Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. is resigning
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Hutchings and Alexandria School Board Chair Meagan Alderton said in separate interviews Thursday that the superintendent’s resignation was neither desired nor requested by the school board.
“I think as a board we’re definitely sad to see him go,” Alderton said. “However, Dr. Hutchings, he just has a lot more to do. So we respect that.”
Hutchings said he feels sad to be leaving Alexandria, which is the school system he attended and which he long desired to lead as superintendent. But pursuing anti-racism work in Alexandria led him to believe it is time to apply his talents to similar challenges in schools nationwide, he said.
“As we have been on this anti-racism journey over the past several years, it has really sparked more of an interest in advocacy for me to continue on this anti-racist journey beyond just Alexandria,” he said. “I’m stepping out on faith to … empower and advocate at a broader scale than just here.”
The school board has known about Hutchings’s impending exit for some time, Alderton said. But Hutchings gave formal notice — and his resignation was formally accepted by the board — at a special meeting Friday morning.
Hutchings’s last day on the job will be Aug. 31. Alderton said the school district will work to name an interim superintendent as quickly as possible and will then begin a nationwide search for Hutchings’s permanent successor.
Hutchings’s tenure was in part defined by the coronavirus pandemic — as was the case for superintendents across the country. Like his colleagues in almost every state, Hutchings oversaw an almost overnight transition to online learning in March 2020, before slowly guiding students back to hybrid and then fully in-person learning.
Hutchings’s pandemic response was marked by exhaustively detailed presentations and updates on the school district’s coronavirus data, health initiatives and reopening plans. A handful of school board discussions grew heated, but Alexandria in general experienced far less turmoil and frustration over online learning and pandemic safety policies than other districts — although some were upset by Hutchings’s decision to move one of his two children into private school during the pandemic.
Hutchings also placed a large focus on racial justice during his tenure. Under his leadership, Alexandria in June 2020 adopted a five-year “Equity for All” strategic plan. The plan aimed to eliminate gaps in opportunity and achievement by 2025; it also called for an “equity policy audit” of all Alexandria school policies to identify systemic racial inequities.
Hutchings launched that audit in the 2020-2021 school year. Alexandria has also conducted two equity climate surveys, in which students, staffers and families shared their feelings about their experiences in the school system. And the school district has published an “equity dashboard” that allows members of the public to review real-time data on student academic and behavioral outcomes, by racial groupings.
Asked about his proudest accomplishments in Alexandria, Hutchings pointed to all these developments stemming from the equity plan. He also mentioned the renaming of two schools, both of which previously bore the names of historical figures who held deeply racist beliefs about Black Americans.
“That ACPS 2025 Equity for All plan, I believe it is setting us up for success and giving us the road map that we need to dismantle systemic racism in Alexandria City Public Schools,” Hutchings said.
Alderton, the board chair, also highlighted the superintendent’s equity work in particular. But she pointed to other developments, too, including the fact that all Alexandria schools gained accreditation in 2019 for the first time in division history, and that, under Hutchings, Alexandria in 2021 achieved its highest on-time-graduation rate (91 percent) and lowest dropout rate (5 percent) since Virginia began reporting that data in 2008.
She further praised his “really seamless” budgeting, noting that the operating budgets adopted by Alexandria under his leadership in 2022 and 2023 emphasized employee compensation.
“I just have to say that under Dr. Hutchings’s leadership, I have seen such amazing growth in our school division,” Alderton said. “I know that he has the confidence that we can move this work forward.”
Unlike some neighboring districts — particularly Loudoun County Public Schools — Alexandria has not seen significant parental anger over its racial justice initiatives. What has generated controversy is a years-long debate over the proper role of police in schools.
In spring 2021, the Alexandria City Council voted to remove police from the city’s schools, against the wishes of the superintendent and his top officials. The following academic year saw a string of violent incidents as students returned to campus, many of them for the first time since the pandemic began.
Facing parental criticism and concern, the council eventually reversed itself and voted to restore police to schools. Some violence has continued, however; most recently, an 18-year-old Alexandria City High School student was fatally stabbed at a shopping center near campus.
In late April, the school board approved a proposal from Hutchings to establish an advisory group that will work to reimagine the relationship between schools and city police. In the meantime, the board is requesting at least another year of funding for school police, a request the city council has yet to answer as it works through its budgeting process.
Before holding Alexandria’s top job, Hutchings served as superintendent in Shaker Heights, Ohio, as well as working as a teacher, principal and administrator in school systems scattered across Virginia and Tennessee. He has a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Old Dominion University, a master’s in educational leadership from George Mason University and a doctorate in education policy from William & Mary.
Hutchings’s contract, renewed in June 2021, was to expire in 2025.
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