Local PTA representatives lobbying the Alexandria School Board for extra cash Thursday didnt need any reminding budget season is nearly upon the city.

Melinda Wilcox, chairman of the George Washington Middle School PTA, requested the school district set aside G.W.s $7,000 field trip fund solely for the band and allocate a similar amount for all other classes.

Wilcox also requested the board pay stipends to staff for running intramural athletics programs. A group of parents is planning how to fund the stipends, she said.

For Cora Kelly Elementary School, PTA representative Alan Thompson requested $30,000 from the CIP toward a new playground. The school recently received a $60,000 grant for the project from the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

President of the PTA Council Karen McManus asked board members to consider bolstering the school library budget.

McManus, Wilcox and George Mason PTA Chair Kerry Sullivan all called for officials to relieve overcrowding at their schools. Enrollment is up about 3 percent this year, according to the board. Superintendent Morton Sherman said student enrollment was one of many issues pressing upon the board. 

We’re at a moment where the decisions we make this year will have a lasting impact for generations to come and look at things in a creative way, he said. Some of our schools are packed to the gills … we are facing serious crunches in many of our schools. Some are without space for additional students this year, let alone the next year or two.