It's hard for me to understand how one of the wealthiest cities in NoVA has any school that has failed to achieve accreditation. Perhaps this bill will be the kick in the pants to get the School Board to do something for the benefit of educational excellence. Rather than threating legal action, the Board should spend their efforts to fix the schools that are not serving the students.

How and why have these schools been allowed to reach this point over the past several years are questions the school board and our citizens should also ask as part of this discussion? We are paying the superintendent $250,000 a year and these are the results we are left to face?

Amen to both of you. We have a new school board now, but the mess created by the last one will take a long time to clean up. If it takes state intervention to finally fix things with ACPS, then so be it. The state cannot possibly do a worse job than the old school board.

The problem lies in how the legislation is drafted. I creates a new bureaucracy, accountable to no one. There is no mechanism for involvement by the school community. Gail, what if this new state entity does do a worse job than the old board? They can't be voted out and there is nothing in the legislation that would allow for a return to local control. At least the school board (most of whom have been on the job for less than two months at this point) is accountable to the parents/teachers/kids at the schools and ultimately to the voters.

Jennifer, I don't like the legislation. I recognize that it is an attempt by the Republicans to force charter schools on the people of Virginia. However, I like failing schools even less. I agree that the legislation needs to address what happens after a school is no longer failing, and there needs to be some mechanism for accountability other than trying to repeal the lesiglation!

I totally agree with Gail's comments, that a new Commonwealth of Virginia governmental agency to oversee the operation of City of Alexandria public schools couldn't do any worse than what we're left with now. It's amazing, and shocking, that all of a sudden, there's a collective epiphany among elected officials on their 'new found' discovery that Alexandria City Public Schools are in such atrocious shape. Parent who have their children in Jefferson-Houston, or T.C., or any ACPS school, should ardently welcome the opportunity of a new regime to take on the task of turning around public schools in the City of Alexandria. It's fairly obvious, where even Stevie Wonder could see it, that an agency formed to turn around Alexandria City Public Schools would be a very welcome change. Parents who have their children in Alexandria City Public Schools deserve and demand change. A change that is long overdue. Sadly, nothing will change any time soon with Alexandria City Public Schools, as it has had major problems over a long time, for many years, and elected officials continue to slough off complaints and concerns. This also isn't an election year in Alexandria, so don't expect anyone on the Alexandria City Council or the Alexandria School Board to make any attempt at trying to wrestle the many ongoing problems with the Alexandria City Public Schools system. Elected politicians have, for many, many years, just given us all lip service of how they're going to fix our schools. All failed.

I think the new school board should be given a chance to fix things. They've only been in pace for about six weeks. However, I also think they need to do something bold if they want to keep their positions and keep the state away. Big statements need to be made immediately, like getting rid of Sherman, replacing the law firm that advised them over the past 10 years or so, etc. I'll give them a little more time. If nothing changes, then we'll know for sure that nothing ever will unless the state comes in and take over.

Sherry, I trust the principal, staff, and teachers at my child's Alexandria City Public School and have no desire to have them shoved aside by some new state agency made up of people from Richmond. The legislation does not form an entity specifically geared to Alexandria at its unique issues. It will take over schools all over the state and, according to public statements by its supporters, is intended to follow the Louisiana model of turning over schools to for-profit companies. (Last I knew they were 49th in the nation in education, so I'm not sure why we think they are a good model to follow.) I can't imagine anything I would "ardently welcome" less as a parent than handing over my tax dollars to an out-of-state for-profit comany and a Richmond-based agency of appointed officials with no knowledge of or accountability to the local school community. I agree with you that there are some serious problems in ACPS, as there are in many public school systems, but there has to be a better way to address them than this particular legislation.

I think we should put a hold on paying for new schools until we know that the city will run them. Otherwise we are paying but not controlling our investment. If they are to become charter schools, let them pay for the buildings.

Respectfully, I disagree with Ms. Graf and our ACPS school board on threatening the state with legal action under these circumstances. ACPS lack of accreditation status is all about the children and its ongoing duration can no longer be tolerated. Forget the millions for new buildings (e.g., proposal for Jefferson Houston). Put the money into the students and teachers to get the students in accredited schools. Our state legislature is proposing taking the bull by the horn and rightly so.

To say the bill "could effect" 5 Alexandria schools borders on irresponsible. The law has the potential to effect every school in Alexandria, as well as every other part of the State. This is particularly true as the benchmarks for achieving accreditation rise. The School Board and administration need to focus on the things they have some control over and stop acting as victims of circumstance. No one forced them to run for office or accept offers of employment with the school system.

The positions and salaries within the ACPS Central Office have ballooned under this superintendent. Not to mention spending on consultants and programs with personal ties to the superintendent and some of his top staff. This is outrageous and has been tolerated and supported for too long. The previous board drank the kool aid and looked the other way as one school after another continued or began its downward spiral under the leadership of the superintendent. All the while telling the public that ACPS was "turning the corner." Well ACPS has turned a corner alright, right into the path of a potential take over by the state. We should all be ashamed that we have tolerated this state of affairs for this long without calling for immediate and swift changes in ACPS. The first change must start at the top.

Some of the former board members have been hired to act as principals in ACPS elementary schools in exchange for their silence.