What a week in Alexandria.
Public uproar over Sunday’s flooding spilled out throughout this week, which continued to be threatened by near-daily flash flood advisories from the National Weather Service.
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School Board
Last night (Thursday), just four days before the school year is scheduled to start, the Alexandria School Board voted to require staff to either be vaccinated or take weekly COVID-19 tests.
The School Board unanimously voted approval of the vaccination and testing requirements, but with significant changes throughout the meeting over when staff would be required to submit their proof of vaccination.
With serious and unresolved health-related decisions looming, Alexandria City Public Schools is set to reopen its doors to full-time instruction on Tuesday, August 24.
“I’m looking forward to putting the stressful 18 months behind us,” an ACPS parent told ALXnow. “It’s time to move ahead and get these kids back in school. I know things will look different and we will have some rough patches, but we owe it to the kids to get them back.”
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As Alexandria City Public Schools plans a systemwide reopening to full-time in-person instruction on August 24, staff will not be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
ACPS told ALXnow that there is not a vaccine requirement at this time.
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Former Alexandria City Public Schools administrator Tammy Ignacio says her 30-plus years of experience will help take up the slack since six of the nine members of the School Board aren’t seeking reelection.
“I am well aware of the complexities of running the school system,” Ignacio recently told ALXnow. “I’m excited for the work. I feel like I still have work to do. I think what I can bring to the table is expertise in living the life of an educator and as a parent in the school system.”
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When students come back to Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) later this month, they will be wearing face masks.
The School Board voted unanimously last night (Tuesday) to require all students, faculty, staff and visitors to ACPS facilities to wear face masks when inside for the time being.
Without school resource officers and the next school year starting in less than a month, Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. has a plan to beef up security.
Hutchings and staff, on July 16, sent the School Board a three-page proposal acknowledging serious security implications, including “increased vulnerability at school sites, decreased deterrence of situations such as active threats to students, staff and visitors.”
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What a hot week in Alexandria.
With temperatures hovering in the mid-90s, the week started with a power outage at a 17-story apartment building in Landmark area. The outage lasted five days and residents had to find accommodations until the building reopened Friday afternoon.
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School Board Member Jacinta Greene thinks the history of race relations should be taught in Alexandria City Public Schools.
“Systemic racism and race relations should be taught in schools,” Greene told ALXnow. “What has happened to Black people and minorities in our country has been deplorable and when you don’t teach history, that’s when it repeats itself.”
Earlier this week, the Alexandria City Council overrode the objections of the School Board and voted to reallocate funding away from the school resource officer (SRO) program — eliminating the program.
SROs are police officers stationed inside T.C. Williams High School, Francis Hammond Middle School and George Washington Middle School and specialize in handling kids with emotional and education issues, search and seizure on school grounds, and school shooting situations. The program started in 1997.
The Alexandria City Council unanimously approved a massive high-rise apartment building project near the Eisenhower Metro Station in Carlyle, and none of the 1,414 units will be dedicated to affordable housing.
Instead, the applicant Carlyle Plaza, LLC, will contribute $6.1 million to the city’s Housing Trust Fund.