By Arwen Clemans | aclemans@alextimes.com and Thompson Eskew

Alexandria students returned to school Monday morning with a rocking welcome ceremony and media availability at Patrick Henry K-8 School, while Alexandria City Public Schools also opened the long-anticipated new Minnie Howard high school campus. New Patrick Henry Principal Kenard Robinson was joined by ACPS Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt, Ed.D. and School Board Chair Michelle Rief, Ph.D. for the official 2024-2025 school year kickoff festivities.

Staff and School Board members were at Patrick Henry to get the students excited as they said goodbye to their parents and entered the building with renewed energy and anticipation. By the time the first cars pulled up for dropoff, speakers were playing spunky music – such as the “Cupid Shuffle” – as teachers and helpers danced, prompting several laughs and smiles from their new students.

Once the doors opened at 7:40 a.m., Robinson marked a happy start to his first official day by standing at the front of the line and welcoming each student personally and greeting every parent that he could. Whenever a student was too nervous to leave their parents or simply had first day-jitters, he and others went out of their way to make sure everyone walked through the front doors with a smile.

“Our dedicated staff has worked tirelessly to put in the hard hours to prepare and ensure that today is a day to be remembered,” Robinson said.

Just as the adults were dancing and greeting every child that passed them, several new students answered in kind with high-fives and handshakes for the teachers and School Board members.

Following the initial welcoming ceremony, Robinson, Kay-Wyatt and Rief gave remarks regarding the upcoming school year and their new initiatives. The new principal emphasized safety and that Patrick Henry is committed “to do all things possible in a safe learning environment where they can thrive … under the tutelage of our School Superintendent Dr. Kay-Wyatt and myself.”

Kay-Wyatt similarly touched on the importance of safety before explaining the fundamental issue of recruitment that ACPS and other public schools across the country have struggled with in recent years. She thanked the school’s Human Resources Department for their work in continuing to recruit teachers and staff.

“I am fortunate to report that as of last Friday, we’ve had significant successes in decreasing the number of licensed staff vacancies in comparison to where we were this year,” Kay-Wyatt said. “We have hired [more than] 40% more instructional assistants this year, and there are still a few more being processed. The school division has also hired a total of 31 secondary science and math teachers for this upcoming year, and we now just have four special-education vacancies across all our school programs.”

In total, ACPS has hired 38 new instructional assistants to help support the staff in their mission to provide their students with better services.

Rief similarly dedicated her thanks to the ACPS staff, remarking that “all of our principals and administrators have been working this summer to get our schools ready for this day.” She also said they’ve set a high standard for herself and the rest of the administration in the year to come.

After their initial remarks, the trio led a walkthrough of the school, visiting classrooms and pumping up new students on their first day with their new teachers. When Kay-Wyatt asked a particularly excited second-grade class if they were ready for a fun first day back, one student heartily replied: “I didn’t get out of bed for nothing!”

Other classrooms on the first and second floors matched this energy with their cheers and eagerness to answer questions from Robinson and Kay-Wyatt.

While surrounding districts such as Fairfax County have also begun their school year this week, others including Arlington and Washington, D.C. will begin their school year on Aug. 26.