Labor Day, which we celebrated on Monday, is in many ways New Year’s Day.
Those affected by academic or legislative calendars face increased levels of activity as school begins and the City Council and School Board return from summer recesses.
The idea that life begins anew after Labor Day is not a rigid rule. For example, Alexandria City Public Schools began the 2025-2026 school year on Aug. 18. Even so, it is surely a sign that things are gearing up when a tattoo parlor on King Street offers 20% off all back-to-school tattoos.
In a back to business spirit, I asked Mayor Aliya Gaskins, City Manager James Parajon, School Board Chair Michelle Rief, Ph.d. and Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt, Ed.D. what practical concerns were uppermost in their minds as the non-calendar New Year begins.
Gaskins identified concerns about the effects of several Trump Administration actions. “The impacts of cuts to the federal workforce, immigration enforcement, the [Washington,] DC takeover, the potential impact of tariffs on supply chains and construction projects, and the potential of a local recession.”
Parajon likewise referred to the, “…impact the decisions of the federal administration have on our community.”
The mayor and city manager also agree on the pressing importance of the Waterfront Flood Mitigation Project. Gaskins described an imminent “critical inflection point” for the project, saying, “The longer we wait, the more likely the cost of the project will increase…the pump station is only one component of a larger project.”
Gaskins described the findings of the recently completed community health assessment, particularly those relating to mental health, as a critical concern. The new housing master plan, Housing 2040, is also seen as an essential endeavor, particularly as to anti-displacement strategies and renter protections.
Rief cited several concerns in her written response.
Some of our high priority projects for the coming year include the implementation of new school boundaries, addressing middle school capacity needs, continued implementation of the high school academies model and alternative education.
Rief also emphasized the need for the continuity of keeping staff members.
“Staff retention is a top priority, and to that end ACPS is actively engaged in collective bargaining negotiations with the Education Association of Alexandria,” she wrote.
Kay-Wyatt echoed Rief’s list of priorities and added a few more.
Addressing learning gaps with targeted supports, strengthening facility conditions and building pathways for college, career and community readiness through expanded career and technical education and career academies [are my priorities].
The through line, or common theme, in the priorities identified by Alexandria’s leaders is the unprecedented level of uncertainty.
The Trump Administration effects, actual and potential, identified by the Mayor and the City Manager as primary concerns are profound and seem to change daily. It is impossible for the city or ACPS to plan effectively for every contingency because of the chaos on the other side of the Potomac River.
There is also uncertainty about exactly how collective bargaining will work for ACPS, which depends on the Council for money. ACPS, according to remarks by senior staff members at an Aug. 27 community budget meeting, expects to sign its first collective bargaining agreement this fall.
The collective bargaining process should be expected to drive demand for the improvement of wages and working conditions. The labor movement leader Samuel Gompers who lived from 1850 to 1924, in response to the question “What does Labor want?” is said to have answered: “More.”
In traditional collective bargaining, the employer is responsible for fulfilling the commitments it agrees to in a union contract. However, ACPS requires the concurrence, or funding approval, by the Council to deliver on the terms and conditions it agrees to in a collective bargaining agreement.
A question of incentives arises: Will ACPS negotiate forcefully with its employee groups when it is the Council that pays the bill?
At the community budget meeting, members of the ACPS finance staff confirmed that the ACPS operating budget will require about $19.3 million more than the Council appropriated in the last budget cycle to maintain existing levels of staffing and programs, a salary scale step increase, and a 1% COLA or market rate adjustment.
ACPS adopted collective bargaining in 2024 out of concern for its employees. However, collective bargaining may result in a contract that cannot be fully implemented because of the City’s budgetary priorities and financial condition.
There may be a gap between what is negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement and what is financially feasible, as determined by the Council. If this occurs, ACPS stakeholders may see the well-intentioned collective bargaining process as another disappointment.
The writer is a former lawyer, member of the Alexandria School Board from 1997 to 2006, and English teacher from 2007 to 2021 at T.C. Williams High School, now Alexandria City High School. He can be reached at aboutalexandria@gmail.com and free subscriptions to his newsletter are available at https://aboutalexandria.substack.com
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It’s unfortunate that everyone seems to think the only thing one can bargain for is money. When Council controls the purse strings, it up to the Union to come up with a series of other items to bargain for that aren’t monetary. Let’s hope they recognize this and don’t just call the failure to get all the money they claim they need as a failure of the process.