The stars came out to welcome the Alexandria City Public School system staff back to school at the 2010 Convocation. U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan talked about moving education excellence forward; Washington Redskin great Darrell Greene was there to give a pep talk on engaging communities in education; Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille offered words of encouragement and support; the children and grandchildren of friends and neighbors honored Ferdinand Day and the Superintendent’s Songsters entertained the audience with inspirational and amusing tunes.

Convocation Reminder

Almost 1,300 teachers and administrators will be welcomed for the new school year with the annual Alexandria City Public Schools Convocation on Thursday, Sept. 2, from 9 to 10:30 a.m., in the T.C. Williams High School auditorium. Read more at http://www.acps.k12.va.us/news2011/nr2010090103.php .

We certainly were guilty of sitting a long time this past weekend, for the School Board’s annual summer retreat. Yet I am confident no one minded –because we navigated interesting discussions about raising the bar for student achievement.

Since June, new T. C. Williams High School Principal Suzanne Maxey has planned for the 2010-11 school year. With the opening of school less than a week away, she is ready for the students to return and looking forward to transforming the school from a Persistently Lowest Achieving school into a place where students achieve at the highest level and one where pride, school spirit and discipline are core values.

Transportation Phone Lines Down

The phone lines for the ACPS Department of Pupil Transportation are down due to a damaged cable that serves the area. Due to the nature of the outage, the repair is expected to take at least 24 hours.

For nearly a year, the Alexandria City Public School system and the Alexandria School Board have been considering a public/private partnership to pay for a new school on the Jefferson-Houston Elementary School site. On June 22, ACPS staff presented the concept to the Alexandria City Council, which directed ACPS to set up a series of community meetings to discuss the matter and provide additional information about the financing. On Sept. 13, the Alexandria School Board will hold the first community meeting to discuss the Jefferson-Houston project.

Tune In Tuesday

Tune in to WTTG Fox 5 Morning News tomorrow morning between 8 and 8:15 to watch a live, in-studio interview with ACPS Superintendent Morton Sherman. The interview will last about five to six minutes. Fox 5 Morning News is streamed live at www.myfoxdc.com .

Northern Virginia Community College is consistently ranked among the nation’s top community college systems. Recently, the weak economy and NOVA’s relationship with Virginia’s top universities has proved beneficial to the school.

The Department of Taxation and other state agencies have been working with the Virginia Council on Economic Education to provide teachers with curriculum resources and professional development for a new Standards of Learning course designed to equip students with basic economic and financial literacy.

In six days, a college fund on Facebook.com has raised $19,425 for twin 18-year-olds.