At the beginning of the school year the ACHS program of studies added Construction and Carpentry back to the curriculum. The class was placed in the C-wing at ACHS King St. campus, the same room the extracurricular Titan Robotics club uses. A total of 2,974 square feet of instructional space was divided to accommodate both the class and the club. 

Despite efforts, both programs have struggled to work within the space confinements since the beginning of the school year.

“We need storage, and we need to be able to set up the power tools that students would be expecting to use in the industry,” said Carpentry and Construction teacher Brian Godfrey.  “I don’t want students to get out there and go to use a table saw for the first time not having any experience learning how to use it safely.”

Similar thoughts were expressed by Megan Trueblood, Robotics Club President.

“It’s not enough space,” Trueblood said. “We usually have, at every meeting, close to 25 to 30 people. We’re just unable to all fit, especially if we’re using equipment.”

According to Godfrey, around 55 percent of the space is allocated for Carpentry and Construction class and 45 percent is allocated for Titan Robotics club. A locked metal fence divides the space between the two programs to keep students safe. 

“The issue is that they’re gonna be bringing in new types of woodworking equipment that has OSHA certifications,” said Trueblood. “This would then make it difficult because our students who aren’t certified, and [because] we don’t have a certified OSHA person to supervise, we wouldn’t be able to even walk through.” 

Titan Robotics is a nonprofit organization. They enter multiple competitions throughout the year and teach students how to build a robot in six weeks. The program values growth in STEM skills and community outreach.  

The extracurricular also hosts a First Lego Program at ACPS middle schools and a summer camp for kids in the community.  

“Since 2019 we’ve hosted summer camp programs in the space here,” said club member Ishaan O’Neil-Vira. “We’ve had over 400 kids come through the program and enjoy it. We hope to keep running [the programs], but without the space, we don’t know if we can.” 

Titan robotics has been operating out of this space since 2016. “There’s a lot of different things that the space currently provides us,” said Trueblood. “So it’d be difficult for us to just move.”

For Titan Robotics, the room provided storage, a garage door for safe movement of supplies and high ceilings for making and testing robots. 

Titan Robotics team member Zoe Corazza explained that the lack of space not only makes it difficult to stay organized and build the robot, but also communicate, plan and get things done on the business side of the club. “It’s limiting what we can do, not only in terms of building the robot, but also in terms of how we can communicate and work as a team,” she said. 

“This is their home,” said Godfrey in regards to Robotics. “I don’t think that they were really informed that the school board had approved this [Carpentry and Construction Class] and so it’s very obvious that I’m in their way.”

The ACHS Carpentry and Construction class is a Career and Technical education class that focuses on preparing students for jobs in the building and carpentry field, after high school graduation.  

“We want to make sure that our students who are looking for credentials in the construction trades walk out of here with something.”
said Godfrey, ¨Part of our credential is applied skills. So students have to demonstrate the use of certain tools and then demonstrate some specific building skills as well.”

So far this year the program has gotten through the first two units in their curriculum, however, without more space, the rest of the units cannot be taught.  

“I’ve been hired to do a job that I cannot complete under these circumstances,” Godfrey said in a speech to the school board. “My career is being placed at risk, and more importantly, our students are being denied the opportunities they were promised with this program.”

There have been meetings, between both programs, administration and school board members discussing the space and solutions. 

“There is talk that we’re working on it, but I just have not received any actionable plans, ” said Godfrey. “In one meeting with school board members it was stated that there’s just not enough room and that the extracurricular club will not be moving. The division just doesn’t have the space to move them anywhere else or the carpentry program.”

The robotics team has also had many meetings with administration, “…talking about, ways to share the space and, what we want to do and what he wants to do,” Trueblood said.¨We haven’t really come to any conclusions as of right now, so it’s still kind of a little bit still up in the air as like where we’re going to go from here.¨

Despite the limitations due to space and the inaction by administration, both programs are still working hard to give students opportunities and continue their ongoing activities.

“My number one goal at the moment is to still provide for my students every opportunity to access this instruction that I can, despite the limitations,” said Godfrey. “We’re working on some field trips, to take the students to the National Building Museum. I want to go on a field trip to go see my good friend and mentor’s workshop in Maryland, so the students can see what a real working shop looks like.”

Robotics has also continued with their programs, meetings and competitions. 

Both Titans Robotics and Construction and Carpentry plan to keep advocating for their needs regarding the classroom space, storage, and supplies. 

“It is a tough situation, and I recognize it as a tough situation for the extracurricular club as well. I don’t want this to be a turf war, ” said Godfrey, “I just want what’s best for my students. I want what’s best for all students.”

Both programs. administration, school board and the superintendent all identify the problem. 

“At this time, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is continuing to work through this project. ACPS will share additional details as they are finalized,” said ACPS administration when questioned about future fixes. 

However, currently there is no solution in sight. 

“I respect his program, it sounds great,” said Trueblood. “It’s great that people are gonna learn all of these carpentry skills and real world knowledge, because that’s also what we want to do with us. 
So it’s just a matter of, we need to find, we need to stay, or there needs to be another place for us to go, because right now, there’s nowhere we can go.”