It's everyone's favorite feeling: rushing through the halls as the clock strikes 8:40 a.m. The bus was late, or there was traffic, or maybe you just slept in. Either way, you’re late. But not to worry, the staff of ACHS is ready to help with their new tardy policy, a plan that will make you even tardy-er than you were.
On January 24, the Independent Student Lunch Committee (SLC) hosted a walkout to show the mass support for the Titan Lunch proposal. The walkout came after ACHS Executive Principal Peter Balas announced that the new extended lunch period would not be implemented for the second half of the 2022-2023 school year as planned. Theogony reported that Superintendent Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt and her Central Office Leadership Team blocked the plan the previous week. This decision created immediate uproar from students, parents and staff.
When the beep of the loudspeaker sounds in the middle of third period, the room falls silent. Eyes flash up as everyone holds their breath. Just over a year ago, during the morning of October 6, 2021, the PA system notified a building of 10-12th graders that the school was placed in lockdown. As the lights were turned off and blinds were pulled, the lockdown bled into lunch. Some teachers continued with their lessons. Phone screens lit up, and the words “an abundance of caution” flooded the thoughts of thousands of kids behind locked doors. A few hours later, the student with a gun was escorted away by police with no injuries, but the impact lingered. How do we get past this?
On October 24, the city of Alexandria began enforcing parking restrictions on the 2000 block of Scroggins Road between Quincy Street and Lynn Court, a popular parking area for ACHS students. The changes restrict parking to two hours Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with exemptions for residents.
After a tumultuous school year, Alexandria City Public School’s Superintendent Gregory Hutchings announced on June 10 that he would not renew his contract after nearly four years. His official resignation came into effect on August 31. Starting September 1, Melanie Kay-Wyatt serves as the interim superintendent through the 22-23 school year or until the school board can appoint an eligible candidate into the permanent position.
On September 16, the Virginia Department of Education released new model policies for school boards addressing the treatment of transgender students. The models mandated misgendering, outing, and sex-based bathrooms, alongside optional parental restrictions on student counseling services. Immediately, the policies sparked widespread reactions throughout social media. Twitter thrummed with thousands of opinions, calls to action, and profile picture changes as the country, state, and community weighed in on Governor Youngkin’s latest swing at student rights in the name of “empowering parents.”
ACPS has announced it will not comply with a new statewide model school board policy issued by the Virginia Department of Education on Friday, September 16 that aimed to roll back transgender rights for students.
Alexandria City Councilmember Canek Aguirre and ACPS School Board member Abdel Elnoubi hosted a community listening session about school safety at Beatley Library on Sunday, September 10. The session was permeated with discussions surrounding the Student Law Enforcement Partnership (SLEP) initiative, media response, and community involvement in legislative processes. Elnoubi said that the decision on what to do with school resource officers (SROs) will be made in October or November, whether that be to leave, remove, or reimagine the role of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and schools. This decision will come with the recommendations of the SLEP committee.
