Facing a $3.25 million budget shortfall, Alexandria City Public Schools is planning on saving a good chunk of it by not giving staff a 1% market rate adjustment.
According to a budget memo, the school board will review the following at a work session tonight (May 15). In the memo, ACPS staff laid out the following budget adjustments before the Board approves the final FY 2026 Combined Funds (Operating, Grants & Special Projects, and School Nutrition Services) Budget:
After months of conversations, the Alexandria School Board will hold its first public hearing on proposed redistricting changes tonight (Monday, May 12).
Alexandria City Public Schools is proposing three different plans to handle increased capacity. The second and final public hearing on the matter will be held on June 5, and the Board is expected to make its final decision on June 12. The redistricting process is set to be fully implemented by August 2026.
After a firestorm of criticism from city leaders and student journalists over proposed oversight changes to Alexandria City High School’s student newspaper, Theogony, this morning (May 2), the Alexandria School Board’s Governance Committee returned to the drawing board.
From reporting on a transportation controversy to investigations into the School Board, transgender policies, or even lampooning metal detectors in cartoons, Theogony student journalists take their roles seriously. Now, with City Council members warning of potential “censorship” and “authoritarian” behavior from the school system, student journalists are alleging a concerted effort from the administration of Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt to suppress touchy or controversial stories from appearing in the monthly publication.
Got an extra-large pair of scissors handy? There are two ribbon cuttings for local businesses along Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray next month.
On May 10 at 10:30 a.m., expect a crowd to formally cut the ribbon at the Dal Ray Farmhouse Market and Garden at 1913 Mount Vernon Avenue. The business opened last month and is owned by Jay Portlance, who also owns Del Ray Hardware across the street.
Sweeping plans to modernize George Mason Elementary School (2601 Cameron Mills Road) will soon head to the Alexandria Planning Commission.
Alexandria City Public Schools anticipates relocating staff and students three-and-a-half miles away at the end of this school year to swing space 1703 N. Beauregard Street. If the project timeline stays on track, ACPS will cut the ribbon on the new two-story building in the summer of 2027.
More details have been released on Alexandria resident Timothy McGhee, a substitute teacher in Arlington charged in January with stalking and taking indecent liberties with an underage Washington-Liberty High School student.
McGhee, a 47-year-old substitute math teacher at Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, unsuccessfully ran for state Senate in Arlington and Alexandria in 2011. He was arrested on Jan. 10 and charged with stalking and taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a supervisory or custodial relationship.
The Alexandria City Council on Saturday unanimously approved a measure banning new vape and smoke shops from opening 1,000 feet from schools and daycare centers with minors.
Council’s approval of the text amendment follows a bill by Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3) that was approved by the General Assembly in April.
“That was fun,” a Patrick Henry seventh grader said this afternoon (Nov. 12) after virtually installing solar panels on the roof of a building.
The student wore an Oculus II headset, and got a chance to see what kind of work she could get paid to do in the real world of the future. It’s the first year of the new Career Investigation course for middle schoolers, and today’s class was observed by Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons and Alexandria City Public Schools leadership.
The staffing crisis at Alexandria City Public Schools has simmered, according to a recent presentation to the School Board.
The school system was significantly challenged by a shortfall of more than 150 positions in the 2023/2024 school year. Now ACPS is short 12 .75 teachers, 12 bus drivers and 23 central office staffers.
Thirty-eight Alexandria students were referred to court for alleged criminal activity in the second semester of the last school year, and there was also a significant uptick in the number of incidents requiring a police response.
That’s according to a new system-wide safety report that the School Board will receive on Thursday night.
The last few years have been rough for Alexandria City Public Schools.
The school system and all involved with it have been impacted by the pandemic, learning loss, leadership changes, a staffing crisis, surging enrollment and more.
