A little over three years ago, we convened the Joint Long Range Educational Facilities Work Group. The group was given the essential charge to understand our recent increase in student enrollment, better project enrollment growth in the future, and decide what to do about it. 

The School Board Chair, Vice Chair, the Mayor and I joined a group of community members and staff to steer the effort. 

In September, 14,670 children started school in the Alexandria City Public Schools. That constitutes a 3.6% increase from last year, or about 500 additional students. This year is the ninth straight year of enrollment growth. During that period, ACPS has added over 4,000 students. 

The last time that many children attended our schools was over 40 years ago in the early 1970s. 

One of the earliest tasks completed by the group was to agree upon a methodology for how we can project future enrollment. Ending the days where the Schools had one projection for student enrollment and the City had another, was a key goal. 

Every year since this effort was completed, we examine the actual student enrollment to refine our projections and to ensure that our methodology is sound.

Our projection for this year was 14,745, which means the projection was an accurate forecast. This is now the third straight year that our projections were accurate predictors of enrollment. Given the sordid history of projections that didn't come to pass, this is an important accomplishment.  

We have also worked to understand where the enrollment is coming from. For example, we learned that low-rise apartments generate nearly 3 times the students as high-rise or mid-rise apartments do. We learned that single family homes generate nearly double the students as townhouses. We now know that public housing and other income-restricted units far outpace any other property type for student generation.

We now know that housing units built over 30 years ago account for four times the student generation as those built in the past 30 years. 

In the final analysis, these data points remind us of the need to address this enrollment growth head-on. 

In June, the City Council and the School Board adopted the Long Range Educational Facilities Plan. The Plan is the culmination of the group's work in conjunction with the efforts of both ACPS and City staff. The plan looks at each elementary school building in the City, assesses the facility's educational adequacy, and provides a roadmap for increasing capacity and addressing deficiencies. 

We are now defining the next phase of this effort, this being planning for additional capacity at the middle schools and our high school. With important decisions for the Council and School Board ahead over how to address capacity challenges for 9th Grade at Minnie Howard School, this process has urgency to it. 

Even as we plan for new growth, ACPS is already working to accommodate the current growth in our schools. Recently the School Board launched the long-overdue process of drawing new attendance zones.

The School Board has appointed a Redistricting Review Committee to facilitate communication. A little over a week ago, the first community meeting was held at T. C. Williams. The video from that meeting is available to be viewed online. 

As the process continues, the Review Committee holds its next meeting on Wednesday evening.

We have more work to do as we welcome new kids to our schools, but it is certainly an exciting challenge for our community.