Alexandria City Public Schools
# Alexandria City Public Schools

Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) is a school division which is funded by the government of Alexandria, Virginia, United States.

## Administration

### Superintendent

The Alexandria City School Board has appointed Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt to serve as the new permanent superintendent for Alexandria City Public Schools, effective July 1, 2023. Dr. Kay-Wyatt was selected from a pool of 35 applicants in a national search process, emerging as the best candidate to move our schools forward. She was ACPS chief of human resources before her appointment as interim superintendent in August 2022; previously, she had served as acting chief of human resources and executive director of human resources. She joined the school division in July 2021. Prior to ACPS, Kay-Wyatt worked in Human Resources at Spotsylvania Public Schools, served as a principal and assistant principal at Fredericksburg City Public Schools, and was a special education teacher at both Culpeper County Schools and Fredericksburg City Public Schools.

### School Board

There are nine members of the Alexandria City Public School Board. All members of the board are elected by district, and the chair is appointed by the board. There are also two student representatives.

**Members**

District A

* Jacinta Greene
* Michelle Rief
* Christopher A. Suarez

District B

* Cindy M. Anderson
* Margaret Lorber
* Veronica R. Nolan, Vice Chair

District C

* Meagan L. Alderton, Chair
* Ramee Gentry
* Heather Thornton

Student Representatives

* Lorraine Jackson
* Ashley Sanchez-Viafara

## History

The first school offering public education in Alexandria was founded in 1785, the Washington Free School, partly funded by George Washington.

Although the desegregation process began in 1959 when nine black school children entered all-white Theodore Ficklin Elementary School after an NAACP lawsuit, it was not until 1974 that Superintendent John Albohm announced "This year, we have finally reorganized our elementary schools and, in a broad sense, have completed the desegregation of our school system kindergarten through grade 12".

In November 2020, the school board unanimously voted to rename T. C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School, with name selection coming before the 2021–22 school year. This follows years of community efforts to rename T. C. Williams because its namesake, a former superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools, was a supporter of racial segregation in schools.

In March 2021, the superintendent put forward two final names after community input: "Alexandria High School" and "Naomi Brooks Elementary School", after a former teacher who died in 2020. The school board voted in April 2021 to change the school's names to Alexandria City High School and Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School.

## Schools

The Alexandria City Public Schools consists of the following schools.

### Elementary schools

* John Adams Elementary School (Grades PreK–5)
* Charles Barrett Elementary School (Grades PreK–5), named for Charles D. Barrett, a Marine officer killed in World War II who had lived in Alexandria
* Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School, named after civil rights icon Ferdinand T. Day, who was the first African American elected chair of a public school board
* Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology (Grades PreK–5), named for local former teacher Cora Webster Kelly
* Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy
* Douglas MacArthur Elementary School
* George Mason Elementary School
* Matthew Maury Elementary School
* Mount Vernon Community School
* James K. Polk Elementary School
* William Ramsay Elementary School (Grades PreK–5)
* Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School, named for Alexandria native and notable civil rights lawyer Samuel W. Tucker

### K–8 schools

* Patrick Henry PreK-8 School (Grades PreK–8)
* Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 IB School (Grades PreK–8)

### Middle schools

* George Washington Middle School
* Francis C. Hammond Middle School, named for Francis C. Hammond, a native Alexandria who was killed in action during the Korean War and received the Medal of Honor

### High schools

* Alexandria City High School (Grades 10–12)
* Alexandria City High School Minnie Howard Campus (Grade 9)
