Courtesy of Alexandria City Public Schools
Alexandria City Public Schools officials have launched "The High School Project," a research study designed to both solve the capacity issue at T.C. Williams High School and redefine the high school experience for Alexandria high school students.
"Rather than simply looking at buildings, space and land acquisitions, we are choosing to see this as an opportunity to assess the skills that our students will need to be successful in the future. We want to focus on which programs to offer in order to fulfill those needs in the long-run," according to ACPS officials.
From now through November, schools officials will host a series of focus group and town hall meetings to both collect feedback from and provide information to the community. This process and a launch survey (available online now at www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject) are part of the second phase of the project. The first phase, earlier this summer, focused on identifying project parameters, best practices and options from high schools nationwide.
The third phase will start in November, following the Nov. 8 School Board meeting. During that phase "ACPS and the planning team will develop educational specifications and site options for the new high school programs identified during the previous phases. Several options and scenarios will be explored."
The fourth phase will start in early 2019, during which "the various options and scenarios will be comprehensively evaluated to determine the ideal building and program solution for addressing both growing enrollment and the future high school learning experience. Additional community feedback will be sought before making a final recommendation to the School Board for approval."
That final recommendation to the School Board is expected in May 2019.
Most Alexandria schools are at or over capacity, and ACPS is in the early years of a Capital Improvement Program designed to address these capacity issues. The current T.C. Williams High School opened in 2008.
As of October 2017 (the most recent data available), there were 15,493 students in Alexandria City Public Schools.
T.C. Williams serves close to 4,000 students between its two campuses, and graduated 767 students in June 2018.
The survey includes open-ended questions regarding what respondents think the high school experience should be, what skills the workforce of 2030 and beyond will need and related questions.
For more information about The High School Project process and timeline, go to www.acps.k12.va.us/hsproject.
