By Alvin L. Crawley, Interim superintendent of schools
(File Photo) 

To the editor:

I am excited to have the opportunity to serve as interim superintendent for Alexandria City Public Schools. My sincere thanks go to the school board for its confidence in my leadership and to Margaret Walsh and the rest of the district’s staff for their hard work resulting in a smooth opening of schools.

In the coming months, I will work closely with the school board, staff, parents and community stakeholders on behalf of our students. I have been impressed by the enthusiasm of our staff and their commitment to student achievement.

While the system has made steady progress in many areas, there is more work to be done to achieve our goal of ensuring that all schools are high performing and that opportunities to achieve academic excellence are available to every student.

Our priorities include providing students with a rich and rigorous instructional program; maintaining safe and supportive learning environments; engaging staff in ongoing and meaningful professional development; helping students develop resiliency skills to maintain healthy mental and physical lifestyles; implementing efficient business practices; planning for the long-term educational needs of our students; and improving community engagement.

Our work is not that of one person, but the collective responsibility of all of us. Therefore, I will be soliciting your commitment and support.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will visit schools and meet with staff, students and parents. Your everyday experiences and suggestions are critical to the district’s success. Many parental chats also will be scheduled.
As educator and poet Andrea Ayvazian wrote, “Our words only carry so much weight. Our actions tell the true story.”

Alexandria City Public Schools has a supportive community with talented students. Through our collective actions, we will tell a story of excellence. Through relationships based on trust, transparency and respect, we will be a stronger, united and more determined school community.