Weather Decision Made For Alexandria City Schools On Jan. 20

ALEXANDRIA, VA — With snow in the forecast Thursday morning, Alexandria City Public Schools is switching to virtual learning.

On Thursday, students will have synchronous, teacher-led instruction. ACPS staff will have a virtual work day, but essential personnel, such as building engineers, custodians, maintenance shop employees and security staff must report if safe to do so. Employees should contact their supervisor for reporting instructions.

The virtual school day will have synchronous instruction through Zoom, which includes live virtual instruction with teachers and independent work. Families should check their student’s Canvas or Clever by 8 a.m. Thursday for the schedule. Attendance will be taken through Clever and Canvas. No new content will be taught, and grades will not be given on a virtual learning day.

Per ACPS policy, inclement weather days have virtual learning when school buildings are closed due to weather. Students are encouraged to take home their devices each day in case school buildings close for inclement weather.

For elementary students, ACPS plans two to three hours for Pre-K to 2 and four to five hours for grades 3 to 5. This includes core class instruction — literacy, math, science/social studies and Encore and SEAL. Remaining time will be independent work on projects, assignments, choice activities and content-specific apps. Students will need to be present for group lessons and small group instruction. Virtual office hours will be provided as needed.

Middle schools and high schools will follow their daily bell schedule with the same lunch time. There will be four blocks each with 45 minutes of teacher-led synchronous group instruction and asynchronous independent work for the remainder. Zoom links will be available on teachers' Canvas page to access synchronous instruction and office hours.

Students with disabilities will have their services virtually in accordance with IEP requirements. English language learners in elementary schools will have services virtually in the general education classroom or in an English language development block. For middle and high school students, EL services may be in a general education classroom or in an English language development course.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for Alexandria and other parts of the region from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday. Forecasters expect snow accumulations up to 2 inches. Precipitation is expected to begin as rain and transition to snow in time for the Thursday morning commute. Another slight winter storm threat is possible Friday night into Saturday.