Alexandria School Board Member Tim Beaty just won his special election in January, and now he tells us that he’s running for reelection in November.
Beaty won a special election on Jan. 9 to fill the District A seat vacated by former School Board Member Willie Bailey. He was sworn in days later, and said he would spend the next several months learning the intricacies of Alexandria City Public Schools before deciding on whether to run for reelection on Nov. 5.
“I was just at the Alexandria Democratic Committee meeting asking people to sign my petitions, and more than one person said, ‘Didn’t I just sign this for you?'” Beaty said.
Beaty ran on a platform of helping ACPS navigate the new and complex collective bargaining process with licensed teachers and staff. The school system is currently experiencing a staffing crisis, and Beaty says that a strong collective bargaining agreement will improve retention.
Last month, the School Board unanimously approved a collective bargaining resolution, laying the groundwork for a future agreement. Beaty believes he was an important contributor to the process, and said that now the hard work begins.
“Over the last few months, I have enjoyed my interaction with my colleagues on the School Board and with the senior staff in the division,” Beaty said. “I feel like I made a useful contribution, particularly during the debate about the resolution that enables union recognition and collective bargaining.”
Beaty continued, “I believe that this is a process that is going to benefit us, that’s going to be a process in which our employees feel more engaged, more respected, more listened to, and in the end through this process and leading to a collective bargaining agreement, I think we’re going to have a much better labor management relationship going forward. We need that. We need our employees to feel like they’re being listened to, that they have a voice.”
Beaty retired two years as the global strategies director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He and his wife moved to the city 10 years ago, and until he was elected was a substitute teacher at two ACPS elementary schools.
He also voted with the School Board to ask the City Council for a tax increase to restore steps and fund teacher raises.
“Our staff is working very hard, and they need a raise,” Beaty said. “We live in an area that is expensive to live in — housing and other things. For them to be able to live a good life and be able to focus on doing a good job every day, we need to compensate them well. So, I was happy to move for funds above the superintendent’s proposed budget.”
District A includes Old Town, Del Ray, Potomac Yard and Arlandria. Incidentally, the filing deadline for School Board candidates is June 18, which is the same day as the Democrat and Republican primaries. So far, only one School Board candidate has filed paperwork to run — Alexander Scioscia in District B.
A four-year-old student with autism walked away from Jefferson-Houston Elementary School in Old Town last month and was found barefoot in the middle the street by a school bus driver near the King Street Metro station.
A number of school officials were consequently placed on administrative leave by Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt.
The incident occurred after school on Tuesday, March 19. Brianna Davis-Suggs took an Uber to pick up her daughter, Riley, and was told at the door that a teacher was getting her. Moments later, Davis-Suggs overheard on a walkie-talkie that a student in the school was missing.
It didn’t occur to Davis-Suggs that they were talking about Riley.
“All I remember is when they told me she was missing that I was crying so bad,” Davis-Suggs said. “I’m very upset. But at the same time, I’m just very grateful to still be able to say my daughter’s here.”
Davis-Suggs said that a school bus driver saw the Pre-K student in the middle of the tunnel near the entrance of the King Street Metro station at King Street and Commonwealth Avenue. Riley walked less than a half mile from the school to where she was found.
Davis-Suggs says that a bus monitor lured her daughter out of the street and into the bus with a lollipop.
“Your average child shouldn’t just take candy or anything from a stranger that they don’t know,” Davis-Suggs said. “I’m happy it was good people that actually found her. But at the same time, it’s just a scary, and the school should definitely know a lot of different things about her by now.”
An Alexandria Police Department dispatch confirmed that the child was found minutes after school let out at around 2:18 p.m.
Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt said in a letter to parents that she placed a number of administrative staff at the school on administrative leave, including the head of school and academic principal.
“Several employees, including administrative staff, have been placed on administrative leave this week,” Kay-Wyatt wrote. “In the interim, I have placed some new administrative and support staff at Jefferson-Houston while this matter is being investigated.”
Riley hasn’t gone back to school at Jefferson-Houston since.
Davis-Suggs, 22, also attended Jefferson-Houston Elementary School. As for her own child, she says she later met with school administrators who wanted her to bring Riley back to school. While she has no plans to sue the school system, she’s now looking for a new school for her daughter.
“As of right now, I really just want my daughter to be in a better school, and I want her to get the resources she needs,” Davis-Suggs said. “I Still don’t know the exact best option to go about it right now because I’m very upset.”
D.C. News Now was first to report on this story.
Kay-Wyatt’s full statement to parents after the incident is below:
Dear Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB Families and Staff,
I am writing to share an important update with families and staff about a student safety concern and some leadership changes at Jefferson-Houston. You may be aware that a young Jefferson-Houston student left school grounds and was unsupervised for a portion of the afternoon on March, 19, 2024. This is deeply concerning for me as an educator and as a parent. Families should feel confident that their children are safe in our schools, and I want you all to know that this matter is being taken seriously, and that further changes will be forthcoming. Several employees, including administrative staff, have been placed on administrative leave this week. In the interim, I have placed some new administrative and support staff at Jefferson-Houston while this matter is being investigated.
Specifically, Ms. PreeAnn Johnson will serve as acting head of schools at Jefferson-Houston. Ms. Johnson is the retired principal from James K. Polk Elementary School and has been serving in a variety of administrative roles at Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) since her retirement. Currently, she has been serving as transition administrator at Alexandria City High School – King Street Campus. In addition, Ms. Julia Neufer is going to be the acting academic principal. Ms. Neufer is currently serving as the division STEM coordinator & elementary math instructional specialist. Both will assume these roles on Thursday, April 11, 2024 and will continue until further notice.
We understand that these changes can be concerning for some staff and families given the immediacy. Our team is here to support the Jefferson-Houston school community as we take these matters very seriously.
We will provide you with further updates in regard to future leadership adjustments as that information becomes available. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to support the students and staff with these new assignments.
For any questions regarding this update, please send an email to [email protected]. Please keep in mind that any questions related to personnel matters are unable to be addressed.
I am confident that Ms. Johnson and Ms. Neufer will serve the Jefferson-Houston community well and support the school in keeping on track as we work to finish out the school year strong.
Sincerely,
Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt
Superintendent
Alexandria City Council candidate Abdel Elnoubi has been making legislative waves recently as a member of the School Board, and says residents should expect the same kind of results if he gets elected.
Elnoubi is one of 11 Democrats running to fill six seats on City Council, including four incumbent Council members running for reelection in the Democratic primary on June 18. The field also includes Jacinta Greene, a fellow School Board Member.
Elnoubi is a freshman politician sworn in virtually during the pandemic in 2021. The last several years meant contending with staffing shortages, learning loss, school safety and budgeting issues. He says that alleviating staffing woes is an important solution for the school system, and consequently added a $4.2 million bonus in the ACPS budget request to the City Council for staff who were excluded from step increases in fiscal year 2021.
That move, and other additions by the School Board, will likely result in a residential tax increase during an election year.
“It’s your decision to decide whether you want to raise taxes or not,” Elnoubi told City Council last month. “If you do that, if you decide to raise taxes, I’m 100% with you.”
Elnoubi, an engineering project manager for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, also made big changes to the ACPS collective bargaining resolution. Most notably, he gained support to eliminate a voting threshold for ACPS staff to establish unions to begin the bargaining process with the school system.
“We just can’t pay our teachers enough, so it’s personal for me,” Elnoubi said. “In my early days at Metro, I was a young engineer making $66,000. I could hardly afford to live in Alexandria. My family was growing. We (at WMATA) got a raise because the union had a new agreement… Not just that, they got us back pay, and that made a significant change in my life. It made me feel more financially secure. Now all of a sudden I have extra money for savings, I’m making a little bit more money with this newborn that I just had. So, I saw firsthand the impact of being part of a union and having a collective bargaining agreement.”
Elnoubi lives in the Landmark area with his wife and two children.
Early on in his School Board tenure, Elnoubi said he wouldn’t be a “rubber stamp” for former ACPS Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr., and frequently went against established Board practices by speaking with the press.
“I believe in transparency, and I made it a point to be accessible to the press,” he said. “Because I came to this country for Democracy, for opportunity, for the things that make this country great, that we can hold government accountable.”
Born in Chicago, Elnoubi lived in Falls Church until he was eight years old, and then moved with his family to Alexandria, Egypt. He says his return to America and political aspirations in Alexandria, Virginia, makes for a literal “Tale Of Two Cities,” where quality of life issues stand in stark contrast.
“The police there (in Egypt) don’t work for the people,” Elnoubi said. “They’re an instrument of the regime to crush dissent… Education is totally underfunded, especially public schools. Teachers are paid very badly and can’t afford basic life necessities.”
At 21, Elnoubi returned to the U.S. after three years of college in Egypt and transferred to the City College of New York, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in mechanical engineering. He later earned a Master’s in engineering management from George Washington University, and moved to the city in 2012. Prior to his election in 2021, he was also the president of the PTA at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School and was a member of the city’s Community Criminal Justice Board and the Building Code Board of Appeals.
Elnoubi is Muslim and says he was inspired to run for office after former President Donald Trump was elected and signed an executive order initiating a travel ban to seven Muslim countries.
“My kids know no other country but the U.S., and I didn’t want them growing up in their own country feeling they do not belong or were being discriminated against,” Elnoubi said. “I started talking to people, and they advised me to join the Democratic Committee, to become a grassroots activist, to get involved more than I was. I did.”
He continued, “We can’t take this Democracy for granted. I’ve seen what happens when you don’t have Democracy. Corruption, bad quality of life, you can’t hold government accountable, you’re risking your life just by speaking up. And now I’m like, oh my God, could that happen here? And guess what? We found the answer four years later. It almost happened. You almost had a coup four years later.”
Elnoubi says that he’s a goal-oriented engineer, setting achievable benchmarks and closely measuring progress with data. He said that the failed Potomac Yard arena deal lacked safeguards to shield Alexandria residents from hundreds of millions of dollars in financial liabilities “in the event of unrealized projections.”
“The deal neglected the needs of our commuters posing adverse implications through the anticipated surge in traffic, compounded by insufficient state funding allocated for essential public transportation enhancements aimed at mitigating such concerns,” Elnoubi said. “The deal’s environment details were lacking. The deal failed to prioritize the welfare of our workforce with lack of sufficient labor protections and commitments to uphold union standards.”
On affordable housing, he said that he will use “zoning and permitting regulations, tax incentives, and partnerships” to allow residents of all income levels to live in the city.
Elnoubi admits that he’s got his work cut out for him in this primary election. He also says that his experience on the Board sets him apart.
“I’ve seen how hard the work is, how much effort and dedication it takes,” he said. “I love to roll up my sleeves and get involved.”
Alexandria’s School Board is starting to kick off plans for redistricting and some of the early discussion has been around a unique and controversial placement regulation in Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS): capacity reassignments.
Capacity reassignments allow the superintendent to put caps on the number of students at a school and reassign students to other schools if that limit is reached.
According to the ACPS regulations:
Each year by April 1, the Superintendent will publicly present the projected number of students by school and by grade level for the following school year. The Superintendent and School Board will review proposed class size caps and the number of homeroom sections for each school at each grade level during the budget process each spring.
Under certain conditions listed in Policy JC/JCD, the Superintendent may place restrictions limiting the assignment of elementary students to a particular school or grade level based on capacity. If an enrollment limit for a grade level is reached, the Superintendent or authorized designee may reassign elementary students to the school closest to the student’s residence where there is capacity. Because ACPS transportation resources and utilization impact placement procedures, “school closest to the student’s residence” is determined by the shortest driving distance (mileage).
Capacity reassignments move students away from the schools closest to them to cut down on classroom sizes.
At a work session last week, staff told the Redistricting Steering Committee that one of the suggestions in this year’s redistricting discussion is the elimination of capacity reassignments, noting that no other school division has a system like ACPS’.
School Board member Abdel Elnoubi said eliminating capacity reassignments would require a different set of solutions, like trailers at schools.
“We continue to not want to put that idea on the table,” Elnoubi said. “We can’t have it both ways. If we’re going to eliminate capacity assignments, we need to be open to other solutions… we need to start thinking creatively.”
Elnoubi also said removing class size caps would increase inequity in Alexandria schools.
“Heck no, I would never support removing class size caps,” Elnoubi said. “This is going to increase inequities.”
School Board member Meagan Alderton said the School Board will have to make unpopular decisions to address capacity issues.
“I feel like our biggest problem when you look at all of these things: we don’t want to change with the times,” said Alderton. “We want to stay a small town. We love our little city on the hill, but that’s not where we are. We are continuously trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and this is why we’re having all these issues.”
Alderton said School Board members “have to take the heat over something.”
Policy revisions are the focus of the Redistricting Steering Committee this spring. From Aug. 2024 to May 2025, options will be developed and ACPS will gather community feedback. Recommendations are scheduled to come back to ACPS for a vote sometime between June-December 2025.
Once the new redistricting policies are approved, families will be notified of the impact between January and July 2026, with the new boundaries implemented for the 2026-2027 school year.
The Alexandria School Board unanimously approved a collective bargaining resolution Thursday night, setting the ground rules for how the school system will negotiate with staff on wages and benefits.
Dawn Lucas, president of the Education Association of Alexandria, was pleased with a number of changes that she recommended the Board make to the proposed resolution.
“I feel like we’re in a good place,” Lucas said. “Our teachers and staff are going to have seats at the table, and their voices will be heard.”
School Board Chair Michelle Rief said that Alexandria City Public Schools wants to come to a collective bargaining agreement by the end of 2024.
“I think it’s a milestone moment for our school division,” Rief said. ” I want to thank the Education Association of Alexandria, our ACPS staff and community members who were engaged in this process. We heard your feedback, we incorporated your feedback and I’m very pleased with where we landed with this final collective bargaining resolution.”
The school system is currently experiencing a staffing crisis. Last October, EAA sent the Board an employee certification on behalf of licensed teachers. That submission gave the Board 120 days to adopt a framework for the resolution.
Among the changes to the draft document was Board Member Abdel Elnoubi’s recommendation to remove a 30% voting threshold for employees to establish two unions for bargaining. Those units can now be chosen with a simple majority of staff.
Elnoubi said that the Board’s work on the resolution was the best experience he’s had throughout his single term.
“I got to roll my sleeves and do work and get involved in the work from the beginning and be part of the process,” Elnoubi said. “I don’t think as board members we get to do that a lot, so that was a really good experience, to feel that we are actually solving problems and working hands-on.”
The Board also increased the number of yet-to-be-determined bargaining topics from four to six, and left the door open for more topics if voted on by the bargaining units. Additionally, after the first agreement expires after three years, collective bargaining to administrative staff.
ACPS middle school teacher David Paladin Fernandez was also pleased with the resolution. Fernandez is running against Lucas for EAA president in a union election this summer.
“I do appreciate the immense amount of work that the Board has done to improve this document from where it was last week when it was first released,” Fernandez said. “The fact that they struck out the voter participation threshold is a tremendous win for not just employees here in ACPS, but for Democracy itself.”
Alexandria City High School English teacher Eva Irwin was at a loss for words when her name was called and the packed gymnasium erupted in applause.
This afternoon at a school assembly, Irwin was recognized as a top-tier teacher and surprised with the $25,000 Milken Educator Award.
It’s the first time that an Alexandria City Public Schools teacher has won the award, which has been presented to approximately 3,000 other educators over the past 37 years. There is also no formal nominating process or application that goes into selecting recipients.
“As you can tell, I’m shaking,” Irwin told the audience of students, teachers and administrators. “This is the last thing I ever expected.”
An English teacher with more than 100 11th-grade students, Irwin said that she tries to get her students to feel ownership with their assignments.
“I don’t have any children on my own, so they really are like my kids,” Irwin later told reporters. “I really try with my students to have a lot of collaboration. My teaching style is very student-centered, so I really try to get them to feel like they have ownership over their learning offered a lot of choice and how they can you know, complete assignments based on their best learning modalities.”
Philanthropist Lowell Milken started the awards in 1987 to recognize early-to-mid-career teachers.
“You cannot apply for our award,” Milken told the audience in the ACHS gymnasium. “We find you.”
The event was also attended by Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons, Alexandria School Board Chair Michelle Rief and ACPS Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt.
Milken told Irwin that the funds will help her unleash her potential.
“As we unleash that additional potential, we are expecting even greater things of the future,” he said.
Irwin said that the money will pay for her $23,500 master’s degree in educational and instructional leadership from Virginia Tech.
When asked about how the recipients of the award are chosen, Milken said that the foundation works with state boards of education, and that names surface through other sources to the Milken Family Foundation.
“I’d love to tell you, but it’s a secret,” Milken told ALXnow. “I think that what we can identify with this group of nearly 3,000 is that they’re all strong instructional leaders. They’re also powerful mentors for other teachers and they’re invested in their communities.”
The final touches are being made to Alexandria City High School’s expansion of its Minnie Howard Campus.
The five-story, $174 million high school project is on-budget and on-track for “substantial completion this spring,” according to an Alexandria City Public School staff report that will be presented to the School Board on Thursday.
“Construction of the new Minnie Howard building has been ongoing since the spring of 2022 and is on track to be substantially completed this spring for occupancy in August 2024,” staff wrote.
The 1,600-student school, which nearly doubled in its capacity, will feature an aquatics facility and expanded career and technical education (CTE) lab spaces for “potential new offerings in game design/development, robotics, emergency medical sciences, cyber security, (and) firefighting,” according to ACPS.
Staff also reported that construction the gymnasium and auxiliary gym are complete, that furniture is being moved in and that interior finishing touches are being made.
Next steps for the project include inspection by the Health Department and getting a final occupancy permit.
The Alexandria School Board made significant changes to its proposed collective bargaining agreement resolution with staff on Thursday night.
In a work session that ran until nearly midnight, the Board amended the 17-page draft resolution, which sets the rules for negotiations on a three-year agreement. The draft resolution reveals a slow rollout for the Alexandria City Public Schools bargaining process that will only reach full fruition in future negotiations, with the school system currently focusing on reaching an eventual collective bargaining agreement on six yet-to-be-determined topics with a portion of employees.
The document was heavily criticized last month by the Education Association of Alexandria (EAA) union. EAA was adamantly opposed to the draft recommendation that 30% of licensed staff and support personnel vote to create two separate employee unions, or bargaining units, to represent them.
“We got some things and others we did not,” EAA President Dawn Lucas said. “We are not in agreement with any voter thresholds and don’t want limitations on bargaining topics.”
Last October, EAA sent the Board an employee certification on behalf of licensed teachers. That submission gave the Board 120 days to adopt a framework for the collective bargaining resolution, with a full board action expected on Thursday, March 21. ACPS wants to come to a collective bargaining agreement with staff by the end of the year, School Board Chair Michelle Rief said earlier this year.
School Board Member Abdel Elnoubi got majority support from his colleagues to remove the 30% voting threshold for employees to establish unions for bargaining.
“I don’t think anyone in this town was elected with 30% of the vote, not the mayor and City Council, and not us,” Elnoubi said. “I think it’s a burden that’s unnecessary.”
Board Member Chris Harris said he felt challenged by removing the 30% threshold.
“I’m challenged by this,” he said. “I’m just not sure what the engagement looks like. There could be two people. That could be a handful of people make a decision for an entire business unit. I’m not okay with that.”
The draft document now stipulates that employee unions can be established by a simple majority of staff within their respective employee groups.
The Board added Member Ashley Simpson Baird’s recommendation to increase the number of bargaining topics from four to six, and adding a sunset clause removing all restrictions on the number of topics that can be bargained after the first agreement expires.
Also approved was Vice Chair Kelly Carmichael Booz’s proposal to expand collective bargaining to administrative staff after the first agreement expires.
School Board Member Tim Beaty, a former leader with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, won a recent special election by campaigning on the importance of collective bargaining. He added language that will make the school system pay for the union elections.
“To me, the election is an obligation of the government that’s holding the election,” Beaty said. “We’re not trying to state what the rules are for the election, but we will pay for the election.”
ACPS middle school teacher David Paladin Fernandez is running against Lucas for EAA president. That election is expected to be conducted in May and the results released before July 1.
Fernandez sat through the nearly four hour meeting and walked away hopeful. Changes he’d like to see are management providing mailing lists of staffers to the EAA on a quarterly basis, and adding a “just cause” clause forcing the school system to tell employees why they are being disciplined or fired.
“EAA needs this to pass,” he said. “I like the level of discourse. It’s not something we see often out of the School Board. I’m largely happy.”
Alexandria School Board Members went all-in Wednesday night in asking City Council to fund its budget by approving a massive tax increase.
Mayor Justin Wilson told the Board at a budget work session on Wednesday night that its fiscal year 2025 $384.4 million combined funds budget request would result in a historic tax increase. The Board, in turn, said that the funding could stem the school system’s staffing crisis.
“To be candid, the combination of the operating requests and the capital requests is probably about a 6 cent tax increase, which is not viable,” Wilson said, adding that it would be the largest tax increase since the 5.7 cent tax increase of 2017 raised the average residential property tax bill by more than $300.
The Board’s proposed budget, which was approved last month, surprised Wilson and other Council Members, who said they were left in the dark with its development.
“I’ve heard nothing around a strategic look at how we pay folks,” City Council Member John Taylor Chapman told the Board. “I know many of you personally. I know you care about what you do. I know you are professionals. So, when I say ‘Hey, I expect you to bring a great budget to Council and Council is going to fund it,’ I don’t expect you to be just willy nilly. I expect you to be focused and I think that’s who you are.”
School Board Chair Michelle Rief countered that the Board has been strategic in its thinking, and that she prioritizes the 2% market rate adjustment for staff as the most important addition that needs funding.
“In my opinion, to sort of go out publicly and tell us to fight for the thing that we need and then come here and tell us that we’re we’re asking for too much, I think might be a political strategy on your part,” Rief said.
Vice Mayor Amy Jackson, who is running for mayor, said that the city should raise taxes to fully fund the school system’s budget request.
“I know it’s a sacrifice for all of us,” Jackson said. “I mean, we all live here in the city, and raising taxes would be a sacrifice.”
Jackson was the only Council member to not criticize the school system’s budget during the meeting.
“I just feel like we need to get close to what they’re asking for, if not fully funded,” Jackson said. “I think raising taxes also will mean that hopefully we’re not cutting our services and that our services are remaining at the optimum level for our residents and our businesses, but also making sure that our schools are remaining competitive and keeping our community stronger.”
School Board Member Tammy Ignacio was brought to tears while recounting the stresses that staff and students are experiencing.
“We have got to be able to compete with our surrounding jurisdictions,” Ignacio said. “In my 32 years in education, I have never seen it this bad. I have never seen the level of kids in a classroom without a teacher in front of them.”
City Council will set a maximum tax rate next week, allowing the City Manager to pursue some of the Board’s proposed additions, which include $4.2 million for staffers who did not get step increases in fiscal year 2021 and a $5.4 million (2%) market rate adjustment for all eligible staff.
Council Member Alyia Gaskins, who is running against Jackson in the Democratic mayoral primary, said she is in favor of advertising a higher tax rate to consider the additions.
“We have to deliver a balanced budget that responds to the needs of our community and that means doing right by our teachers and students,” Gaskins said. “If in the end we decide an increase is necessary, then I will be leading the charge to figure out relief for those who cannot keep affording these increases, like seniors on fixed incomes or others who are one tax increase away from not being able to afford to live here.”
School Board Member Abdel Elnoubi, who is running for City Council, said that he’s asking them to make an unpopular decision during an election year.
“It’s your decision to decide whether you want to raise taxes or not,” Elnoubi said. “If you do that, if you decide to raise taxes, I’m 100% with you… Let me just address the elephant in the room. It is an election year and as a School Board Member I’m in a less tough position.”
Four City Council Members are seeking reelection, and two members are running for mayor. Elnoubi and School Board Member Jacinta Greene are also running in the June 18 Democratic City Council primary.
Elnoubi said that from Council’s perspective, the Board gets to take credit for the increased funding while City Council has to deal with the consequences of raising taxes.
“That’s very viable, that is the political reality of things,” Elnoubi said. “What I will tell you is we are doing what we think is right for the school system… I would be derelict in my duty if I don’t ask you for what we need, understanding full well you may not be able to give it to us, which is fine.”
Wilson said that the Board needs to work closer with Council to craft not only this budget, but future budgets.
“It is impossible for us to resolve the gap on both the capital and operating side,” he said. “So we are going to pick a number and to come to some conclusion to our process, and it’s going to be challenging to arrive at that number without some really good input from the School Board as to what that should be.”
School Board Member Tim Beaty said that living in the city is becoming more expensive, and that the additions are focused on teacher retention.
“We were doing what we thought was best in order to keep the quality of what we’ve got,” Beaty said. “I’m frustrated that this leads to this huge difference between what we need and what’s available in the budget.”
City Council will adopt its final budget on May 1.
ALXnow will be running a series of City Council candidate interviews through the local election filing deadline on April 4.
The economic potential for the $2 billion Potomac Yard arena deal is maintaining the interest of Alexandria City Council Member Alyia Gaskins.
Gaskins is running for mayor and says that a good deal for Alexandria means more city representation on the Virginia Stadium Authority board, which would own and finance the future home of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals.
Gaskins says that she’ll carefully dissect the proposal “if and when” it comes before City Council and that her four key issues are on the city’s representation on the Virginia Stadium Authority board, as well as how the project impacts labor, housing, and transportation.
“A good deal is one that has strong labor protections, a commitment to affordable housing and new transportation investments,” Gaskins told ALXnow. “It is also one in which we have the majority of authority on the, but the majority of seats on the stadium Authority Board.”
A House version of the bill to create the board was approved earlier this month, but the Senate version of the bill is currently stalled.
“As you know, I’m the one who’s going to be in the weeds going through each and every page to really evaluate what has come to us and is it something that’s going to deliver for Alexandria,” Gaskins said. “I can’t speculate now until I see specifically where we are on each of those areas, because I don’t think it works without all of them.”
On the issues
Gaskins said she had to take a pause and that she was disappointed after seeing the Alexandria School Board’s recent budget request. The Board asked for $21 million more than what was allocated from the city in last year’s budget, prompting an outcry from Mayor Justin Wilson, and a fiscal year 2025 budget proposal from the City Manager that does not include $10 million in additions from the School Board.
Gaskins said that City Council was briefed in the fall about a potential reduction in real estate values, and that the decline would mean a substantial revenue reduction in the city, potentially resulting in cuts to city services.
“I thought seeing then a budget that calls for such an addition at a time when we are facing some tough economic situations was really a little disappointing,” she said. “At the same time, we all are fighting for the same thing. We want our teachers to be the best paid, and to be the most supported in the region. We want our kids to have the greatest academic outcomes that they can achieve. Our two bodies will have to figure this out, starting tonight at our work session.”
Gaskins also said that the city needs to pause as it evaluates the second phase of its zoning for housing initiative. Last year, City Council controversially its upended its residential zoning policies by eliminating single family zoning. She said that the first phase focusing on housing production and that the city also needs to look at homeownership programs, tenant protections and preventing housing displacement should be refined.
“I don’t think we need to add anything else,” she said. “We need to focus on doing that and doing that well.”
On the double-digit Virginia American Water rate hikes, Gaskins said that she wants to get retroactive refunds for residents who may see their water bills significantly hiked.
“I think it’s excessive and it could be harmful to our residents,” Gaskins said of the increase. “The numbers I’ve seen show that if this rate goes through as planned, some of our residents could see upwards of a 50% increase in their bills.”
On public safety, Gaskins said that the citywide uptick in violent crime is “unacceptable,” and that the Alexandria Police Department needs to create a strategic plan that “clearly articulates” how it is being tackled. She also said that the recently released community crime map will help residents understand what’s happening.
“It’s not just uncomfortable, I think it’s unacceptable,” Gaskins said. “And I think that communication between our public safety professionals and our residents is an important piece of our crime prevention strategy that has to be strengthened.”
About Alyia Gaskins
Gaskins, who was elected to City Council in 2021, is running in the Democratic primary on June 18. She’s married with two young children and moved to the with her family from Fairfax County in 2016. She’s been a senior program officer at Melville Charitable Trust for three-and-a-half years, before which she worked as a a public health strategist with the Center for Community Investment and the National League of Cities.
She’s a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was raised by her single mother, Francine Smith, and her paternal grandmother Marilyn Parker. Gaskins said that her mom regularly worked two or three jobs at a time, mostly as a paraprofessional and librarian at Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Parker died last month, and Gaskins said that the loss has been difficult.
“It’s definitely been hard, because every big moment I can think of in my life, my grandma has been by my side,” she said. “I think the only kind of saving grace is she taught and she instilled in me a faith and a joy that surpasses understanding. And so when the days are hard, I can still smile because I know I know she’s with me.”
If elected, Gaskins will be the first Black female mayor of Alexandria.
“When I think about what it would mean to be the first Black female mayor, honestly, sometimes I can’t even put it into words, like it’s something that is overwhelming,” she said. “It’s something that is humbling, and it’s something that would fill me with tremendous joy.”
Gaskins has a bachelor’s degree in medicine, health and society from Vanderbilt University, a master’s in urban planning from Georgetown University, and a master’s of public health from the University of Pittsburgh and a certificate in municipal planning from the University of Chicago.
She was elected to City Council in 2021, and previously served on the city’s Transportation Commission, where she said that her experience with the Seminary Road bike lane controversy convinced her that the city needs to improve outreach to impacted communities.
Communication-wise, Gaskins said she had no notice from Mayor Justin Wilson when he announced he wasn’t seeking reelection on Dec. 1. She announced her intention to run on Dec. 4, as did her fellow Council Member Vice Mayor Amy Jackson.
“I had no special inside knowledge or anything like that,” Gaskins said. “What I watched over the past several months is what Justin has said, that he’s thinking about it and we’ll find out the decision. I thought to myself, I’m going to be ready no matter what that decision is. I want to be ready to run.”
Gaskins is leading in fundraising among her Council colleagues, raising $46,000 with $34,000 on-hand as of Dec. 31, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Jackson has raised $16,900, and has $15,800 on-hand. The next financial disclosure deadline for the candidates is at the end of this month.
Gaskins says that she gets four-to-five hours of sleep on a good day, and that her family is committed to seeing her conduct city business.
“What I do think I’ve been able to create in my life and will do as mayor is a harmony where I have found a way for all of the pieces to work together,” she said. “I recognize the demands that will be on my time, then it makes sense that will be on my family’s time. But this is something that we are fully committed to doing as our unit and making sure that as a unit we can serve and continue to deliver.”
The Democratic primary is June 18.
I'm running for Mayor to build an Alexandria that works for all of us. Watch, share, and join our grassroots campaign today! pic.twitter.com/hGf80NTjDV
— Alyia Gaskins (@Alyia4ALX) December 4, 2023
Join hosts Pat Miller & Gayle Reuter for a kid-friendly Meet & Greet in Del Ray with Alyia this Saturday, March 9th. RSVP at https://t.co/haTJBmQ3qX and let's discuss the future of our community together! #DelRay #MeetAndGreet pic.twitter.com/dW3PUzB3JA
— Alyia Gaskins (@Alyia4ALX) March 6, 2024
We've been loving the doors on the West End! Join us this Saturday morning at 9:00 to share Alyia's message of a safe, accessible, and affordable Alexandria. Sign up at https://t.co/lOZLj2DY0p. #everyweekendeverydoor pic.twitter.com/I6OfVIZE45
— Alyia Gaskins (@Alyia4ALX) March 5, 2024
