It’s the end of an era for Alexandria City High School’s drama program. After 20 years directing and producing dozens of theatrical performances, the partnership between co-teachers Hope Bachman and Leslie Jones will come to a close at the end of this school year.
Known informally as “Bach and Jones” to students, parents and staff, the pair were honored in a gala at ACHS last week. Bachman says that deciding to partner with Jones was one of the best decisions she ever made.
A longtime city commissioner and a retired labor leader are facing off in the special election for Alexandria’s School Board District A seat, and both want to improve teacher retention and board transparency.
Candidates Gina Baum and Tim Beaty have vastly different backgrounds and strengths.
Alexandria parents are up in arms over a staffing crisis within Alexandria City Public Schools.
Kelly Organek says that her ninth-grade son at Alexandria City High School’s Minnie Howard campus hasn’t had a geometry teacher since school started in August and that he only recently got a new biology teacher.
With the new school year underway, teachers in Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) are crowdfunding everything from iPads to basic teaching supplies.
Non-profit organization DonorsChoose gives teachers in ACPS a platform to discuss their specific material needs. One teacher led an effort to help students make better social media content, but many of the requests are for basic needs like whiteboards and construction paper.
If you have any experience helping to teach English as a second language, you could put that to use in helping Afghan refugees settle into Alexandria.
Nonprofit Northern Virginia Resettling Afghan Families Together (NOVA RAFT) — which aims to help Afghan immigrants settle in — started a program in late August to help students improve their English skills.
Last week, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) was blasted by parents and teachers at a School Board meeting over a decision to spread specialist teachers across multiple schools.
Music, art and physical education teachers are classified as encore teachers in ACPS. Currently, those teachers are assigned to individual schools, but under the new system some of those teachers could be made to float between different schools.
(Updated 6/5) Parents and teachers at a School Board meeting last night said the rollout of a new plan to split specialist teachers across schools has been an unmitigated disaster.
The change affects Alexandria City Public Schools’ (ACPS) encore teachers: teachers who run classes like music, art and physical education. A new change announced in an email earlier this week, without public discussion or meetings, would split these teachers across multiple schools throughout the district.
Alexandria City High School teachers are applauding increased wages and other recent changes to the Alexandria City Public Schools’ proposed fiscal year 2024 budget.
The School Board approved the proposed $359.9 million fiscal year 2024 combined funds budget proposal on Thursday night. The budget is a 4% increase over last year’s approved budget and includes funding to develop an official ACPS plan and policy for collective bargaining with employees.
Good Tuesday morning, Alexandria!
⛅ Today’s weather: Partly cloudy throughout the day. High of 56 and low of 46.
⛅ Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy throughout the day. High of 65 and low of 46. Sunrise at 7:01 am and sunset at 5:46 pm.
Alexandria City Public Schools is entering a tricky budget season.
As student enrollment and expenditure increases outpace revenue, ACPS faces a $12 million deficit in the run up to the fiscal year 2024 budget, according to a budget presentation to the School Board on Thursday, September 22.
As of Monday (March 7), Alexandria City Public Schools staff are no longer required to wear face masks in schools.
Staff were informed of the rule change in an email on Friday (March 4) that wearing masks in ACPS facilities and vehicles is optional, with few exceptions. Additionally, all ACPS staff (not including substitutes) will get paid emergency leave if unable to work due to COVID-19.
