School Board | ALXnow

Alexandria School Board candidate wants cameras in classrooms and ‘examples’ made of misbehaving kids

Published September 14, 2021 at 3:45PM | Updated September 14, 2021 at 11:33PM

(Updated 6:20 p.m.) Ricardo Roberts is, to say the least, an outlier in the 2021 School Board District B race.

Roberts has had multiple run-ins with school officials, including one charge of trespassing at an Alexandria City Public School that ended in acquittal in court last year. While other candidates include incumbent School Board members and others generally supportive of the direction Alexandria City Public Schools have taken over the last few years, Roberts’ policy suggestions mark a sharp and potentially controversial departure from many other candidates.

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School Board says vaccination will be required for staff

By Vernon Miles

Published September 13, 2021 at 11:00AM

News of over a dozen school deaths from COVID in Miami has led ACPS to reconsider it’s earlier position of allowing staff to decide whether to be vaccinated or not.

At a School Board meeting last week, the board voted to make it clear that in the coming weeks a plan will be put together on requiring all staff to be vaccinated — unless that falls into the broad category of claiming a medical or religious exemption.

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ACPS Superintendent Hutchings asks community to hit the brakes on email campaigns

By Vernon Miles

Published August 30, 2021 at 3:40PM

Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. has one request for the community at large: Lay off the email campaigns.

Rather than individual emails with a question or a comment, Hutchings said his office and others in ACPS staff have been bombarded recently with copy-and-pasted emails. It’s become enough of an issue that Hutchings said at a School Board work session last week that the level of crowding in school staff emails has sometimes caused issues with missed communications.

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BREAKING: Video shows brawl at Alexandria City High School cafeteria just two days after school starts

By James Cullum

Published August 27, 2021 at 1:20PM | Updated August 27, 2021 at 5:16PM

A video has surfaced of a brawl Thursday (August 26) in the cafeteria of Alexandria City High School (ACHS). While the police weren’t called, it was one of two fights broken up that day, according to sources.

Caution: The following video contains disturbing behavior.

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School Board Member Michelle Rief praises ACPS COVID response in reelection bid

By James Cullum

Published August 25, 2021 at 4:10PM

ACPS Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, Jr. and School Board member Michelle Rief (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The last three years on the Alexandria School Board have been marked by a pandemic, social strife and a soured relationship with the City Council, but Michelle Rief is still proud of it.

“I’m running for School Board because I care deeply about our public schools,” Rief told ALXnow. “It would be an honor to serve in the leadership capacity on the School Board.”

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New Normal: ACPS fully reopens for first time since pandemic started

By Vernon Miles

Published August 24, 2021 at 11:05AM

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

Beside the masks and the news crews flocking around the hallways, after more than a year of virtual or hybrid learning, the start of the 2021-2022 school year was strangely normal.

Children at George Washington Middle School clumped together into groups of either friends or convenient strangers headed to the same destinations. Superintendent Gregory Hutchings, School Board Chair Meagan Alderton, and Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) staff greeted students as they came into the building.

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ALXnow’s top stories this week in Alexandria

By James Cullum

Published August 20, 2021 at 3:30PM | Updated August 20, 2021 at 11:17PM

Alexandria Sheriff Dana Lawhorne in the alley behind his house after flooding in Del Ray. (Courtesy photo)

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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ACPS announces vaccination requirement for staff, but some aspects still uncertain

By Vernon Miles

Published August 20, 2021 at 10:55AM

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.

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Evolving COVID-19 decisions loom as Alexandria City Public Schools fully reopen next Tuesday

By James Cullum

Published August 19, 2021 at 2:30PM

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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ACPS is not requiring staff to get vaccinated before school starts systemwide August 24

By James Cullum

Published August 12, 2021 at 1:00PM | Updated August 16, 2021 at 11:58AM

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 ACPS administrator Tammy Ignacio says experience matters in School Board bid

By James Cullum

Published August 6, 2021 at 1:05PM | Updated September 14, 2021 at 4:21PM

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.”