FEBRUARY 11, 2021 ACPS to open in March · 2/2/2021 · After a full year of virtual learning,...

Vol. 17, No.6 Alexandria’s only independent hometown newspaper. FEBRUARY 11, 2021

Co-location dealt a blow

ACPS to open in March

School board unanimous-ly rejects affordable housing for Minnie How-ard rebuildBY CODY MELLO-KLEIN

The Alexandria School Board voted unanimously to exclude consideration of co-located af-fordable housing at the redevel-oped T.C. Williams High School

Minnie Howard campus during the Feb. 4 school board meeting.

The decision was the latest wrinkle in an ongoing debate around co-located uses of school sites that touches two of the city’s most pressing concerns: school capacity and affordable housing supply.

Alexandria City Public Schools will still consider other co-locat-

ed uses at Minnie Howard, in-cluding ACPS administrative of-fices, a teen wellness center and an early childhood learning cen-ter. However, the sound rejection of co-located affordable housing at the site is a welcome sign to many in the community, which is generally opposed to the concept,

Hybrid plan to bring special educa-tion, English learners back firstBY ALLISON HAGEMAN

After a full year of virtual learning, Alex-andria City Public Schools plans to begin its phased reopening in March, ACPS Superinten-dent Dr. Gregory Hutchings Ed.D. announced at the Feb. 4 school board meeting.

On March 2, students whose parents have opted for in-person learning in kindergarten through fifth grade who are receiving special education services along with English lan-guage learners are scheduled return to cam-pus. The second group, students in grades six through 12 in specialized education and EL services, will transition on March 9. On March 16, all remaining students whose families have opted for hybrid learning are slated to return, Hutchings said.

“I keep telling our staff as well as our com-munity, we are now ready. It is now time for this pivot to occur,” Hutchings said.

Previously, ACPS had planned to return the first group of students to some form of in-person learning by Jan. 19, with all stu-dents to return by Feb. 16. The initial re-opening date shifted to Feb. 2 later in Janu-ary when Alexandria COVID-19 levels were increasing and the district changed to week-ly reopening updates, instead of firm dates for a return to in-person learning.

Hutchings cited ACPS’ compliance with the Virginia Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, a decline in community health metrics and the ability to track staff willingness to return to the classroom as reasons to start reopening.

The decision to begin reopening in March also came as Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) wrote a letter to Virginia school superintendents saying they must offer

TimesAlexandria

PHOTO/ MEHMET TOROGLUThe view from a puddle in Waterfront Park between the Torpedo Factory and the Alexandria Seaport Foundation.

River FarmPublic funding to purchase

property advances.Page 4

COVID-19Case and outbreak numbers

improve in LTCFs.Page 10

CouncilCity considers collective bargaining

ordinance for public employees.Page 11

INSIDE

SEE CO-LOCATION | 8

SEE ACPS | 9

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

Lewis, Bagley join City Council race

Car stolen at gas station

James Lewis, vice chair of the Alexandria Traffic and Parking Board, announced on Wednesday that he is run-ning for City Council in the June 8 Democratic Primary. Another candidate, afford-able housing advocate and community activist Sarah Bagley, tossed her hat in the ring on Tuesday.

Lewis, who lives in Al-exandria’s West End, is head of government affairs for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists and previously spent more than six years working as communications director for two different members of Congress.

Bagley, who lives in Old Town, is the executive di-rector of the Chisom Hous-ing Group, a D.C.-based non-

profit that provides social services to those living in affordable housing commu-nities. Prior to joining Chi-som in 2015, Bagley worked as an attorney in the D.C. metro area.

Lewis and Bagley join sev-en additional Alexandrians who have already declared their candidacies for City Council: incumbents Canek Aguirre, John Chapman and Amy Jackson and newcomers Abdel-Rahman Elnoubi, Alyia Gaskins, Richard Kirk McPike and Bill Rossello. Three in-cumbents will not seek re-election on council: Del Pepper is retiring; Elizabeth Bennett-Parker is running for the state legislature; and Mo Seifeldein recently announced his mayoral campaign.

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The Alexandria Police Department is currently in-vestigating an auto theft that occurred while the victim was pumping gas at a gas sta-tion in the 700 block of South Patrick Street, according to a news release.

The two suspects, cap-tured on security cameras wearing masks and using the victim’s credit card in Prince George’s County, stole the

victim’s white 2017 Lexus GS400 at about 1 p.m. on Sunday, according to the re-lease. The suspects were able to enter the vehicle through an unlocked door. No injuries were reported.

Anyone with information about the suspects or vehicle is encouraged to contact De-tective Walter Boyd at 703-746-6245.

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WEEKLY BRIEFING

Planning Commission approves Heritage

Vote to rename two schools

Funding for River Farm advances

The Planning Commis-sion voted unanimously to approve the application for the redevelopment of the Heritage at Old Town apart-ments during the Feb. 2 Plan-ning Commission meeting.

The project, which now heads to City Council on Feb. 20 for approval, would demolish the existing brick buildings built in the 1970s and replace the 244 units with three multifamily apartment buildings hous-ing 750 units and reaching, in some sections, seven sto-ries. The redevelopment will preserve 140 units of afford-able housing currently lo-cated on site and will add 55

additional affordable units.The meeting represent-

ed the contentious nature of the project. Although some speakers did express support for the Heritage project and the additional affordable units, the majority of the 42 speakers who signed up for the meeting argued against the project.

They expressed concern that the project’s scale and height are disproportionate with the rest of the Old and Historic District. Opponents also argued that home values, traffic and current residents would be negatively impacted by the redevelopment.

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Alexandria City Pub-lic Schools released the semi-finalist name choic-es for the renaming of T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elemen-tary School. Residents can vote on available options

in two online polls, which are available at www.acps.k12.va.us/identityproject through Feb. 19.

The nine available op-tions for each school name were whittled down from more than a thousand en-

tries submitted by stu-dents, families, staff and community members. A wide range of options made the final list, from well-known local residents to national figures.

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Public funding to buy and preserve George Wash-ington’s River Farm for the public took a significant step forward on Wednesday when the Virginia Senate Finance and Appropria-tions Committee and House Appropriations Committee budgeted funding for the project.

The House Appropria-tions Committee includ-

ed $2 million to preserve River Farm in its proposed budget, while the Senate Finance and Appropria-tions Committee includ-ed $5 million in combined funding for the preserva-tion of both Chickahomi-ny tribal lands and River Farm. The initiative was spearheaded by Alexan-dria State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D) and Mount Vernon Del.

Paul Krizek (D).“This is another im-

portant step in ensuring Virginians will continue to enjoy River Farm for years to come. I am hopeful that, with the addition of this state funding, NOVA Parks will soon be able to move forward with the purchase of the property,” Ebbin said in a news release.

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Prominent Alexandrian had a hand in Torpedo Factory developmentBY WILL SCHICK

Charles Hooff III, the prin-cipal owner and broker for Charles R. Hooff Realtors, died on Feb. 1 due to complications from COVID-19. He was 80.

A prominent figure in the Alexandria community, Hooff and his work and public ser-vice helped define the city both literally and figuratively.

A fixture in the local busi-ness community, Hooff helped develop the Torpedo Facto-ry, which played a key role in transforming Alexandria’s formerly crumbling industrial waterfront into the accessible

focal point it is today. At Charles R. Hooff Re-

altors, Hooff was known to many as a modern “renais-sance man.” Hooff had a wide range of interests that included farming, hunting, traveling, music, cooking and educating himself on history, law and politics.

“He was equally com-fortable and capable hitch-ing a baler to his tractor as he was debating the out-come of the Third Crusade,” Hooff’s daughter Maremi Andreozzi said on a recent Facebook post commemo-rating her father’s life.

Hooff was born in Phil-adelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 21, 1940. After he was

born, his family moved to Al-exandria, where Hooff spent his childhood. Hooff attend-ed Episcopal High School be-fore continuing his studies at George Washington Uni-versity School of Business in Washington D.C.

After graduating from GWU in 1965, Hooff was recruited to work for Air America, an airline owned and operated by the CIA to support covert operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. As part of his service with Air America, Hooff spent several years in Asia, and it was during this time that he met and fell in love with his wife, Gudrun.

Hooff and Gudrun mar-

ried in Taiwan in 1967 and re-turned to the U.S. several years later, settling for a few years in Winston-Salem, North Caro-lina. Hooff briefly worked for Piedmont Airlines before re-turning to Alexandria in 1971.

Once Hooff returned to Alexandria, he began to work with his father, Charles Hooff Jr., at Charles R. Hooff Real-tors, becoming more involved in the local community in the process. In 1976, Hooff ran for City Council, and, despite los-ing, he remained civically ac-tive and engaged with issues in the city.

Hooff’s son, Churchill Hooff, described his father as someone who cared deeply about other people and nev-

er held a grudge because of a debate or argument.

“He could have a fierce, fierce debate with somebody one day and then the next day be back to business as usual,” Churchill Hooff said.

Hooff lived in the same house in Old Town for 13 years before moving to Lor-ton, Virginia in 1984, but he continued to be deeply en-gaged in community issues.

Hooff was a member of many local and regional or-ganizations, including The Jamestown Society; The Metropolitan Club; The Life-guard Society of Mount Ver-non; The Old Dominion Boat

Local real estate developer Charles Hooff III dies at 80

COURTESY PHOTOAccording to his son Churchill Hooff, Charles Hooff enjoyed travelling and had travelled to every continent except for Antarctica. Here Hooff is pictured at a market in China.

SEE HOOFF | 7


Club; The Fraternal Order of Eagles; The Society of Colo-nial Warriors and The Alex-andria Businessmen’s Club.

He was also an active and loyal member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where his family had been founding members in 1809. Hooff was known by all for his gener-osity, charity, and sincere friendship.

“Charlie was a tradition-al Episcopalian in the very best and deepest sense of the word,” Rev. Oran E. Warder, rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, said. “… He liked his religion early, quiet, simple and traditional. … Charlie’s faith was part of his very be-ing and not necessarily some-thing that he talked about.”

According to Churchill Hooff, his father was also someone who had a wonder-ful sense of “dry humor.”

One such example of Hooff’s comedic wit was

when he climbed out of a window during a local Alex-andria housing committee meeting that had gone awry.

“He certainly lived by his own rules,” Churchill Hooff said.

Hooff is survived by his wife, Gudrun Hooff; four

children and their spouses, Maremi Andreozzi (Phil), Churchill Hooff (Jenn), Jan-ney Jay (Willy) and Carlie Casella (Dan); and 12 grand-children. He is preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Elizabeth Hooff.

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COURTESY PHOTOCharles Hooff and his wife on a trip to Harbin, China.

COURTESY PHOTOCharles Hooff was involved in a number of commercial and residen-tial real-estate projects in Alexandria, including the Torpedo Factory.

HOOFF FROM | 6


according to ACPS.ACPS staff presented an

initial series of test fits for potential co-located afford-able housing opportunities on the 12-acre Minnie How-ard site, which drew wide-spread opposition from the board, during a Jan. 21 school board work session.

According to Erika Gu-lick, ACPS director of Capi-tal Programs, Planning and Design, an initial site anal-ysis confirmed that if the school board were to pursue co-located affordable hous-ing on the site, the Minnie Howard campus could ac-commodate a school with a

minimum capacity for 1,600 students and between 60 to 85 affordable units.

Regardless of how or whether the site integrates a co-located use, ACPS aims to prioritize educational pro-gramming and will design for underground parking and no net loss of athletic fields, Gulick said.

“The school program is the number one priority in the Minnie Howard campus,” Gulick said. “It will take prec-edent and space over [other] things.”

During the work session on Jan. 21, the school board voiced concerns about how co-located affordable hous-ing could impact the school district’s need for capacity and flexible space within ACPS facilities.

“As long as I’ve been a part of this school board,

we’ve had nothing but ur-gency bordering on cri-sis about capacity,” school board member Ramee Gen-try said. “I just cannot imagine a scenario in which I can get behind a decision that would actually take away capacity, considering how limited we are.”

ACPS’ current enroll-ment projections for FY2022 through FY2031 anticipate high school enrollment to hit 4,768 in FY2024, the year that the campus will open, and 5,357 by FY2031.

School Board Chair Me-gan Alderton, who serves on the educational design team for the Minnie Howard proj-ect, said that the education-al focus for the redesigned school has been on smaller learning communities and flexible spacing. The latter, Alderton argued, is jeopar-

dized by the presence of af-fordable housing.

“My biggest concern is that affordable housing doesn’t give the flexibility that we need,” Alderton said. “… If you have 80 units where people are living, if we need-ed that space in the future for something else, we could not easily make a shift.

Echoing a community concern, school board mem-ber Jacinta Greene argued that co-locating housing on a school site would put ACPS students at risk.

“It’s our job to educate and keep our students safe. It is not safe to have housing on school grounds, and I just, for the life of me, still don’t understand how we got to this point,” Greene said.

During the work ses-sion, Gulick noted that the community generally op-poses co-locating affordable housing on the redeveloped school site. Even those that generally support the city’s need for additional afford-able housing expressed con-cern about the presence of housing units on a school site, Gulick said.

Community members have generally voiced oppo-sition to co-located afford-able housing and other non-school uses on ACPS sites since January 2020, when a feasibility study for a po-tential apartment complex at George Mason Elemen-tary School was released to the public. ACPS apologized and noted that the apart-ment complex concept was

something staff had been investigating and had de-cided not to move forward with prior to the concept drawing making its way into the public eye.

However, co-located school uses, including affordable housing, remain a priority for the city, as it addresses an Al-exandria-wide need for afford-able housing.

“The co-location goals … were not only trying to make sure that we had those comple-mentary uses but also increas-ing the use of the site outside of traditional school hours,” Mayor Justin Wilson said at the Jan. 25 city council and school board subcommittee meet-ing. “ … I would encourage us to continue looking at those kinds of opportunities, work-ing closely with the city.”

ACPS leaders, staff and school board members were less gung-ho about the push for co-located housing at the meeting. Superinten-dent Dr. Gregory Hutchings Ed.D. said that some of the other potential co-located uses, including social ser-vice centers, could provide support for students and the general public.

“That’s something we want to keep in mind: Some of these other co-locations do complement the educa-tional programming and support services that we provide our students in the building,” Hutchings said.

Despite the city’s stated priorities, during the virtual Feb. 8 school board meeting, the board members voted 9-0 to exclude consideration of co-located affordable housing on the expanded high school site “to allow for more maximum flexibility for current and future ACPS uses,” board member Cindy Anderson said.

The board will vote on design concepts for the high school project on April 8, and final designs will go before city council in early 2022.

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It’s our job to educate and keep our students safe. It

is not safe to have housing on school grounds, and I just, for the life of me, still don’t understand how we got to this point.”

– Jacinta Greene,member, School Board

CO-LOCATION FROM | 1


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in-person learning by March 15, “to prevent irreparable learning loss and psycholog-ical damage.”

At the school board meet-ing, Hutchings provided more details on ACPS’ six-week reopening plan.

Part of the six-week plan is for staff members to fill out a return-to-school form that was due Feb. 9. The form allows for staff to indicate if they cannot return due to medical status or personal factors. If teachers decide to return to school, they will be back in the classroom by March 1, Hutchings said.

Staff will be asked to indi-cate their vaccination status or decline indicating their status to the school district. By law, the district cannot require staff to disclose their vaccina-tion status, but ACPS has the right to ask, Hutchings said.

“We hope that they will share that information because it will help us with some of our

internal planning in regard to health and safety plans,” Hutch-ings said.

Vaccinations be-came available to ACPS staff beginning in January, since they are a part of the 1b category in Virgin-ia’s vaccination roll-out. The Alexandria Health Department held an additional day designated for ACPS staff vaccination on Feb. 4.

According to Dr. Stephen Haering, director of the Al-exandria Health Depart-ment, COVID-19 risk factors still remain a concern.

Alexandria is still in the highest risk category for the number of new cases per hundred thousand with-in the last 14 days and has moved into the moderate risk category for the number of positive tests in the last 14 days, according to Haering.

Alexandria has experi-enced fewer cases over the

past seven days, compared to the previous seven days pri-or to that as of Feb. 4, Haer-ing said. From Feb. 1 to 8, the seven-day moving average of daily COVID-19 cases de-creased by 14.1 in the city, ac-cording to AHD.

“Things that the school can actually directly control, those are the things that have to do with physical distancing, correct and consistent use of masks, hand hygiene, respi-ratory etiquette, cleaning and disinfection and collaboration with the local health depart-ment,” Haering said.

Pierrette Peters, principal at Francis C. Hammond Middle

School, said there are more than 70 action items that schools are taking into consid-eration in the weeks leading up to March. These include mark-ing spaces for social distancing, organiz-ing and distributing personal protective equipment and de-

termining student groups for in-person and virtual learning.

“The ultimate goal of the checklist, in addition to guiding a safe reopening for students and staff, is to en-sure that there is consistency among all ACPS schools in how we are planning for re-opening,” Peters said.

The announcement of a planned March reopening comes as welcome news to the members of Open ACPS, a group of parents who formed at the end of October and have advocated for in-person learning. Hundreds of ACPS community members ACPS community members who

have joined this effort have expressed frustration with the school board and ACPS ad-ministration over what they consider to be inaction and have voiced concerns about the impact of virtual learning on their children.

ACPS parent Amy Smith described the hybrid an-nouncement as “welcomed” and said ACPS must con-tinue to be transparent and provide real data. Smith said she submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for emails from ACPS staff about Samuel W. Tucker Elementa-ry School’s socially distanced classroom layouts. The emails, she said, showed a discrep-ancy between the distance school board emails discussed and what was presented at the Oct. 15 school board meeting.

“When misinformation is purposefully given, it does more to drive a wedge in be-tween community members and their elected officials,” Smith said.

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PIERRETTE PETERS

MEGAN ALDERTON

ACPS FROM | 1


Declines in cases, out-breaks correlate with widespread vaccination effortBY DENISE DUNBAR

There’s good news re-garding COVID-19 in long-term care facilities both across the United States and in Virginia.

Nationwide, the number of cases in LTCFs has dropped dramatically in recent weeks after peaking in December 2020. According to the Wall Street Journal, 15,154 na-tionwide cases of COVID-19 were reported in nursing homes for the week ending Jan. 24, which was the fifth straight week of falling cases in those facilities. By con-trast, nationwide COVID-19 cases in nursing homes sur-passed 32,000 in the week ending Dec. 20 – more than double the current level.

In Virginia, the good news pertains to the num-ber of outbreaks. While there were 46 new outbreaks in LTCFs between Dec. 6 and 12, 2020, that number had dropped to 22 outbreaks re-ported in LTCFs around the state for the week of Jan. 24 to 30, then to 12 between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6. This was the lowest weekly total of new outbreaks in almost four months, since the week of Oct. 11 to 17, 2020 when there were eight outbreaks.

The exception was the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which seems be a holiday-caused statistical anomaly with only four to-tal outbreaks reported across all categories. The week pri-or had 86 outbreaks and the week following, 73.

The Virginia Department of Health website tracks out-breaks in a variety of facil-

Analysis: Encouraging COVID-19 trends in LTCFs

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On Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, Robert Wilbert Petti-ford, affectionately known as Rob, loving son, hus-band, father, brother, uncle, nephew, cousin and son-in-law, passed away at age 54.

Rob is survived by his parents, Joseph Sr. and Glad-ys Pettiford of Alexandria; his wife, Antoinette, and his two daughters, Chase and Jordan Pettiford of Atlan-ta, Georgia; his sister, Di-anna Williams (Kenneth B. Strother), of North Carolina; his brother, Joseph Jr. (Kim), of Virginia; son-in-law of Rose and Allen Hill and Ike

and Tootsie Coleman, and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

A private graveside fu-neral service will be held in Aulander, North Carolina.

Robert Wilbert PettifordOBITUARY

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GRAPH/LYVI SIEGDATA/VDH

ities in addition to LTCFs: congregate, correctional, healthcare, childcare, K-12 educational and college or university.

The sharp decline of COVID-19 cases in LTCFs is closely correlated with the rollout of the vaccine, with residents and staff at senior facilities among the first to be vaccinated in phase 1a, which began in December.

For instance, the first round of residents and staff at Goodwin House in Alexan-dria were vaccinated on Dec. 29. Given that there’s a cou-ple week lag between when a person receives the vaccine and when they build some immunity – plus a three-to-four-week gap between re-ceiving the first and second doses of the vaccine – notice-able differences would not have been expected before mid-to-late January. This is what happened in Virginia.

Even more encouraging is that this sharp decline in

COVID-19 cases in nursing homes nationwide has tak-en place despite the fact that more than 86% of people had only received the initial dose of the vaccine, according to the Wall Street Journal. This would seem to indicate a sig-nificant level of protection is obtained from the first dose alone. Nationwide, 2.7 million LTCF residents and staff had received the first dose of the vaccine as of Jan. 31, according to the Wall Street Journal, but only 366,000 had been admin-istered the second dose.

Long-term care facilities were the entities hardest hit by both the initial wave of COVID-19 last spring, as well as the deadly spike of cases that began in October.

Older people appear to be particularly vulnerable to the disease, which is why LTCFs were prioritized in vaccination group 1a, while residents age 75 and older are the top priority in group 1b.

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# of

cas

es

End date of # of weekly outbreaks

0

10

20

30

40

50

10/1

7/20

11/1

4/20

12/1

2/20

1/9/

21

2/6/

21

Table 5

10/17/20 8

11/14/20 21

12/12/20 46

1/9/21 28

2/6/21 12

0

10

20

30

40

50

10/17/20 11/14/20 12/12/20 1/9/21 2/6/21

12

28

46

21

8

8

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BY WILL SCHICK

Alexandria City Council met to review a new draft ordinance on collective bar-gaining for public employees during its Tuesday night leg-islative meeting.

Collective bargaining is the process by which la-bor unions negotiate their wages and working condi-tions with their employers. While collective bargaining is standard across the coun-try, three states explicitly prohibit it: North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

This will soon change. Ef-fective May 1, local govern-ments throughout the state will be permitted, for the first time in Virginia history, to legally enter into collec-tive bargaining agreements with labor unions and repre-senting public employees.

As a result, Alexandria will be required to establish, at minimum, a process for recog-nizing and certifying organi-zations as “bargaining agents.”

While the new state law does not require municipal-ities to pass new local ordi-nances, city staff presented a draft for its own frame-work for working with labor unions before the state law goes into effect.

By having an ordinance in place by the time the law be-comes effective in May, the city said it hopes to have a process ready and in place to prepare for the shift in Vir-ginia state law.

“If a petition shows up from a group saying they want to organize, we have 120 days to make a decision,” City Manager Mark Jinks said. “… The thought was [in developing an ordinance] to get way ahead of it.”

Currently, public employ-ees in Alexandria have the right “to meet and confer” with the city to address any issues or concerns they have with their

employment conditions. But as Cynthia Hudson,

the special counsel hired by the city to help develop its draft ordinance, pointed out, this process is not legally binding and is very distinct from collective bargaining.

“There is not the legal framework that is necessary to make ‘meet and confer’ happen because … employers don’t have to meet and con-fer [with their employees],” Hudson said. “And even if they do, they don’t have to do anything about what they’re asked to do.”

Collective bargaining agreements set forth the pro-cess by which negotiations between public sector em-ployees and the government can take place and establish legally binding agreements.

Alexandria is one of 19 Virginia localities that had previously established a col-lective bargaining agreement with its public employees. But a 1977 ruling in the Virginia Supreme Court deemed the process to be illegal, citing the lack of explicit authority of lo-cal governments to strike such agreements on their own.

Establishing a new local or-dinance for collective bargain-ing today, however, remains a very complicated process.

Hudson likened collective bargaining to an “elephant” and said it was best to “eat it one small bite at a time.”

According to Hudson, there are many facets to con-

sider when establishing a col-lective bargaining process. These considerations include everything from how to iden-tify bargaining units and un-fair labor practices to the need to hire labor relations experts and establish protocols for managing the tension be-tween the interests of super-visors and their employees.

“Given what a big process and new process collective bargaining is to get your arms around … we submit that it is prudent, and in the city’s probably best interest as a newcomer to collective bargaining, to start narrower with the scope of what you’re doing,” Hudson said.

The draft ordinance rec-ommends the city consider adopting four broad catego-ries of “bargaining units” for police; fire and EMS; labor and trades; and general gov-ernment. The proposal also provides guidance on how to approach negotiations having to do with wages and benefits and managing labor disputes.

“It does seem like the big-gest issues fall into a couple of categories,” Mayor Justin Wilson said, “It’s the scope of bargaining, it’s whether it’s wages and benefits or be-yond, and what that beyond is. It’s the number of bargain-ing units, which is certainly a question I’ve heard a couple of my colleagues weigh in on.”

Jinks also addressed the fiscal impact of future collec-tive bargaining agreements

for the city. According to the presen-

tation, a 1% raise in wages and benefits for city employ-ees would add $2.3 million in costs to the city. A 5% raise for city employees would increase expenses by up to about $11.5 million.

The presentation also in-dicated that if Alexandria City Public Schools employee wages were considered, costs would rise to $22 million. Ad-

ditionally, Jenkins and Hud-son also noted that the an-nual administrative costs of collective bargaining could be anywhere between $500,000 to $1 million.

Answering the broad question of how these in-creased costs would affect the city’s bond rating, Jinks said, “The rating agencies [generally] consider it [the increased costs to the city] a negative. But given our fiscal position, it would not be a negative that would by itself have an impact on our bond rating. We’re in good shape.”

City Council unanimously passed a motion, put forward by Councilor Canek Aguirre and seconded by Councilor Amy Jackson, to have staff return with a final version of the ordinance for adoption during the City Council pub-lic hearing on March 13.

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City Council reviews collective bargaining ordinanceGiven what a big process and new process collective bargaining is to get your arms around … we

submit that it is prudent, and in the city’s probably best interest as a newcomer to collective bargaining, to start narrower with the scope of what you’re doing.”

–Cynthia Hudson,special counsel


Yoko is one handsome gentleman, with his blue eyes and striking smile.

At two years old, he’s still a puppy; he’s full of energy and loves to go go go!

Yoko is looking for someone who can match his energetic lifestyle but also understands the finer things in life,

especially treats in cold weather!

AlexandriaAnimals.org/Adopt-By-Appointment.03-746-4774

THANK YOU

~ Be My Valentine? ~

~ Canine Health Care ~

www.diannhicks.com

The Alexandria Animal Shelter’s Pet of the Week is sponsored by Diann Hicks, finding

homes for pets and humans, alike.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SARAH’S FUND, PLEASE CALL

703-746-4774 OR VISIT US AT www.ALExANDRIAANIMALS.ORg/DONATE

THANk yOU

Puppies require surgery sometimes. “Sarah’s Fund”

provides Shelter pets with needed procedures.

This puppy will soon undergo an operation to repair

“pulmonic stenosis”, with donations from Alexandrians.

Your five-dollar donation adds to Sarah’s Fund and

together with contributions of others, ensures that

medical care is there when needed.

ADOPTABLE PET OF THE WEEK

~ Special Needs ~Extra patience may be required to adopt Flash. At

age 4, he is energetic, and needs encouragement to slow down.

He’s lost a leg, but gained perspective on what’s important; be happy each day, and love those

around you. Flash well knows this credo, and hopes for a home of his own to share the love.

For iNFo about alexaNdria’S adoptable petS, pleaSe viSit www.alexandriaanimals.org.

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The Alexandria Animal Shelter’s Pet of the Week is sponsored by Diann Hicks Carlson, finding homes for pets and humans, alike.

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“Because everyone deserves a home.”

Out of the classroom Education section

T.C. Williams High School seniors Natnael Asegdew and Bridgette Adu-Wadier were selected from thousands of high schoolers to receive QuestBridge Scholarships.

The highly competi-tive QuestBridge Scholar-ship helps low-income high school seniors gain admis-sion and full scholarships to some of the country’s most elite colleges. More than 18,500 students applied for the scholarship, of which 6,885 were named as fi-nalists to be considered for the QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship. Ultimately, 1,464 students received scholarships.

The two T.C. Williams students who received the QuestBridge Scholarship ex-emplify the very best of what Titans can do.

Asegdew, who moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia when he was 6 years old, received a full-ride scholarship to at-

tend Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he will study computer, economics and data science.

Adu-Wadier, the daugh-ter of Ghanian immigrants, editor of T.C. William’s student newspaper Theog-ony and an acclaimed local journalist, will be attending Northwestern University where she will study jour-

nalism. Adu-Wadier was recently named one of PBS’ 20 Under 20 Up and Coming Storytellers of 2020.

“I am so proud of our Ti-tan QuestBridge Scholars. I know that these students are so deserving and that this scholarship will be life changing for our students,” T.C. Williams Principal Peter Balas said.

Immanuel Lutheran School students, teachers and families joined more than 1,900 other Lutheran schools from across the country in celebrating National Luther-an Schools Week from Jan. 24 to 30. This annual tradition incorporates many fun, out of the ordinary activities, as well as opportunities to build community, while remaining focused on God's Word and this year's theme, "Sent to Serve."

Throughout the week,

upper school students took part in a variety of com-petitions, displaying their athleticism, creativity, and Biblical and mathematical knowledge to earn House Team points.

Students in all grades had the opportunity to par-ticipate in special themed spirit days during the week and engaged in service-re-lated activities, including writing letters to members of the community and as-sembling care packages for

homebound individuals. All students also participated in a penny wars competition to support former ILS teacher, Vicar Aaron Schultz.

The week concluded with two special performanc-es on Jan. 29. Fourth grade students sang two hymns as part of an all-day virtual hymn sing organized by Our Savior Lutheran School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lat-er on Jan. 29, ILS also hosted its 7th Annual Upper School Talent Show.

Two T.C. Williams students receive QuestBridge scholarships

ILS community celebrates National Lutheran Schools Week

COURTESY PHOTOST.C. Williams High School students Bridgette Adu-Wadier and Nat-nael Asegdew were selected out of more than 18,500 students to receive QuestBridge Scholarships.

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Out of the classroom Education section

Browne Academy students recently came together for a day of service to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.

The school partnered with local nonprofit ALIVE! and assembled over 800 bags of food for families in need within the Alexandria community. The school’s Student Council Associa-tion organized the service day, which also included virtual assemblies, custom decorated cards and the creation of a school Grati-tude Wall.

Grace Episcopal School students are showing their love and support for local healthcare workers with handmade Valentine’s Day cards through Del Ray Busi-ness Association's “Support-ing our Local Healthcare He-roes” campaign.

Grace students were de-lighted to participate, as kin-dergarten and third through fifth grade students decorat-ed Valentine's Day cards with stickers and wrote individual messages of gratitude. First and second grade students created their own Valen-tine's Day cards from scratch during their weekly virtual art lessons. Grace Episcopal

School is proud to support the city’s healthcare heroes and wishes for each and ev-

ery healthcare worker to feel appreciated and loved during this trying time.

Alexandria Country Day School fourth graders read and reflected upon Amanda Gorman's Inauguration Day poem, “The Hill We Climb.”

After reading it together, each student reflected in-dividually and considered which verse was their favor-ite and why. Students creat-

ed slides with their reflec-tions, and compiled them into a presentation which they shared with the school community.

Browne Academy students partner with ALIVE!

Grace Episcopal students make val-entines for local healthcare workers

ACDS reflects on Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem

COURTESY PHOTOGrace Episcopal School students decorated and made Valentine’s Day cards for the city’s healthcare workers.

PHOTO/ BROWNE ACADEMYBrowne Academy students packaged bags of food to distribute to families in need.

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Record-low mortgage rates nationwide make this an opportune time to refinance loansBY FRANK FANNON

Mortgage rates contin-ue to remain at record lows throughout the country, pro-viding homeowners the op-portunity to refinance their loans at record low interest rates. These low rates also present a chance for renters to become homeowners and retain great financing terms.

There are a few factors that homeowners should consider when refinancing their prop-erty. The long-term savings are usually the first consid-eration. Many borrowers can turn a 30-year loan into a 15-year loan if they can afford a slightly higher payment. Each consumer has different objec-tives, and a common question

is: What is more important to you, improving your cash flow or refinancing to a 15-year or shorter-term loan where more money is applied to principal than interest? With a shorter-term loan, you have a higher payment, but you would pay thousands of dollars less over the life of the loan to retire the debt.

There is no right or wrong answer to which type of loan to take; each individual may have different objectives. The Fannie Mae lending guide-lines are very restrictive and after the 2008 housing col-lapse, the mortgage industry is very compliant driven.

If you qualify for a loan underwritten to the Fannie Mae guidelines, this is where you would get the best rates, currently about or under 3%.

Patience is an attribute borrowers need to have when

refinancing in 2021. The ma-jority of loans in America can improve with a refinance and the current timetable from application to closing is around 90 to 120 days based on the lender.

Lending guidelines and common sense are two differ-ent things. If you have lots of equity and you are lowering the payment, you still have to meet the paperwork and the tedious details to get the loan to closing. Home values

continue to rise in Alexandria and many homeowners have equity in their properties. When refinancing, you need to ask yourself if you would need money for anything in the next few years. Now is an opportune time to take cash out of your home if needed to consolidate debt, pay for tui-tion, home improvements or any other needs you may have.

Every $100,000 borrowed cost yields about $430 a month for principal and in-terest on a 30-year fixed loan based on current rates.

If the pandemic has affect-ed your income, it could pres-ent a challenge with refinanc-ing. Lenders have allowed for loans to go into deferment, but all mortgage payments need to be brought current to qualify for a refinance.

Home prices in Alexandria are relatively expensive, but

low interest rates help keep payments down. Despite what you may hear, there are over 100 condominium properties to buy in Alexandria for under $400,000, and first time buy-ers can acquire a home with as little as 3% down.

Many of the large banks will give a new buyer a grant toward the closing costs to meet the federally chartered Community Reinvestment Act goals. If you are refinancing or buying this year in Alex-andria, you will have a chance to acquire favorable financial terms that can be locked in for years to come.

The writer is a local mortgage banker who has

been financing homes in Alexandria since 1993.

Fannon also serves on the City of Alexandria’s Affordable

Housing Advisory Committee.

FINANCE

Refinancing property in 2021

FRANK FANNON

Wear a mask.Save a life.

You can proactively help rid Alexandria of the new coronavirus by wearing a cloth facemask when you must go out in public. By wearing a mask, you help prevent community spread of the coronavirus and help protect the most vulnerable in our community.


Save time and money by doing construction in the off-seasonBY BRANDPOINT

With temperatures at their coldest and deciduous trees bare of leaves, there’s no denying that it’s the sea-son of all things cozy and comfy. And as you continue to hunker down and bundle up indoors, the thought of embarking on a deck build-ing project might not be top of mind.

While home improve-ment retailers position win-ter months as “off-season” for outdoor projects, indus-try insiders know there are nonetheless advantages to beginning deck construc-tion during the coldest sea-son. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when having usable outdoor spaces has never been more import-ant and there’s no clear end in sight to our need to socially distance, there’s never been a better time to go ahead and

build that new deck.From scoring a deal on

building materials to book-ing the most in-demand builder, here are three ways to build a dream deck under budget and in record time this off-season.

First, book best-in-class building professionals when they’re available. Since spring and summer are the busiest times of year for contractors and building professionals, you’ll have a better chance of booking the

most in-demand deck build-er in your community during winter months.

With prior year projects wrapped up, workloads are naturally lighter. As a result, deck contractors have more flexibility in their schedules and can see a project through from start to finish much quicker than when they’re juggling multiple builds.

They’ll also have a better chance of securing necessary building permits on a quick turnaround. With fewer per-

mit applications in the queue for local government offi-cials’ review, there should be fewer delays in the permit-ting process.

Second, take advantage of seasonal savings to stretch your dollars. Contractors and decking brands alike offer homeowners plenty of in-centives to take advantage of during off seasons. For ex-ample, building profession-als may offer reduced rates to

TimesLivinqHOMES

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Deck the winter

SEE DECKS | 16


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fill gaps in their schedules.Home improvement and

decking brands, like most retailers, offer competitive-ly priced products in the off season to reduce invento-ry and make room for new products. Taking advantage of these savings opportuni-ties can substantially lower upfront costs associated with building a deck.

The best part? Now you can splurge on stylish acces-sories like railing post caps or LED lights and still stay within budget.

Third, preserve your beau-tiful lawn and then “spring” into landscaping projects. Deck construction can take a toll on landscaping, partic-ularly during prime building season. In the spring, lawns tend to hold more moisture as

the ground beneath begins to thaw. As a result, the ground can become increasingly sog-gy and primed to muddy up shoes while retaining un-sightly footprints.

What’s more, grass and flowers are just beginning to reemerge after winter. With increased foot traffic from builders coming and going, there’s also the risk of accidentally damaging budding flora. Rather than disrupt spring and sum-mer’s bloom, construct your deck when your yard is in the midst of its annual hi-bernation.

Since many plants go dormant as the air cools and the ground freezes, it’s one of the best times to build a deck without significantly impacting landscaping. By the time warm weather rolls back around, you’ll be ready

to tackle landscaping proj-ects surrounding your beau-tiful new deck.

To create an outdoor space you can start enjoying

now, consider building ma-terials that will help extend your deck’s open-air season. For example, bamboo com-posite deck boards and light-

gauge steel frames are resil-ient, durable and generally low maintenance.

“When composite deck-ing is coupled with steel framing, it forms a durable deck system that’s well-equipped to host year-round and designed to last decades longer than lumber,” Toby Bostwick, vice president of product and brand, Fortress Building Products, said. “Composite deck boards provide benefits like slip- and moisture-resistance to not only keep deck systems looking great year-round, but also make them safer to enjoy during any season.”

If you’re feeling inspired to “deck out” your backyard and savor more days spent outdoors, take note of the time and money-saving ways to tackle deck construction during the off-season.

HOMES

FILE PHOTOEven though decks aren't a priority during the winter, off-season construction could save you money in the long run.

DECKS FROM | 15


The opinions expressed in letters and columns are those of the writers only and do not reflect the views, nor receive the endorsement, of the Alexandria Times.

To the editor: My name is Amarantha

Flachs-Hernandez and I am an eighth grade student at George Washington Middle School. Last year, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality grant-ed the City of Alexandria $2.5 million for its efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and restore the Taylor Run stream located in Chinquapin Park. However, I do not believe the city is using this money responsibly.

The city’s plan follows the idea of the natural channel design, which is meant to reduce

pollutants like phosphorus,

nitrogen and sediment from ero-sion. The problem is that this technique is mainly used on wide rivers and not on narrow, head-water streams like Taylor Run.

To accomplish this design, hundreds of trees will be cut and the stream will be buried under tons of fill. This will kill many an-imals, damage a rare acidic seep-age wetland that contains 25 rare plant species and increase the amount of erosion. The city has said it will be planting thousands of new trees and shrubs, but even so, it will take many decades to

Opinion

Your Views

Photo of the Week

“Where the press is free and every man is able to read, all is safe.” - Thomas Jefferson

Our View

In Alexandria there’s a growing perception that our local government prioritizes the interests of develop-ers above all else. Loss of green space and degradation of the environment, worsened traffic and less parking, in-creased flooding and overcrowding of schools are all consequences of over-development.

Our city’s planners increasingly seem to want Alexandria to have an in-tensely urban feel, with large housing projects where few own cars and most people ride scooters and the Metro. It’s a policy geared toward younger millen-nials and members of Gen Z.

Just as cities benefit from ethnic, gender, religious, political and socio-economic diversity, every community needs a mix of age groups. But a city’s youngest adults are also its most transient. They generally earn less, aren’t homeowners and have more tenuous ties to the cities in which they live. Younger adults are a valu-able component of any community, but planning Alexandria around their perceived wishes is short sighted.

Alexandria's policy vision appears to be fixated on approving high-rise residential projects intended for young adults. These projects are generally con-centrated in areas near Metro stations where it is thought young people will live and commute to work.

The poster child for this develop-er/young adult-centric vision is the rebuild of the Heritage at Old Town apartments. Alexandria’s Planning Commission unanimously approved this wholly inappropriate project of more than 750 units that rests partly inside our city’s Old and Historic Dis-trict in the wee hours of Feb. 3.

It’s also worth noting that two Planning Commission members – Na-than Macek and Melinda Lyle – were just reappointed to four-year terms by City Council on Tuesday night. These reappointments, both by 6-1 votes with all seven members of council voting for one or both, came despite the fact that both Macek and Lyle work for companies that receive large contracts from the city.

Macek’s employer, WSP USA, is an architecture and engineering com-pany that, according to its website,

did extensive financial analysis for the city on the Potomac Yard Metro Station. Lyle works for Alpha Cor-poration, a construction consulting firm where she is director of business development. Alpha Corporation, ac-cording to its website, provided proj-ect and construction management at both the Alexandria Police Depart-ment headquarters building and the Charles Houston Rec Center rebuild.

Perhaps the reappointments of Macek and Lyle would have been justi-fied if they were the only qualified appli-cants for the slots. That was not the case Tuesday, as 10 people total applied for the two slots, and five of the additional applicants were extremely qualified. All five have lived in the city for at least 10 years and are not employed by for-profit companies that do business in the city. The applicants included:

• One person who is retiring after serving as head of planning in Arling-ton County for eight years.

• One person with expertise in trans-portation and environmental services who is a lawyer for a federal agency.

• One retired person whose job was in facilities design and technol-ogy, and who possesses many years of experience in city civic groups and commissions.

• One person who is a scientist, works for a nonprofit and has done extensive work on LEED green building projects.

• One person with experience on city committees and boards who does human capital analysis within federal agencies for a consulting firm.

To be clear, both Macek and Lyle appear to be upstanding people who donate considerable time to this vol-unteer board. To our knowledge they have not personally voted on proj-ects that their companies are direct-ly involved with.

But we believe anyone whose em-ployer benefits from contracts with the City of Alexandria should not be allowed to serve on the most important commis-sion in the city. Their reappointments just don’t pass the optics test.

Further ethics reform is clearly needed that will prohibit people whose companies benefit from city contracts from serving on key Alexandria boards and commissions.

The optics of ethics

City’s actions are not eco-friendly

SEE ENVIRONMENT | 20

PHOTO/ VINEETA ANANDLocal environmentalists push back against the city's plans for Taylor Run.


To the editor: I am writing in response to the Jan. 7 Alexandria

Times editorial, “Wanted: Better approach to affordable housing.” What is truly wanted is local government that will address the basic facts, that will increase the supply of affordable housing at a time when the poor are out of work and national-average rents are increasing. Let us consider the facts.

Equating affordable housing and density, the edito-rial falsely states “Given the litany of problems Alexan-dria is currently experiencing that are unintended con-sequences from over-densification – flooding, closed schools, environmental destruction, traffic bottlenecks ...” None of these are caused by density. Flooding is caused by climate change. Closed schools, the pandem-ic, environmental destruction and traffic are caused by car-dependent suburbia. The problem isn’t density, it’s the zoning-enforced developer business model that monetizes green space into endless suburbia.

Surveys show that 50% of people in the U.S. want to live in walkable neighborhoods, but only 10% of our housing is like that. To our knowledge, all Alexandrians want more green space. High-density housing, centered on town-square transit hubs, could meet both of these pent up demands. I am asking you to picture a much-im-proved Cameron Station, with fewer cars, a transit hub, taller buildings and, most importantly, not walled off from the rest of Alexandria.

Alexandria needs to better manage development and avoid traffic gridlock by building walkable neighbor-hoods with high-frequency transit. The West End has plenty of people to support local businesses, but apart-ment buildings are walled-off from each other, making walking difficult. Landmark will have a transit hub, but no bike lanes to get people to transit. The problem isn’t density, it is continued car-dependency. For housing, for climate, for the simple joy of a neighborhood walk, Alex-andria needs to open up its neighborhoods to walking, biking and high-frequency transit. Otherwise, too many of us will remain trapped in our cars.

-Jonathan Krall,Alexandria

To the editor: As an older resident of the city, I have been anxious

for the day I could receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Re-cently, I received the first of two doses and was so im-pressed with the efficient management of vaccination of so many of us at T.C. Williams High School.

Though we were ushered to the cafeteria in a line that started out of doors, and through the halls, we were quickly and always very politely directed to a table in the cafeteria where the vaccine was administered. The Al-exandria Health Department deserves our gratitude for executing an incalculably difficult undertaking, engag-ing staff and a great number of volunteers in the urgent job of stemming a pandemic.

-Jane M. King,Alexandria

The case for more density

Thanks to Health Department

Filling in the Blanks with Dr. Gregory Hutchings, Ed.D.

Let’s celebrate Black history year-roundIt takes more than a month to share the

history of Black people who continue to make history daily, and much work is still needed to dismantle systemic racism in Alexandria City Public Schools and across our nation.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unan-imously voted that “separate educational fa-cilities are inherently unequal” after a suc-cessful argument by Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African American Su-preme Court justice. The push for integrating schools began with Brown vs. the Board of Education.

In 1955, schools nationwide re-sisted integration and appealed to the courts for time, leading the Su-preme Court to revise their deci-sion to include “with all deliberate speed.” In ACPS, Superintendent Thomas Chambliss Williams op-posed integration and followed the U.S. Senator Harry Byrd’s “massive resistance” movement to prevent schools in Virginia from integrat-ing for decades. Prince Edward County Schools closed for five years to avoid integration.

After 65 years, one would think that the Brown vs. BOE landmark case would have helped us to tackle systemic racism within our schools. However, our schools are still work-ing tirelessly to eliminate achievement and opportunity gaps, disciplinary disparities and inequitable educational experiences among children of color and their white peers.

ACPS integrated its schools in 1959, and we still strive, in 2021, to remove systemic barriers and become an antiracist school divi-sion where all students engage in high-qual-ity learning and graduate ready to contribute globally, regardless of race, zip code, socioeco-nomic status or educational ability.

When will we bring the intent of Brown vs. BOE to fruition? Our new President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona are leading during this most challenging time for schools in America.

We are experiencing a dual pandemic with the coronavirus, impacting many lives and the education of our students, while we simulta-neously advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement. We hold onto hope that change is coming, and that our marathon to dismantle racism in education is underway.

This pandemic, however, continues to ex-acerbate inequities for vulnerable students,

especially our black and brown students. Prior to closing schools last March, public education was not meeting the needs of our marginal-ized students, a problem highlighted during the pandemic.

Despite these inequities, we still have cul-turally biased assessments across public ed-ucation institutions which do not accurately gauge the achievement of all students. The de-facto segregation of students permeates the schools in ACPS and across our nation,

from segregated communities to inequitable policies that pose bar-riers for students to access more rigorous classes.

While this pandemic has been horrific in many ways, it also brings opportunities, especially in public education. Our federal government provided relief funds for technolo-gy, meals, eviction waivers, stimulus checks and safety measures for our schools during this challenging time.

While I am wholeheartedly grate-ful for this, and welcome additional needed fund-ing, this begs the question, “How is this funding graciously provided during a pandemic, yet was unavailable prior to the pandemic?” We must continue to demand these additional resources after the pandemic and ensure our public educa-tion is funded appropriately going forward.

Looking closer to home, I commend the Al-exandria School Board for unanimously voting to rename Thomas Chambliss (T.C.) Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School. These are historic and symbolic acts for uplifting our mission, vision and core values in ACPS. However, much work exists to truly dis-mantle the systemic racism that our Black and brown ACPS students face today.

I faced this as a student in ACPS, and many generations of Black and brown students be-fore me faced it as well. The “ACPS 2025: Eq-uity for All” Strategic Plan provides a roadmap to dismantle systemic racism and eliminate achievement and opportunity gaps for our most marginalized students.

In this new year, we remain hopeful and steadfast, recognizing that our students rely on us to lead by example. We stand on the shoulders of many African Americans who have paved the way to get this far. Now it is our turn, and each and every one of us can make a difference.

The writer is superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools.

WWW.ALEXTIMES.COM MARCH 12,2020 | 31

To the editor: Each year in March, Alex-

andria’s high school seniors are waiting to hear from colleges and universities – looking for that magical fat envelope that says “Con-gratulations! You’ve been ac-cepted!” But there are many talented and hard-working Alexandria students who have a greater worry, and are thinking, “If I get accepted, how will I ever be able to af-ford college?”

With two out of three families at T.C. Williams High School living near or below the federal poverty level and receiving aid for free or re-duced-price lunch, the need for college scholarships in this community is extraordi-nary. Each year, many bright, industrious Alexandria stu-dents are accepted to college, but get left behind simply be-cause they cannot afford the cost of tuition.

The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria, a local non-profit based at T.C. Williams, works to make college affordable and accessible for all Alex-andria students despite their financial need. Our general fund scholarships now pro-vide four-year college schol-arships of $3,000 a year to the students most in need to help them get a college de-gree and a better chance for a lifetime of success. I know this because I’ve been on the board of the Fund since 2013. My wife Libby and I have been contributors for more than 20 years, beginning when we sent the first of our three children to T.C. Williams.

The Scholarship Fund has been approved by Virginia to receive “Select Tax Credit Status” and can offer its sup-porters a 65 percent tax cred-it for charitable contribu-tions on their Virginia state income taxes. For example, if a person gives $10,000, they would receive a $6,500 tax credit to help pay their Vir-

ginia state tax bill. If they give appreciated

securities or need to take a required minimum distri-bution from their individu-al retirement account they would save more, potentially a great deal more, on their taxes. In fact, we have re-ceived an increased amount of credits from the state this year. More importantly, in-vestments like these pay div-idends for our community.

Remember that tax cred-its are different than deduc-tions. Tax credits result in a dollar-for-dollar reduction in actual Virginia tax bills. In a few cases, tax credits, along with other tax laws, can re-sult in zero-cost charitable giving – the credits may in fact help residents save more in taxes than the amount of the gift. For instance, the tax credits are applicable to donations of stock and ap-preciable assets and can fully eliminate capital gains taxes.

With tax credits available, this is a terrific time to help students in our community from families that are strug-gling to make ends meet, students who are the first in their family to apply to col-lege, students whose parents work multiple jobs just to pay the rent and feed the family.

The tax credits available to the Scholarship Fund are limited and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the spring. A special information ses-sion on tax credit benefits and how to access them will be held on Sunday at the home of School Board Chair Cindy Anderson and her hus-band Mark. Please contact the fund for information at [email protected] or 703-824-6730. Our team will be happy to pro-vide you with details about the information session or the tax credit process.

Support the Scholarship Fund Filling in the Blanks with Dr. Gregory Hutchings, Ed.D.

Collaborating to beat coronavirusAlexandria City Public Schools and the

Alexandria Health Department always work closely together whenever there is a flu out-break in a school. We already take precau-tions to ensure that ACPS schools and offic-es remain clean and hygienic at this time of year when we often see outbreaks of flu and other viruses.

These efforts have been intensified with the arrival of coronavirus in the United States. We are working particularly closely right now to monitor our schools in order to detect any possible future cluster of the coronavirus and contain it before it spreads.

All ACPS schools are cleaned daily. All of our classrooms are dis-infected every day, and frequently touched areas such as doorknobs, faucet handles and handrails are wiped down. Hard surfaces such as desk tops, are wiped down twice per week, while all restrooms in all schools are cleaned using a hospi-tal grade disinfectant. Soap dis-pensers are also being checked three times a day during school hours.

Hand sanitizer is already provided in ev-ery elementary school classroom and will be made available as soon as it is accessible in common areas at all schools. All students and staff will be encouraged to either wash their hands or use hand sanitizer prior to eating. In addition, hand sanitizer will be available on school buses and school buses will be cleaned multiple times each week.

Helping to keep our schools and our com-munity virus-free must be a collaborative ef-fort. Everyone must participate – students, staff, families, volunteers and anyone in the community. Washing hands frequently is the most effective way that you can do this, and regular soap is OK.

ACPS is part of a multi-agency, citywide committee that plans for any health-related pandemic. We have a pandemic action plan that is currently being revised and adapted to meet the specifics of coronavirus should there be an outbreak in Alexandria.

The plan addresses specific activities necessary to keep schools open and operat-ing while providing a clean and safe environ-ment during an outbreak and the essential functions that must be performed by ACPS if schools are closed. At present, we have no intention of closing schools and our overall goal is to do all we can to maintain continu-

ity of operations while minimizing student and staff exposure.

Should we need to, however, we have a plan in place to continue learning – using the Chomebooks and technology students already use on a daily basis to facilitate on-line study sessions and lessons.

We are beginning to see cases of COVID-19 in the D.C. region and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and use this time to continue preparing. ACPS staff par-ticipated in a day-long, health-related table

top emergency exercise in Janu-ary 2020 – well before the corona-virus appeared to be an issue. In addition, we are in constant con-tact with the Alexandria Health Department to make sure we are doing everything we can to be ready and implement the neces-sary precautions.

ACPS is taking part in a vir-tual information session on COVID-19 on Thursday from 8 to 9 p.m. Residents can watch

the question and answer session live on the ACPS Facebook page or on the city’s Face-book page.

City Manager Mark Jinks; Dr. Stephen Haering, director of the Alexandria Health Department; and Dr. Rina Bansal, president of Inova Alexandria Hospital, will also be on the panel. If you miss the event live, you can catch it on the ACPS website at www.acps.k12.va.us/coronavirus. This is easily accessi-ble from the home page of the ACPS website.

In the meantime, there are simple things that everyone can do to help. Washing hands frequently with regular soap or hand sani-tizer is the most effective way to prevent the spread of any virus. Avoid touching your face or shaking hands, cough into your sleeve or a tissue and throw away your tissue immedi-ately after use.

Finally, please stay home when you are not well and do not send your children to school if they are ill. Anyone who has trav-eled to one of the highly infected countries is being advised to stay home for 14 days when they return.

ACPS will continue to provide updates as the situation evolves. In the meantime, you can find updates at www.acps.k12.va.us/coronavirus.

The writer is superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools.

DR. GREGORY HUTCHINGS, ED.D

SEE SCHOLARSHIP | 32

DR. GREGORY HUTCHINGS, ED.D


To the editor: ACPS must re-open schools immediate-

ly following Gov. Ralph Northam’s issuance of new guidance issued on Jan. 14. If ACPS does not act in a meaningful way, Alexan-dria risks the residents of this city moving and an exodus of families leaving for private schools, allowing only those that can afford it an escape from the dysfunction of ACPS.

Last year’s letter from Mignon An-thony, the outgoing Chief Operating Of-ficer of ACPS, laid bare what the parents of Alexandria are facing from ACPS on the issue of re-opening and Dr. Grego-ry Hutchings’ leadership when she said, “And although community criticism may escalate, ultimately, citizens and parents will have to take what they can get and hope for the best.”

James Baldwin, an American activist and writer, once said, “Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” In September, as ACPS was still shuttered, many states and all the private schools in Alexandria began the hard work of re-opening, many of them five days a week.

Since then, an enormous body of data based on the thousands of school districts that did have the foresight to re-open is accessible for the nation to digest. We now know that opening elementary schools is extremely safe within the schools and does not cause community spread, while miti-gation tactics can also make higher grade openings safe.

Yet the parents of this community are constantly told, “No, it can’t be done” by the ACPS administration. Even more dis-heartening, at a recent school board hear-

ing, an elected official told parents their choice was to have their children educated or alive without any evidence or even anec-dotal stories to illustrate her position that schools were unsafe.

The World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics both agree that so long as children are masked, three feet of distance is perfectly acceptable for in-person learning. Spacing desks three feet apart, like the private schools in Alex-andria are already doing, would go a long way in teaching kids in person more than just the two days a week planned under the hybrid model.

If Hutchings is going to insist on six feet, then ACPS needs to start looking for new space so our children can get back into class-rooms – they have had close to a year to do so!

Following his vaccination photo opportu-nity, Hutchings has already said that teach-ers will not be required to return to in-person learning, despite receiving vaccine priority, and many have already said they will not re-turn. In fact, ACPS is hiring room monitors so the two days a week our children might be in school they may just be learning virtually in classrooms, which is absurd.

No community metric, no social distanc-ing amount and not even a vaccine will be enough to get our kids back in school based on Hutchings’ leadership, or lack thereof. Although I applaud his desire to take care of teachers at all costs, the data does not bear out the assertion that teachers are in danger.

We as citizens of Alexandria must in-sist on a re-opening five days a week come September.

–Kate Tagert,Alexandria

To the editor: In “Kudos to ACPS teachers and staff,”

the PTA Council provides the imprimatur of widespread parent support for ACPS leader-ship’s refusal to open schools.

The writers state that ACPS leaders have based the decision to keep schools closed on what the CDC recommends is the “safest option for our children.” Yet, for months the CDC has urged communities to open schools, as private schools in Alexandria have done already. The most recent data clearly shows schools have not been vectors for Covid-19.

More importantly, children are not safe. Higher levels of youth depression and anxi-ety have been reported since schools closed.

Youth suicide rates are at the highest lev-els since 2000. Child advocates worry that child abuse and neglect are going unreport-ed because of school closures.

Yet, what’s worse is what the writers don’t mention. ACPS’s own reports show huge numbers of kids failing academical-ly, particularly minority and special needs children, who are struggling the most with virtual learning, as the Alexandria Times reported in January. Some children have stopped attending school altogether.

Alexandria’s children need strong advo-cates. Shame on the city’s PTA.

-Julie Gunlock, Molly Reid Kaiman,Alexandria public school moms

To the editor: When retail owners in my hometown of Washington,

D.C. began boarding up their storefronts in the early days of November for fear of election-related violence, I was un-moved. Political pundits had been predicting violence for weeks at that point and I read every single thinkpiece with a cool eye.

To me, these concerns seemed overblown. Every single presidential administration in our history has experienced a peaceful transfer of power. Never, to my knowledge, had the threat of violence following an election ever been sig-nificant enough to cast into question the validity of our constitutional processes. Following the declaration of Joe Biden as president-elect on Nov. 7, I was pleased to find that I had been proven right – no violent protests had bro-ken out in response to the election results.

I spoke too soon.The violence wouldn’t arrive immediately after the elec-

tion was called, but nearly two months later, on Jan. 6. With the storming of the Capitol by violent protestors in response to the counting of electoral ballots, I have been witness to the most egregious attempt to sabotage democracy in contempo-rary American history.

As much as this coup attempt is upsetting, it is not sur-prising. In the weeks following the 2020 election, claims of fraud among some Donald Trump voters have only risen in pitch with subsequent electoral milestones: conspiracy at the polling stations, then amid the electors and finally within Congress itself. Trump’s usage of his social media accounts to stoke division only incited more fervor.

Free and fair elections are part of the heritage of this na-tion and one of the most venerable components of the Consti-tution. The absolute refusal of Republicans to come to terms with their complicity in this naked coup attempt is disgust-ing. By refusing to confront Trump on his baseless claims of election fraud, the GOP further enabled the administration of our autocrat-in-chief. However, while weighing complicity with the misdeeds of the Trump administration is a worthy pursuit for the coming months, we Americans need to come to a decision now.

Trump used kid gloves to rebuke the violence of his sup-porters, telling them to go home, that “We love you. You are very special,” in a video now blocked by Twitter. That his complicity in this failed coup is a well-established fact, we must now consider the criminal consequences for attempting to subvert democracy.

Allowing his fear-mongering and conspiracy theorizing to go unpunished would gravely wound our republic and set a dangerous precedent we may never recover from. Conviction in the Senate during the current impeachment trial is the most obvious and symbolic option to demonstrate to future generations that we did not passively accept an attack on our Constitution from a sitting president.

Finger pointing may be tempting in the face of crisis, but right now our representatives have a responsibility to demon-strate their faith in the American experiment. The specter of Trump’s presidency may continue to haunt us for decades to come. If we refuse to condemn treason as it is, history will be our final judge.

-Ayleen Cameron,Alexandria

Data indicate schools are safe

Alexandria’s PTA has betrayed parents We must condemn treason


restore the forest. If the city really wants to prevent ero-sion, it should control the storm water coming from upstream of the park.

In relation to the other pollutants and the amount of sediment, the stream water appears to be clean

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FEBRUARY 11, 2021 ACPS to open in March · 2/2/2021 · After a full year of virtual learning,...

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