Within the next few weeks the Alexandria City Public School (ACPS) Board plans to decide on a way forward for Jefferson-Houston (JH) School. The School Board discussed three options at its Feb. 20 meeting for the school’s future. You may be saying, I don’t have a child in school, why should I care? Because the city (and you as a tax payer) has invested $44 million for a new JH school building to open this fall which will double the school’s capacity. Meanwhile, everyone is working hard to reverse more than a decade of low achievement.
- Option 1: PK-8 with an emphasis on strengthening of core
instructional programs (i.e., continuing on its current path of moderate reform).
Pros: Continuity and minimal transition for families and teachers.
Cons: Unlikely to gain accreditation/concern for SOL performance across grades 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
- Option 2: Regrowing the school – opening in the fall with grades PK-3 and 6 (or alternatively PK-3); adding a grade level each year.
Pros: A new start and a greater likelihood of meeting accreditation since the younger grades are trending better overall.
Cons: Relocation of 117 future 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th graders (displaced students would attend surrounding schools; while many are at capacity, they currently outperform JH).
- Option 3: PK-3 or PK-5 school.
Pros: Greater focus on fewer grades; continuity at the elementary school level.
Cons: Lessens families’ choice at the middle school level; displaces 41 students in the upper grades based on ACPS Executive Staff’s figures.
[Note: Full disclosure, I am the mother of a four-year-old slated to attend JH School this fall, but if you want to see how Interim Superintendent Crawley’s staff has framed these options just google “ACPS School Board Meetings,” click on agenda and attachments for the Feb. 20 meeting, and view the Jefferson-Houston materials for yourself.]
Now is the time to act. The School Board’s goal is to have a final decision by mid-March. A board of nine people, even though elected, should not make this decision alone. They need to hear from us. This choice should involve our dynamic community and city members. While all of the information is public, unless you are actively looking for it you may miss it.
How to act? Observe school board meetings in person or virtually, write to the school board members: board@acps.k12.va.us , or sign up to speak at a school board meeting. School Board meetings are normally held twice a month on Thursdays during the school year in the Board Room, 2000 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria. Board meetings are televised and aired on Channel 71 and available for online viewing.
The School Board needs to hear all voices. JH School serves a much larger population than those who are currently attending the school.
According to local experts, while school turn-around data shows that there is no magic solution to academically turn around a school, a consistent idea with many successful charter or charter-like turn-arounds is the concept of rebuilding or regrowing the school.
While considering such an idea is a bold move since it involves displacing 117 students and having an emptier school for the new JH building’s initial years, the idea has real merit and may provide the best foundation for the school to quickly achieve the minimum test scores for accreditation and bring old and new families back to JH.
This is not about next year, or the year after that, but attempting to set a course for the new $44 million school as high achieving for many years to come. If you like/dislike one or more of these three options, please join me in having your voice heard.