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.
As Alexandria’s City Council and School Board work to reconcile their budgets, Mayor Justin Wilson scolded School Board leadership for not taking a longer view of budgets and planning.
Alexandria’s School Board is asking for $21 million more than it received in the previous budget — for a total of $384.4 million — with School Board members adding $10 million in additions to Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt’s proposed budget. City Manager Jim Parajon fully funded the Superintendent’s budget, but did not include funding for the additional $11 million requested by the School Board.
(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) With a handful of schools exceeding 110% utilization, the Alexandria School Board is moving forward with a lengthy redistricting process to redraw elementary and middle school boundaries.
The School Board, which is now starting its redistricting process from scratch, wants any changes to go into effect at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, according to School Board Vice Chair Kelly Carmichael Booz.
The Alexandria School Board approved its fiscal year 2025 $384.4 million combined funds budget request on Thursday night and it is asking City Council for $21 million more than the previous budget. If it goes forward, Mayor Justin Wilson says that the request could mean a reduction in city services.
School Board Members tacked on more than $10 million in additions to Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt’s proposed budget, a move that prompted Board Members Meagan Alderton and Chris Harris to vote in opposition to it.
Twenty three Alexandria middle schoolers and eight Alexandria City High School students were arrested in the first two quarters of this school year, according to a report that the School Board will receive Thursday.
There were also 213 incidents requiring a police response, including five weapons-related incidents, 43 students needing EMS assistance, 56 fights/assaults and three reports of sexual assault.
The Alexandria School Board unanimously authorized starting the collective bargaining process with its teachers and licensed staff Thursday night, kickstarting an extensive period of negotiation on employee rights, wages and benefits.
A number of Alexandria teachers an union representatives voiced their displeasure, however, with stipulations in the ACPS draft collective bargaining resolution.
Alexandria City Public Schools officials want to reach a collective bargaining agreement by the end of this year, and a resolution to approve the process will be presented to the School Board next week.
The draft collective bargaining resolution was reviewed last Thursday by the Board’s Collective Bargaining Committee, and Board Chair Michelle Rief said that the school system has a goal of coming to an agreement with staff by the end of this year. Such a deadline means that any major changes to staff benefits and compensation would be realized with next year’s passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 budget.
Two years after the School Board requested a new logo for Alexandria City Public Schools, rejecting an initial replacement, Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt came back with a new logo recommendation earlier this month.
In a 5-3 vote, the School Board also rejected the new logo design.
Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is having a tough time finding a new logo.
At a School Board meeting earlier this month, the Board voted to direct Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt to redesign the logo yet again.
(Updated at 4 p.m. on Jan. 29) Critics contend that the proposed Alexandria City Public Schools budget shortchanges staff, but that’s not what the superintendent is saying.
Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt says that her proposed $374 million fiscal year 2025 budget focuses on retention with a full step increase and a 2% market rate adjustment for eligible staff. The school system is currently experiencing a staffing crisis, and the budget also increases bus driver salaries to $24 an hour for new drivers and more than $47 per hour for senior drivers with more than a decade experience with the school system. The budget also opens the door to the creation of a collective bargaining agreement with staff.
There’s a new member of the Alexandria School Board. Tim Beaty, the retired former global strategies director for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was sworn into office on Thursday night.
Beaty won a special election on Jan. 9 to fill the seat vacated by former School Board Member Willie Bailey. He will fill the remaining 11 months of Bailey’s term before the next School Board is sworn into office in January 2025. During that time, he said that he wants to help Alexandria City Public Schools edge closer to a collective bargaining agreement with staff.
