Discussion presented by Thomas Raffa of Raffa P.C.
Sponsored by Volunteer Alexandria.
Registration is required.
"Philanthropy is Contagious"
2932 King St
Alexandria VA
22302 See map
Comments + Leave a Comment
Boards
All Boards »
Edgar Warfield June 19, 2013 at 07:09 pm
Yes, thanks Doug. Question is what will the police do about it -- likely not very much,…Read More unfortunately.
Drew Hansen (Editor) June 19, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Looks like it's at the Athenaeum: http://www.nvfaa.org/events/starting-genealogy-lisa-stansbury
Bea Porter May 22, 2013 at 02:38 pm
Very well said. A new building will not bring up the test scores, and its not the fault of the…Read More parents. Dr. Sherman changes staff so frequently it makes sense that the scores are not improving. Jefferson-Houston needs to have consistency in staff, and not the turnovers that it has had in the last several years. These students can achieve, they can do well, but they need to have consistent structure, and teachers that are willing to teach them in the manner they can learn best. Take these 350 students and reintegrate them into other schools that are achieving, then see them rise as the stars they are. Stop keeping them segregated, stop the under achievement. Stop this new building.
Lee Hernly May 22, 2013 at 03:21 pm
While I agree with the commenters and the writer on their comments, I do suggest that, if you have…Read More not done so already, do take a tour of the school to see the changes taking place. It's hard to see how the kids can learn anything there at the school given the current open classroom environment.
Having lived here all my life, I seem to recall as well that at one point in time, Lyles Crouch was in a similar situation like Jefferson Houston currently is. Lyles Crouch has turned itself around so who's to say that Jefferson Houston won't?
Dr. Sherman though, needs to go.
Foo Bar May 25, 2013 at 04:33 pm
As I remember, Lyles-Crouch did not bootstrap itself but got help from Herb Berg, the superintendent…Read More before Rebecca Parry. In the '99 redistricting he rezoned Lyles-Crouch's attendance area so that a number of disadvantaged kids who formerly went there now go to Jefferson-Houston.
Jon Rosenbaum May 23, 2013 at 03:10 pm
I find myself agreeing with the writer for once. This is a quality of life and security issue.…Read More Actually 60 lights were out a few months ago from the river to the Metro station.
TE&S does a survey only once a year. Otherwise its Director says it is up to citizens to report lights that are out. I report light outages on my block, but it is unreasonable to expect citizens to report each light number out on a commercial street.
Then there is the issue of repair time. Last fall it took three months to repair a damaged light in the 100 block of N. Saint Asaph Street.
Defy Libtards May 23, 2013 at 03:49 pm
The city is sooooooooooooo boring. Why can't we just continue with the Hippie v. Conservative…Read More bashing; it's been too long since somebody has called me a (racist) because I like small government.
Sherry Henderson April 30, 2013 at 02:43 pm
Gail, I would say that past elected officials have been very much to blame for the problems with the…Read More Alexandria City Public School system, especially the old regime who mismanaged the administration of those schools for the past few years. One can say that they most certainly weren't 'the brightest bulbs in the box'. But the honeymoon is over for the current Alexandria School Board and the Alexandria City Council to grab the bull by the horns and work to solidly fix Alexandria City Public Schools. I understand that a very small percentage of families in Alexandria have children, as the city is geared to newlyweds or people who either don't want or can't afford to have children. Many people move out of Alexandria by the time their children reach the age to go to school because of the low scores that Alexandria City Public Schools have in comparison to great schools in both neighboring Fairfax and Arlington Counties. Getting back to your comment that there are 'entrenched administrators', they need to be publicly outed for their incompetence and sent packing. It amazes me how many elected officials boast how great it is to live in the City of Alexandria, yet they have a glaring problem with Alexandria City Public Schools and are seemingly incompetent to fix them. This isn't a political issue, but as a Democrat, I'm very embarrassed by, as I've noted, the 'good ole boy' and 'good ole girl', wink-wink, back-scratching politics that go on in Alexandria City Hall. Disgusting.
Gail April 30, 2013 at 03:31 pm
We have an almost entirely brand new school board. They were stuck with a big mess. They were only…Read More installed four months ago. Give them some time. This won't be easy. They are hampered by budget issues right now, existing contracts, etc. These new comers are NOT part of the "ole boy/girl" network. Karen Graaf, Patricia Hennig and Bill Campbell are NOT the "old network" at all. Kelly Carmichael Booz and Chris Lewis were politically active in the city but they are also most definitely NOT part of the "old" network. Marc Williams is the leftover from those days and for reasons I don't understand, he is very popular with parents in the George Mason district where he lives. Sherman has been a disaster, but the fact is that his hiring was actually spearheaded by former school board chair Yvonne Folkerts, who is a Republican. The Dems did not create that particular monster but we were somewhat responsible for allowing the monster to eat the city. I've been screaming for his firing since 2008 and there is a nice bottle of champagne chilling in my fridge for the day he gets his walking papers.
Sherry Henderson April 30, 2013 at 04:25 pm
The Alexandria City Council, except for our great Vice Mayor, Allison Silberberg, is definitely all…Read More run by the very entrenched 'good ole boy' and 'good old girl' network that has completely strangled Alexandria politics for years. Many Democrats that I know are completely turned off by our local elected officials, who, despite their good intentions, continuously embarrass us by their votes and misconstrued thoughts that they're doing something right for the future of our city. Alexandria is the true 'banana republic' of D.C. area politics, because those who, uhm, 'govern' us have a "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil" mantra to themselves, especially Justin Wilson, who loves to overly pontificate as he drones on until he foams at the mouth during his lengthy dissertations that are as mindless as he is. And Justin, and the rest of the politburo that we have seated at Alexandria City Hall are hell bent to run the city any way they like. As a Democrat, I know that we can sure do better than what we've got in office now, and there are a ton of great forward-thinking progressives who would be much better than the stooges who are in Alexandria City Hall now, but the 'political elite' throws up obstacles to keep themselves in power. That in itself is very shameful, but since the City of Alexandria is so 'provincial' in its 'my way or the highway' governance, we're always doomed to inefficiency in comparison to Fairfax and Arlington Counties. We definitely deserve better.