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Recently approved ACPS Capital Improvement Plan budget lays out a complex decade ahead

By James Cullum

A $12.5 million aquatics facility, three school replacements and swing space that will be turned into a new elementary school are all part of the nearly $500 million 10-year Capital Improvement Program budget that the Alexandria School Board approved last Thursday night.

After a series of work sessions and public meetings this fall, the Board approved the $497,804,800 proposal, with $204,685,100 to be used next year, without discussion. In a press release, Board Chair Meagan Alderton said she appreciated the work of Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. and his team to develop the document, and said that it takes rising enrollment, infrastructure and critical capital planning needs into account.

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Morning Notes

By Vernon Miles

Fairfax County police find two possible victims of ‘shopping cart killer,’ suspect in custody — “A plastic container found in the Huntington area near Route 1 on Wednesday (Dec. 15) contained the remains of two people that Fairfax County police believe to be the victims of a serial killer.” [FFXnow]

Harmony Place Mobile Home residents in Alexandria South demand repairs be part of upcoming sale — “Today, residents of Harmony Place… held a press conference at the park to demand significant health and safety improvements be made as a condition of the upcoming sale of the property.” [Zebra]

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Alexandria sees ‘exponential’ increase of COVID-19 infections, ACPS asks students and staff to get tested before returning from winter break

By James Cullum

Alexandria’s COVID-19 infections jumped after Thanksgiving, and the numbers continue to rise going into the winter holidays.

There were 116 new cases reported in the city today (Friday), which is the most single-day cases reported since January 2021. There have been 301 new cases reported in the City in the last three days alone, and this “exponential” jump in COVID-19 cases, as described by the Health Department Thursday night, has stretched to Alexandria City Public Schools, as it waves farewell to 15,000 students for the two week winter break starting Monday.

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Alexandria schools considering new ‘early warning system’ to prevent student dropout

By Vernon Miles
Students return to George Washington Middle School, August 24, 2021 (staff photo by Vernon Miles)

Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is working on implementing a new strategy that aims to create an “early warning system” for students at risk of dropping out of school.

At a school board meeting tomorrow (Thursday), Superintendent Gregory Hutchings is docketed to present a proposal for ACPS to develop and adopt the new system.

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Carlyle neighborhood could change School Board districts

By Vernon Miles
Alexandria's current School Board districts (photo via City of Alexandria)

(Updated 12/2/21) The City of Alexandria is going through a mandatory review of voting districts in Alexandria and City Manager Mark Jinks is recommending that the Carlyle neighborhood — called the Alexandria Renew district — have its representation on the School Board changed from District A to B.

The issue comes out of a review of the 2020 census. While the City Council seats are at-large, the School Board seats are voted by district. District A encompasses Old Town, Carlyle, Del Ray, Arlandria and Potomac Yard. District C is the western fringe of the city, from the Landmark/Van Dorn corridor up to the Bailey’s Crossroads area. District B is more-or-less everything in between.

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With school resource officers back, ACPS and Alexandria Police are hammering out a new memorandum of understanding

By James Cullum
Alexandria police (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Alexandria City Public Schools staff and the Police Department are hammering out a revised memorandum of understanding (MOU), and while few details have been released, the school system says that the school resource officer (SRO) program will change next year.

It’s been more than a month since City Council reversed its decision and brought back SROs. The initial decision to defund the officers redirected $800,000 in SRO funding toward mental health resources for students. It created a rift between City Council and the School Board, but after numerous violent incidents with weapons in schools, School Board Chair Meagan Alderton and Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. pleaded for their return.

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ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By Vernon Miles
Voting at Alexandria City Hall (staff photo by James Cullum)

It was election week in Alexandria, so congratulations and/or condolences.

Alexandria Democrats managed to hold onto all of the City Council seats. Mayor Justin Wilson won reelection and Elizabeth Bennett-Parker was elected to the 45th District House of Delegates seat. But any local Democrat euphoria was dampened by statewide losses that Wilson warned could reverse recent local wins on some issues.

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School Board District B candidate Ashley Simpson Baird says ACPS needs to focus on English-language learners

By James Cullum

Ashley Simpson Baird says widespread unfinished learning within the Latino community is a result of the pandemic, and the District B candidate for the Alexandria School Board wants the city’s school system to refocus its attention to get kids back on the ball.

“We are still very much living in schooling in a pandemic, and so I would really like to see ACPS have a stronger plan for how we’re addressing unfinished learning,” Baird told ALXnow. “We need to make sure that we are giving school leaders and educators the resources to implement that plan.”

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District A School Board candidate Ish Boyle says ACPS needs leaders who can handle a crisis

By James Cullum

District A School Board candidate Aloysius “Ish” Boyle says he’s a proven leader, and that Alexandria City Public Schools is still in crisis mode.

Boyle, a retired Marine Corps captain with combat tours in Iraq, has two young children in ACPS and gives the school system a four out of 10 for its COVID-19 response. He says students should have gone back to full-time in-person learning sooner than the beginning of this school year, and criticized Superintendent Gregory Hutchings for putting his own kids in private school.

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Alexandria School Board Candidate Bridget Shea Westfall says son was her hero during pandemic

By James Cullum

Bridget Shea Westfall says she’s not a status quo kind of person. Westfall, the parent of a second grader at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School, also calls her son her hero.

“My son was my hero during the pandemic, and he just had to do a lot of adult things,” Westfall told ALXnow, fighting back tears. “He had to be very resilient, brave and strong and use executive functioning skills that most adults haven’t mastered in their professional and personal lives. But my son said to me, ‘Mom, you should do it. You should. You should run.'”

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