Alexandria City Public Schools plan on opening for five-day instruction this fall, Superintendent gregory Hutchings, Jr. reported to the School Board on Thursday night.
Hutchings said that the transition back to in-person hybrid instruction on March 2, March 9 and March 16, has been “seamless,” and that the Board will receive a logistical update in April.
Like a lot of Americans, Alexandria is working on figuring out how to put its upcoming stimulus checks to good use.
The City of Alexandria is preparing to receive around $59.4 million from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the city is currently working through how and where to put that money to use.
The coronavirus pandemic has meant less traffic on Alexandria roadways, fewer accidents and collisions, although there is a noted increase in the number of reported reckless driving incidents.
There was a 67% increase in reckless driving tickets issued by the Alexandria Police Department in 2020 over 2019. There were 184 reckless driving tickets issued in 2019 and 307 in 2020. With 98 incidents so far this year, the city is on track to exceed last year’s number. However, APD started doing eCitations in late May 2019, and as such the 2019 Reckless Driving ticket numbers are incomplete. All other tickets before that point were filled out manually, skewing the numbers as they were not broken up by citation type.
The City of Alexandria has released more information on upcoming vaccination stages as the state begins to move forwards the phase 1c.
According to the City of Alexandria, Virginia could start to move toward Phase 1c in the next few weeks as vaccine supply starts to increase. The move towards 1c is complicated by the fact that there are still a several thousand Alexandrians in Phase 1b who haven’t been vaccinated, including teachers who are now expected to return to school and restaurant workers the city recently moved into Phase 1b.
Bishop Ireton is raffling off a Ford Escape — “Want to win a brand new 2020 Ford Escape (courtesy of Ourisman Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Alexandria)? You’re in luck! We’re raffling off a brand new car to support the BI Annual Fund. There are only a few raffle tickets left so don’t delay!” [Facebook]
DASH bus drivers have spare face masks just in case — “#MaskUp for every DASH trip and while you wait for the bus. If you cannot delay your trip to obtain a mask, simply ask your operator for one when you board the bus.” [Facebook]
Students have returned to T.C. Williams High School, but the empty halls and spaced-out classrooms are a grim reminder that the “return to normal” is still a goal on the horizon.
T.C. Williams, a school which typically packs in 3,200 students, now sits just under 500 students. Principal Peter Balas said 475 students came to school this week.
Alexandria is slated to receive $59.4 million from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, and Alexandria will be reaching out to residents on how to spend it.
“On behalf of all Alexandrians, I want to share my heartfelt gratitude to Senator Warner, Senator Kaine and Representative Beyer for their assistance in achieving this legislation,” Mayor Justin Wilson said in a statement. “The assistance from the American Rescue Plan will help our residents and business community in many ways over the coming years and will certainly expedite our recovery after the devastating economic and personal impacts of the last year. We will continue to persevere together, and this aid will help to see us through to the other side of this global pandemic.”
Two more Alexandrians have died of COVID-19 and the death toll from the virus now stands at 128.
The latest fatalities were in their 80s and 60s.
You’ll need $2 per trip and a face mask if you want to take the DASH bus now.
For the first time in more than a year, today (Monday, March 15), DASH brought back collecting fares and front door boarding,
What an eventful week in Alexandria.
Thursday, March 11, marked the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic in Alexandria. As the vaccine rollout slowly improves, the most recent news is the allowance of restaurant workers to get the vaccine. Just over 38,000 doses have been administered in the city, and of that 14,661 residents have been fully vaccinated. The city also wants 80% of residents vaccinated by July 31.
Beyer Enthusiastic After American Rescue Plan Passage — “THERE IT IS: the House just passed the American Rescue Plan, sending the bill to President Biden’s desk for signature! We did it!!!” [Twitter]
Metro Service Cuts Averted With Passage Of COVID Relief Bill — “While it will take more time to work out all the details, including Metro’s exact share of this funding, the $1.4 billion provided by the American Recovery Plan for our region’s transit agencies will allow us to avert the painful service reductions and layoffs that were on the table.” [Patch]
