I am sure the talk of the Scholarship Fund Gala tonight will be weapons, drugs, and gangs . . . . . Oh wait, cognitive dissonance is the name of the game. The attendees will all self-congratulate themselves for supporting a partially-accredited high school with nearing 100 on-site arrests and a record-breaking year of NARCAN administration.

Anonymous wrote:The violence and the overdoses - ACPS is chaos. There are no alternative schooling options. That is the heart of the problem. Known gang members in the schools, drug use of proportions parents cannot comprehend (ask about the pills), and a complete disregard for valuing education (ensuring kids that don’t want to learn are not preventing those who do). No one is sounding alarm bells and it should be at an all-unit available level alarm. The number one priority of ACPS and the school board right now should be alternative schooling. Parents and community should be unrelenting in demanding alternative schooling. In that parents, should also demand no more adult English language learners in the school during a normal school day - what 14 year old wants to ride a school bus or be in gym with a 22 year old?

There was a woman who gave a statement about the SB elections. She is part of the establishment and was/is very involved with PTAC. Years ago, she had a chance to support parents and advocate for students. Instead, she mocked parents who spoke out and worked to silence them. She and her pals are part of the reason we are here. Anything she advocates for should be looked at as suspect.

The violence and the overdoses - ACPS is chaos. There are no alternative schooling options. That is the heart of the problem. Known gang members in the schools, drug use of proportions parents cannot comprehend (ask about the pills), and a complete disregard for valuing education (ensuring kids that don’t want to learn are not preventing those who do). No one is sounding alarm bells and it should be at an all-unit available level alarm. The number one priority of ACPS and the school board right now should be alternative schooling. Parents and community should be unrelenting in demanding alternative schooling. In that parents, should also demand no more adult English language learners in the school during a normal school day - what 14 year old wants to ride a school bus or be in gym with a 22 year old?

Wow! I just watched the comments of the parents of the 6th grader who has been brutally beaten and assaulted four times at GW.

Everyone should watch it:https://alexandriaschoolsva.new.swagit.com/videos/224528

I wonder how many other kids this is happening to since the attackers are still walking the halls.

Teachers saw the lunchroom attack and walked by.
6th grade principal told parents that violence is a "grey area".
Attacker's friends surrounded the kid and told him he'd be stabbed, shot and murdered by MS-13 since his attacker is connected to the gang.
The father described the bathrooms as "terror domes".
Victim is being forced to do virtual school, while his attackers still walk the halls at GW.
School refused to enforce protective order and told the victim to "hide it".
Parents called out the leadership team for saying that "this is happening all over the nation" as an excuse for them not to address it.

Alderton, Ignacio and green were all visibly uncomfortable before comments even started.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone watch the comments to the School Board yesterday on the sixth grade special needs student who purportedly was attacked multiple times in the bathroom at George Washington Middle School and is currently receive virtual schooling for safety. Such events are why the safety concerns about GWMS are valid.

Horrifying. Is this the same family where a mom was posting online about her 6th grade child being assaulted multiple times in the bathroom, the most recent requiring dental work? Just awful how unsafe that environment is.

I suspect it is but I have not seen the posts. The mother and father of the child spoke to school board and it was so sad.

The School Board doesn't care. They have things like this happening every day but their focus is on changing the school board elections so they are even less answerable to parents and the community. Ridiculous.

Horrifying. Is this the same family where a mom was posting online about her 6th grade child being assaulted multiple times in the bathroom, the most recent requiring dental work? Just awful how unsafe that environment is.


I suspect it is but I have not seen the posts. The mother and father of the child spoke to school board and it was so sad.

It's terrible. My son knows him a bit (my son is older). He says he is a nice kid. The school needs to help this family and provide the child with a restroom that he can use at school without fear. I really think they need bathroom monitors. My son has not experienced any violence in the bathrooms, but says that there is quite a bit of drug use and vaping and also vandalism and other inappropriate behavior (fights between other kids, kids making out). He tries not to use the bathrooms at GW at all. He says that he waits until he gets to ACHS (he does sports there) so that he can use the locker room bathroom there when his older teammates do, so that he can feel safe.

Anonymous wrote:The new Minnie Howard building looks huge. Couldn’t that be used for grades 9&10, with ACHS being 11&12?

Supposedly both are going to be 9-12 schools, but somehow still be considered 1 high school. See slide 15 of this presentation (called new educational spaces)
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1676407386/acpsk12vaus/wggocsooonhqmogql4qr/MinnieHoward_Construction_Update_Feb2023.pdf

The new Minnie Howard building looks huge. Couldn’t that be used for grades 9&10, with ACHS being 11&12?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone watch the comments to the School Board yesterday on the sixth grade special needs student who purportedly was attacked multiple times in the bathroom at George Washington Middle School and is currently receive virtual schooling for safety. Such events are why the safety concerns about GWMS are valid.

Horrifying. Is this the same family where a mom was posting online about her 6th grade child being assaulted multiple times in the bathroom, the most recent requiring dental work? Just awful how unsafe that environment is.

I suspect it is but I have not seen the posts. The mother and father of the child spoke to school board and it was so sad.

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone watch the comments to the School Board yesterday on the sixth grade special needs student who purportedly was attacked multiple times in the bathroom at George Washington Middle School and is currently receive virtual schooling for safety. Such events are why the safety concerns about GWMS are valid.

Horrifying. Is this the same family where a mom was posting online about her 6th grade child being assaulted multiple times in the bathroom, the most recent requiring dental work? Just awful how unsafe that environment is.

Did anyone watch the comments to the School Board yesterday on the sixth grade special needs student who purportedly was attacked multiple times in the bathroom at George Washington Middle School and is currently receive virtual schooling for safety. Such events are why the safety concerns about GWMS are valid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to build another highschool that is NOT within walking distance from each other. Like clear across the city. There are way too many teens in one place.

Hammond or GW should reopen as high schools—the city used to have three—but I think the city blocked it. Some say it’s to preserve the civil rights legacy, but cost may also be a factor. One large high school is more efficient in terms of dollars and cents.

You are right. The next two rebuilds - George Mason and Cora Kelly - need to be big enough to be PK-8th. That's the plan being discussed for George Mason but needs to be the same at Cora Kelly. GW can go back to being a high school.

ACPS has a real opportunity to relieve some of the pressure at the middle schools and the high school with that half a billion they have to spend over the next 9 years.

They are discussing making the North Beauregard building into a middle school after it serves as swing space for the George Mason and Cora Kelly rebuilds. With central office and the school board discussing turning George Mason into a middle school too (irresponsible not to with such a small and getting significantly smaller population) that would really make an impact. Just those two schools would be seats for 1300 more middle school kids. And GM could certainly be bigger than the 130,000 square feet/700 kids they are planning for now if they would fully knock down the entire old building.

If they would do that and stop letting transfers out of J-H for middle school - GW could become a high school again.

If you stop the transfers out of J-H then suddenly the UMC parents and Alexandria government will be pushing for charter schools.

And I guess we know the plan for GWMS based on what is being reported and deleted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to build another highschool that is NOT within walking distance from each other. Like clear across the city. There are way too many teens in one place.

Hammond or GW should reopen as high schools—the city used to have three—but I think the city blocked it. Some say it’s to preserve the civil rights legacy, but cost may also be a factor. One large high school is more efficient in terms of dollars and cents.

You are right. The next two rebuilds - George Mason and Cora Kelly - need to be big enough to be PK-8th. That's the plan being discussed for George Mason but needs to be the same at Cora Kelly. GW can go back to being a high school.

ACPS has a real opportunity to relieve some of the pressure at the middle schools and the high school with that half a billion they have to spend over the next 9 years.

They are discussing making the North Beauregard building into a middle school after it serves as swing space for the George Mason and Cora Kelly rebuilds. With central office and the school board discussing turning George Mason into a middle school too (irresponsible not to with such a small and getting significantly smaller population) that would really make an impact. Just those two schools would be seats for 1300 more middle school kids. And GM could certainly be bigger than the 130,000 square feet/700 kids they are planning for now if they would fully knock down the entire old building.

If they would do that and stop letting transfers out of J-H for middle school - GW could become a high school again.

If you stop the transfers out of J-H then suddenly the UMC parents and Alexandria government will be pushing for charter schools.

It’s not going to happen in our lifetime.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to build another highschool that is NOT within walking distance from each other. Like clear across the city. There are way too many teens in one place.

Hammond or GW should reopen as high schools—the city used to have three—but I think the city blocked it. Some say it’s to preserve the civil rights legacy, but cost may also be a factor. One large high school is more efficient in terms of dollars and cents.

You are right. The next two rebuilds - George Mason and Cora Kelly - need to be big enough to be PK-8th. That's the plan being discussed for George Mason but needs to be the same at Cora Kelly. GW can go back to being a high school.

ACPS has a real opportunity to relieve some of the pressure at the middle schools and the high school with that half a billion they have to spend over the next 9 years.

They are discussing making the North Beauregard building into a middle school after it serves as swing space for the George Mason and Cora Kelly rebuilds. With central office and the school board discussing turning George Mason into a middle school too (irresponsible not to with such a small and getting significantly smaller population) that would really make an impact. Just those two schools would be seats for 1300 more middle school kids. And GM could certainly be bigger than the 130,000 square feet/700 kids they are planning for now if they would fully knock down the entire old building.

If they would do that and stop letting transfers out of J-H for middle school - GW could become a high school again.