Alexandria's School Board Plans to Monitor Rapidly Growing Enrollment

One of the most pressing issues facing Alexandria City Public Schools is rapidly growing enrollment, according to new School Board Chairman Sheryl Gorsuch.

Gorsuch was elected to her new position on July 1 after serving as vice chair during the last school year. She’s lived in Alexandria for more than 20 years and currently has two children at T.C. Williams High School and one recent graduate.

“Our enrollment growth has been really high… which is not surprising given global conditions and migration patterns,” she said in an interview with Alexandria Patch editors. “I really think that Alexandria is a bellwether for what’s about to happen across the country. We’re on the leading edge of trends in terms of how many [English Language Learners] and how many international students, languages and nations are represented.”

The school system last year had 12,000 students and this year has 12,400. Total enrollment has increased by 1,700 students over the past five years, or 3.8 percent a year. Elementary enrollment has risen by 1,300 students over the same period, or 5.5 percent annually, according to ACPS.

While a short-term issue related to enrollment is facilities capacity, long-term issues related to enrollment will be increased operation costs expected down the line, according to Gorsuch, who is also a certified personal chef and entrepreneur. Those jobs have cultivated a special interest for Gorsuch in school nutrition and health.

She successfully pushed for expanding the popular Jefferson-Houston School fresh fruit snack program to elementary schools across the city.

“The near term and longer term issues must be addressed as we project out how we’re going to be fiscally responsible,” she said.

It’s the large influx of elementary school students that the School Board has really had to focus on. Since FY2000, the average size of an Alexandria City elementary school has increased by 9 percent, from 500 to 545 students, with the largest elementary school, John Adams, projected to be 862 students, including a pre-K program, showing an increase of 21 percent.

ACPS over the summer has been busily putting finishing touches on 20 new modular classrooms to help address some of the rapid expansion.

Gorsuch said the school system in the 1990s focused on upgrading facilities and making investments not made in the '70s and '80s.

A Longer School Year

The School Board this year also plans to continue discussions with the state on opening Alexandria schools following the traditional calendar prior to Labor Day.

Earlier this year, the board voted to withdraw its request for a waiver from the Virginia Board of Education when it became clear that a decision by the state would not be made as the beginning of the school year approached.

“We have no imminent plans to push the issue for fall 2012. We’re just continuing a dialogue with the state,” said Gorsuch. “With the current schedule we have less days in school before testing [in May] and it also puts it out of sync with state-wide summer opportunities.”

The BRAC Effect

As most students get back to school this week, some Defense Department employees are gearing up for their move to the Mark Center, part of the federal Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC.

“We’re concerned about BRAC affecting school transportation issues,” Gorsuch said. “We do have ACPS staff representation on the BRAC task force. … It’s critical for us to be there.”

She added that it’s very unclear what sort of effect BRAC will have on ACPS enrollment. “There is a likelihood that there will be movement, but we don’t know yet if it will be out of the city or within the city. With fewer affordable housing options, we may see more doubling up of families living in apartments and we may see children of BRAC employees coming in.”