With the Alexandria School Board approving changing the names of two Alexandria schools, the question is what to call the school formerly known as T.C. Williams High School?
Several alternatives have been raised in online forums and in meetings. Some have suggested other local figures that could replace Thomas Chambliss Williams, including longtime former principal John Porter or Petey Jones, a member of the 1971 championship team and an employee at the school who died last year.
With COVID-19 cases on the rise and the holiday travel season upon us, the Alexandria School Board on Monday approved a recommendation by Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. to delay an in-person plan bringing students back to school until January 2021.
Specifically, the move delays bringing back kindergarten through fifth graders with disabilities who receive self-contained Language Arts and Math, which was planned for Nov. 30, and middle schoolers in the citywide special education program in December. No new set dates were presented, and Hutchings told the Board on Monday that he is following the advice of the Alexandria Health Department and does not want to act impulsively.
After a unanimous vote at the Alexandria School Board meeting last night, the names T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School were voted out — with the replacements still to be decided.
Over the next few months, the School Board will seek public feedback before settling on a new pair of names. The new names will be chosen by the Board in the spring and go into effect at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.
Families received a note from ACPS on Tuesday morning stating that school for students with disabilities in grades 3-5 and who are in the citywide Special Education program would need to stay home.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to return students in the (grades) 3-5 program as part of our targeted date of November 17, as the superintendent has said that all of our plans are contingent upon staffing and building capacity issues,” Terry Werner, the ACPS executive director of specialized instruction told parents in a Zoom call on Wednesday night. “We ran into some issues around staffing and we were not able to staff classes to bring students back from our next phase of students are scheduled to return on 30th.”
Heading into a School Board vote on Nov. 23, Superintendent Gregory Hutchings had thrown his support in with those supporting changing the names of T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School.
Hutchings explained his support for the name change in an opinion piece in Tes, an educator trade magazine.
What a week full of news in Alexandria.
With city offices closed due to Veterans Day on Wednesday, there were still a number of big stories.
Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. will present the school board with an update Thursday night on his continuity of learning plan to eventually bring back all elementary and middle school students to in-person classes.
All ACPS staff are also expected to complete an “Intent to Return” form by 3 p.m. on Wednesday, and the results of staff who plan to return will be made available by this Friday, according to ACPS. Students will also be required to fill out a form in late November or early December as to whether they plan on returning to in-person instruction.
It was a historic week in Alexandria.
Alexandrians overwhelmingly helped reelect U.S. Senator Mark Warner and Congressman Don Beyer, and 80% of voters chose Democrat former Vice President Joe Biden for president over incumbent Republican President Donald Trump.
Updated at 10 p.m. on Nov. 5: Alexandria City Public Schools partially reopened today (Nov. 5) for less than 10 students with disabilities, and Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. told parents that this is but the first step of the reopening process.
When asked on social media how many students attended, ACPS responded that it was fewer than 10 students.
As Alexandria City Public Schools prepares to partially reopen its elementary schools to special needs students on November 5, more than 400 parents are coordinating a new messaging campaign to fully reopen the school system.
Parents with the Facebook group OpenACPS! just printed 1,000 “OpenACPS” signs to be displayed in front yards around the city. More than 600 signs have already been given away, said group organizer Kirsten Dougherty.
The Alexandria School Board last Thursday approved a revised bi-annual memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Alexandria Police Department to provide school resource officers in the city’s public schools.
Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. also said that all Alexandria City Public Schools employees will get racial diversity training.
