News

Members of Alexandria City High School’s award-winning Titan Robotics team are protesting a decision to move the team to a new, smaller  dedicated classroom space at the King Street Campus.

Last September, the award-winning Titan Robotics team was informed they would have to divide their 4,000-square-foot space next to the school gym with a new carpentry program. The move took away an area the team used to test the robot they enter in regional and national competitions. Earlier this month, the team was told by an Alexandria City Public Schools facilities administrator that the carpentry program was expanding and that Titan Robotics would be moved to an unused 1,500-square-foot classroom on the ground floor of the King Street Campus.


News

Eleven residents at the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center in Alexandria’s West End marked a significant milestone as they were presented with their high school diplomas today (Wednesday).

The graduation event was attended by family members, NVJDC residents and staff, as well as City Councilwoman Sandy Marks and Alexandria City School Board Chair Michelle Rief. The jail’s state-operated school is managed by Alexandria City Public Schools, which provides licensed staff to teach 10-to-18-year-old children brought in from across Alexandria, Arlington County and the city of Falls Church.


Around Town

State Sen. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-39) and her business partner are launching a new maternity and children’s consignment boutique in Del Ray this weekend.

Bennett-Parker and Allie Rubinoff, who both live in Del Ray, will launch Little Chickadee with a pop-up event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (June 13) at Gustave Boulangerie (2213 Mount Vernon Avenue). Bennett-Parker said that the boutique will operate mostly online from a space above Mulberry Lane.


Around Town

Kids are clamoring to be part of the Ukulele Club at William Ramsay Elementary School.

The nine-week after-school program for second graders only started in the spring. With the end of the school year around the corner, the 15 kids in the club are rehearsing for an upcoming school assembly and a performance in front of their parents.


News

Francis C. Hammond Middle School received a donation of 500 new backpacks today, which will be stuffed with school supplies for when students return for the 2026-2027 school year.

United Way National Capital Area and Enterprise Mobility donated the backpacks to the Title I school. United Way’s global headquarters are located in Alexandria.


News

After pool drownings of children 5 and under reached a five-year high last year in Virginia, state health officials are urging families to take a “safe swimming pledge” as pools open for the season.

In 2025, there were 12 accidental drownings of children aged 5 and under in Virginia — more than the nine reported over the prior three years: three in 2024, two in 2023 and four in 2022. Virginia reported 473 drownings in all bodies of water between 2020 and 2024.


Around Town

An Alexandria learning center has been chosen to host an open casting call for a new Netflix children’s competition show.

Code Ninjas Alexandria will serve as a casting site for “Schooled,” a national competition series created by Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer who worked on the Mars Curiosity rover and now runs an engineering school called CrunchLabs Academy.


News

Alexandria’s DASH bus service kicked off April’s Month of the Young Child this morning (Monday) with the unveiling of a bus covered with early childhood development messaging intended to inspire parents.

The bus “takeover” was unveiled at DASH headquarters (3000 Business Center Drive) and includes exterior wraparound messaging and interior display messaging on five principles to help young children thrive. Mayor Alyia Gaskins, DASH CEO Josh Baker and Michelle Smith Howard, CEO of Kids’ First Years, were among approximately 50 children and adults who attended.


Around Town

Get your Easter baskets ready and hop to egg hunts and other festivities over the holiday weekend in Alexandria.

Egg hunts, visits with the Easter Bunny and more family-friendly events are taking place over Easter weekend. Some of the highlights are an underwater egg hunt in the pool, brunch with the Easter Bunny and Councilman John Taylor Chapman’s returning egg hunt.


News

Alexandria’s DASH bus service will unveil a bus with colorful wraparound graphics next week to kick off April as the city’s Month of the Young Child.

At 10 a.m. Monday, April 6, Mayor Alyia Gaskins will be on hand at DASH headquarters (3000 Business Center Drive) to reveal the bus, which includes colorful wraparound graphics outside the bus. Through a partnership with local nonprofit Kids’ First Years, buses will display messaging on the five principles to help young children thrive. This is the second year that the city has devoted April toward promoting early childhood education and development with planned activities across the city.


News

Alexandria City Council members are pressing for more answers before they can fill a $5.65 million budget gap to pay for Alexandria City Public Schools’ first-ever collective bargaining agreement.

Earlier this month, the School Board approved its $12.7 million collective bargaining agreement with the Education Association of Alexandria, promising a step increase for all eligible employees (and an extra step for staff employed since 2010), a 2% cost of living adjustment (COLA) for licensed staff, a 3.5% COLA for support staff and a $2,000 longevity bonus for support staff.


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