Alexandria City Public Schools
Superintendent's Blog

Dear Mr. President

March 15th, 2010

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND ARNE DUNCAN, US SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

Dear Mr. President and Secretary Duncan:

T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, has been designated by the Virginia Department of Education as a “persistently lowest-achieving school.” Alexandria’s only public high school qualified for this label because our 11th grade Virginia Standards of Learning assessment pass rate for reading last year was 84 percent, and our combined pass rate for three math end-of-course tests (Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry) was 77 percent. These test results place us in the lowest 5 percent of 128 Virginia secondary schools that are eligible for (but do not receive) Title I funding. Read the rest of this entry »

‘NurtureShock’ Nurtures Community Bonding

March 8th, 2010

Tonight (Monday), ACPS will host an extra special event: An appearance by Ashley Merryman, co-author (with Po Bronson) of “NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children,” the thought-provoking New York Times bestseller that’s the highlighted book of the second annual Turn the Page community reading event sponsored by the Alexandria PTA Council. We are excited to welcome Ms. Merryman, who will share her research and answer questions at T.C. Williams High School.  (If you’re reading this after the fact, you missed a great program, but you’ll soon be able to watch the video online.) Read the rest of this entry »

A Wellness Center at T.C.

March 1st, 2010

Kids can’t learn if they don’t feel well.  It’s especially challenging if they’re lacking access to basic health care.  In our ongoing efforts to raise student achievement, we must tackle these most basic challenges by making it easier for students to receive the health care they need.  Last week, a local newspaper highlighted a report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which found that Alexandria fell far below statewide health benchmarks in several key areas. Read the rest of this entry »

More on Snow (or Mort on Snow)

February 22nd, 2010

Our record-breaking snowfall generated a record number of comments on my blog these last two weeks (100!).  Thank you to those who sent words of encouragement and suggestions for how to restore lost instructional time.  As a lifelong learner, I feel confident that the next time we get hit with back-to-back record-breaking snow storms and 10 lost days of instruction, we will greatly benefit from lessons learned last week.  Read my report to the School Board that includes information about our decision-making matrix, snow removal efforts, costs, and the educational impact of snow days. Read the rest of this entry »

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

February 8th, 2010

The decision to close schools or have a delayed opening is complicated by the fact that it must be made in the pre-dawn hours, well before buses will actually be on the road.  After consulting with our deputy superintendent for planning and operations, our director of transportation (who drives the roads in the middle of the night), our director of facilities (who monitors our school parking lots and walkways), several City officials and people from surrounding jurisdictions, I make the best decision I can with the information available at the time.  Student safety, of course, is the number one priority. Read the rest of this entry »