(Updated at 2:55 p.m.) A School Board work session on restructuring the makeup of the Board stopped short late last night after one member, Willie Bailey, walked out of the meeting.
Board Members were hammering out whether to expand terms from three to four years, stagger elections and switch from districts to at-large elections. The work session was held after a two-hour Board meeting and ended after 11 p.m. because the Board no longer had an in-person quorum after Bailey left.
Is the Alexandria School Board too big? Should their elections be staggered and three-year terms increased?
The entire structure of the Alexandria School Board could soon be upended, as these and a number of other big questions are up for discussion Thursday night.
At a town hall meeting last Sunday, most City Council members said — in no uncertain terms — that they are opposed to a ward system in Alexandra.
Currently, all City Council leaders are elected in an at-large system. Each Council member represents the city as a whole. D.C., on the other hand, had a City Council that’s a mix of at-large members and ward members — representatives of specific areas of the city.
In a bid to make voting in the West End faster, the Office of Voter Registration and Elections is planning to add two new precincts to the neighborhood.
Ahead of the planned increase to six precincts, aimed at decreasing the number of voters per precinct in the presidential election in the fall of 2024, the city is asking for public feedback.
(Updated 7/18) School Board Chair Meagan Alderton was reelected back on Jan. 5, but seven months into a one-year term, the Chair and Vice-Chair positions are up for election again.
Earlier this year, the School Board voted to change the timetable for Board elections to July rather than at the first meeting of the year in January. The new election is scheduled for Thursday, July 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) central office (1340 Braddock Place).
Alexandria School Board members spoke with leaders from nearby school districts on staggered terms and board sizes and the takeaway was: Alexandria’s School Board is too bloated and too prone to rapid turnover.
Last night, Alexandria’s School Board hosted a panel to discuss potentially staggering Alexandria’s election cycle and adjusting the size of the board. On the panel:
Some big changes are coming to the Alexandria School Board.
Tonight, the Board will conduct a work session on whether to stagger the election cycle for its members, as well as reducing the number of members. There are currently nine Board members serving three-year terms in Districts A, B and C, and their elections run concurrently with City Council.
Alexandria could be making significant changes to the way the School Board is elected, from staggered terms to breaking alignment with the standard election cycles.
A new survey suggests that School Board elections could be changed to staggered terms, meaning school board members are elected across different years rather than all at once.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine visited Alexandria for a reelection campaign happy hour on Monday, and said he’s partly running to keep Virginia out of Republican crosshairs in 2024.
Kaine says that he’s concerned about former President Donald Trump’s calls to protest if he is indicted today.
(Updated 4:15 p.m.) Are there too many Alexandria School Board Members? Should their terms be staggered and should districts be eliminated? The Board wants these questions answered by the time voters cast their ballots in November 2024.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the nine-person Board unanimously agreed to establish a process for asking the public these questions. The answers will inform a Board resolution that is expected to go before the Alexandria City Council next year and the Virginia General Assembly in 2024.
Alexandria Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker is running for reelection for Virginia’s 45th District, she announced on Wednesday.
Bennett-Parker will kick off her campaign formally on Jan. 7.
