches, but we owe it to the kids to get them back.”
What a hot week in Alexandria. Here is the rundown.
Our top story this week was on the five men arrested after shots were fired in Old Town last month. There were quite a few crime incidents to report on, in fact, including a man who was arrested in the Landmark area after shooting his cat and a man arrested for selling marijuana and illegally possessing a gun.
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As Alexandria City Public Schools plans a systemwide reopening to full-time in-person instruction on August 24, staff will not be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
ACPS told ALXnow that there is not a vaccine requirement at this time.
Alexandria residents are being invited to weigh in Tuesday (August 10) on the design for the Alexandria City High School Minnie Howard campus.
The community will be provided a design update at 6 p.m. in a Zoom meeting with staff from the ACPS Office of Capital Programs, Planning and Design. The recently approved competition-sized swimming pool will also be discussed.
School year starts at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School — “With a little uncertainty and a lot of hope, Alexandria enters a new chapter for its students.” [Zebra]
Brokerage firm KLMB chosen to find tenants for Landmark Mall — “The first phase of the 4.2 million-square-foot mixed-use redevelopment, to be anchored by a 1 million-square-foot Inova Health System hospital, isn’t slated to deliver until mid-2025. But KLNB and the development team, including Foulger-Pratt, Howard Hughes Corp. (NYSE: HHC), and Seritage Growth Properties (NYSE: SRG), have started working on a retail master plan to identify potential anchor tenants — which they hope will then help draw smaller shops and restaurants to the development.” [Washington Business Journal]
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Former Alexandria City Public Schools administrator Tammy Ignacio says her 30-plus years of experience will help take up the slack since six of the nine members of the School Board aren’t seeking reelection.
“I am well aware of the complexities of running the school system,” Ignacio recently told ALXnow. “I’m excited for the work. I feel like I still have work to do. I think what I can bring to the table is expertise in living the life of an educator and as a parent in the school system.”
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When students come back to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) later this month, they will be wearing face masks.
The School Board voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to require all students, faculty, staff and visitors to ACPS facilities to wear face masks when inside for the time being.
As the city and schools prepare for the process of overhauling Minnie Howard as part of the expanded Alexandria City High School, the Parks Department braces to go two years without access to one of the city’s most well-equipped fields on the school grounds.
At a meeting of the School Board and City Council, Jack Browand, division chief of Parks and Cultural Activities, fielded questions from City Council member John Chapman and Mayor Justin Wilson about how the city will fare without one of the most heavily used fields.
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What an absorbing week in Alexandria.
Just as the ball gets rolling with reopening and loosened restrictions, the pandemic rears its ugly head. With coronavirus transmission levels climbing, Alexandria is once again recommending that residents go back to wearing face masks indoors.