New School Year In Alexandria: New Building, Traffic Enforcement, Share Your Photos

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Students headed back to school for the first day Monday in Alexandria, which means it's time to share your first day photos. Scroll down for instructions on submitting your first day of school photos.

Alexandria City Public Schools started the school year Monday, Aug. 19 on par with some other regional school districts, such as Fairfax County Public Schools and Prince William County Public Schools. Over 16,000 students are enrolled at ACPS schools.

See key dates for the school year here.

One highlight for this school years is the opening of the new Alexandria City High School Minnie Howard Campus. The newly-constructed five-story school building expanded capacity from 850 to 1,600 students at the campus. Formerly a campus for freshmen, the campus added high school capacity instead of building an entirely new high school and added a new high school academies model.

Other new facilities — a regulation-length pool, childhood education program, a teen wellness facility, and student and family resource centers — will be available to the public and operated by Alexandria's Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities.

In other news, drivers should be aware of new and returning traffic enforcement around schools. Speed cameras in three locations became active again Monday for the new school year. The cameras are in the same locations — near Francis C. Hammond Middle School on Seminary Road between Kenmore Avenue and North Jordan Street; John Adams Elementary School and Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School on North Beauregard Street between North Highview Lane and Reading Avenue; and George Washington Middle School on Mount Vernon Avenue between Braddock Road and Luray Avenue. When the 15 mph school zones are active with flashing signs, $100 tickets will be issued to drivers who violate the speed limit.

Alexandria Police have also kicked off a back-to-school traffic enforcement campaign focused on school pick-up and drop-off times. New signage informs drivers of "no stopping, parking or standing" areas along King Street and W. Braddock Road near the Alexandria City High School King Street and Minnie Howard Campus. Police will monitor speed limits and aggressive driving in school zones and traffic to reduce school parking lot pile-ups. Drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses will be ticketed by police.

Share Your First Day of School Photos

Whether your child is attending school for the first time or returning in a new grade, we want to see your first day photos. Send your photos to Oldtownalexandria@patch.com and share your student's first name, grade and school. Feel free to add a comparison photo from a younger grade so we can see how your student has grown up.

Please only submit photos you took. By submitting a photo, you agree Patch may publish your photo in this story with credit provided to you.

We will update this story once we start receiving photo submissions.