Assistant Superintendent for Planning and Operations John Porter will be leaving Alexandria City Public Schools in the summer to become executive director of ACT for Alexandria, Alexandrias community foundation, according to ACPS.

Porter began his lengthy (and bottom-to-top) relationship with Alexandria city schools as a first-grader at Matthew Maury Elementary School, eventually graduating from George Washington High School.

After attending North Carolina Wesleyan College, Porter came back to Alexandria to begin his teaching career at Parker-Gray Middle School. Before moving on to T.C. Williams High School, he worked as an assistant principal, elementary principal and middle school principal. Porter ended up spending 27 years at T.C. including 22 as principal before becoming an assistant superintendent in 2006.

John has become my go-to person for community involvement, planning, operations, school division history, sensitive personnel issues, weather, closings of schools, local eateries and general balance and perspective, said Superintendent Morton Sherman. I will greatly miss his daily counsel, love of students and professionalism.