What an intense week in Alexandria.
Our top story was on the massive power outages that affected tens of thousands of residents on Friday, October 23. Without providing specifics, Dominion Energy told City Council this week that outages in Alexandria and Arlington were “unique,” and caused by a piece of equipment that failed at its Glebe Road substation. City Councilors responded that there have been at least eight outages since May.
The families of former football coaches Herman Boone and Bill Yoast want T.C. Williams High School to be renamed Boone-Yoast High School.
T.C. Williams High School is known around the world for the 2000 movie Remember the Titans, which focused on its 1971 state championship-winning varsity football team that found greatness by working through racial adversity. Coach Boone and his assistant coach Yoast remained best friends throughout their lives and continued coaching and teaching at T.C. for decades.
The Alexandria School Board is set to vote on Thursday (October 29) on a revised memorandum of understanding with the Alexandria Police Department to provide school resource officers in the city’s public schools.
Among the changes are definitions of student “contact” with a police officer, since any contact with a student must be reported to ACPS. That includes:
This was a big week for Alexandria.
Our top story this week was the Alexandria School Board’s decision to reopen schools for students with disabilities, while the future reopening of school for elementary, middle and high schoolers remains in doubt.
The deadline is 11:59 p.m. next Wednesday (October 28) for the community to weigh in on a survey on whether Alexandria City Public Schools should change the names of T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School.
The survey is part of the renaming process for both schools, and the school board will officially vote next month on whether to change the names.
Alexandria City Public Schools are not likely to fully reopen until there is a vaccine for the coronavirus, Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. told CNN on Wednesday. The interview with Jake Tapper was hours before the School Board tabled a proposal to phase in kids from kindergarten to eighth grade in January and February.
“I think having all of our students at one time in our classrooms, it definitely, probably won’t be until a vaccine occurs,” Hutchings told CNN.
The Alexandria School Board will vote tonight on the Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr.’s phased plan to reopen elementary and middle schools starting next month.
The board will discuss and then vote on the proposal, which was unveiled on October 15. The meeting starts at 7 p.m.
Beyer Says People Will Suffer Without Unemployment Insurance Program Extension — “”We’re making a deeply fundamental mistake not reauthorizing all our unemployment insurance programs. When we take the money away, that’s what’s been propping up consumer spending and the ability of people to get by.” [Twitter]
City Opens Additional Locations for Absentee Voting — “Absentee voting will be available at the Charles Beatley Library (5005 Duke St.) from October 23 through October 31, except Sundays. Absentee voting will also be available at Minnie Howard School (3801 W. Braddock Rd.) and George Washington Middle School (1005 Mt. Vernon Ave.), on Saturdays, October 24 and 31, only. All three locations will have ballot drop boxes available during voting hours, which vary according to the list below.” [City of Alexandria]
What a week it’s been in Alexandria.
Our top story this week was the report that Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. sends one of his children to Bishop Ireton High School. In case you missed it, the story first broke in Theogony, the T.C. Williams High School newspaper.
Alexandria City Public Schools are planning on slowly reopening their doors to students and teachers next month.
On Thursday, Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. formally unveiled his phased approach to reopening the city’s public school system. Desks will be outfitted with sneeze guards and students and teachers will have to wear face masks and maintain distancing.
Ashley Sanchez-Viafara, one of the student representatives on the Alexandria School Board, reported that she was called the n-word in an online forum discussing race in Alexandria City Public Schools.
The school system is in the renaming process for T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School, and the October 7 student forum was the second conversation on where ACPS stands in regard to racial issues.
