Alexandria City High School students will return from winter break to a safe learning environment with “additional supports,” Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt told the School Board Thursday night.
The comments were made in the wake of fights at Alexandria City High School‘s King Street campus on Wednesday that injured a student and knocked out a teacher. Two students were arrested and charged with assault and battery.
Two days before going on a two-week winter break, classes at ACHS went virtual Thursday and Friday “out of an abundance of caution and to prevent further instructional disruptions,” Kay-Wyatt said.
No details on new security measures were revealed, however Kay-Wyatt defended the decision to revert the city’s high school to virtual learning two days before winter break, and said that students responsible for Wednesday’s “intolerable” behavior will be severely punished.
“It was a difficult decision, but our goal is that everyone feels welcome back when we come back on Jan. 6,” Kay-Wyatt said. “I want this community to know that you have my commitment, that we have worked hard at a plan all day to provide additional supports. When we return on Jan. 6, we will be continuing our practice of providing fair hearings to our students, but imposing severe consequence for those students who exhibit such behaviors.”
Nixon Perez Orozco is a student representative on the School Board, and told the Board that students don’t feel safe because of inactive security guards.
“You guys have to do something security-wise inside of the school,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that I’m sharing a lot of students’ experience.”
Mayor Justin Wilson told Fox5 on Thursday morning that the closure of school reflects a “failure” from the city and school system.
“I think any time our schools are closed and they’re not able to do their core mission, which is educating kids, that’s a failure,” Wilson said. “That’s a failure on all of our parts. That’s a failure on every organization in the city that supports our youth, and so we have to look inside and figure out what went wrong here and why we have students who are resorting to violence to solve their problems instead of constructive ways.”
Crime is reportedly on the rise within ACPS. There were 69 ACPS students referred to court for alleged criminal activity in the 2023/2024 school year.
School Board Chair Michelle Rief supported the decision to revert the school to virtual learning.
“I know that our administrators really gave very serious thought and consideration about what was the best thing to do for all of our students and our staff,” Rief said. “I just want to make it clear, too, that I support the decision made by the superintendent. I know that our team worked incredibly hard yesterday to manage what was a difficult situation, and today, they’ve been working on plans to support a successful reentry on Jan. 6.”
