Minnie Howard to Be Rebuilt As Extension of TC
On Thursday, September 27, T.C. students and Principal Peter Balas testified before the School Board in favor of maintaining T.C. as Alexandria’s one public high school. The following is the transcript of Balas’s testimony.
“Good evening. My name is Peter Balas and I have the honor of being the principal of TC Williams High School, which is comprised of the King Street Campus, the International Academy, the Minnie Howard Campus, and the Satellite Campus. We stand 4,000 Titans strong and connected. We are the only public high school in the City of Alexandria, the most populous in the Commonwealth, and arguably one of the most famous high schools in the world where we work tirelessly each and every day to ensure that every student succeeds. I am here tonight to urge you to cast your vote for one high school. In my time in ACPS, one thing has always been a constant: TC is the heartbeat of the City!
Voting for one high school will allow us to continue to expand opportunities for our Titans. We have over 400 offerings and we are able to maximize student access given our ability to align programming. Over the past two years, we have worked very hard to make sure all of the pieces fit together. Our students have benefited from our master schedule where offerings are so widespread that conflicts can be avoided for singleton courses. I can tell you first hand that our approach to multiple campuses is working. We have strengthened the connection between campuses, and as one school, we can continue to offer students what many other places simply cannot.
Our academic performance along all subgroups, including English Learners and Student With Disabilities, is on the rise. We have been recognized for our participation and achievement in advanced courses along the lines of race and gender. Our work is not done and we can always improve. I ask you to allow us to continue this work and progress by voting to keep TC as one connected high school where we can create even more pathways through articulation with elementary and middle school programming.
As principal, I can say that anyone in my position would say yes, they would love to be in charge of a small high school. But we have created an administrative structure that is connected and working. We have smaller learning communities using teams and academies. We have found a formula that works for our unique city. Voting for one high school will allow us to continue on our path toward success and equity for students.
I strongly encourage you to support our diversity as one of our greatest strengths. Our Titans experience diversity unmatched anywhere in this country and they leave TC stronger because of it. Voting for two high schools would lead us down a path of divisive battles over boundary drawing. This process will lead to an inherent inequity between two schools and undoubtedly leaving certain groups facing even deeper levels of being disenfranchised. This may not be apparent right away but over time these inequities will grow deeper and come to change and define our City.
I urge you to continue to oppose the separatist ideals that are associated so publicly with the name of our high school by voting to keep us connected. Separation may be in our school’s name but you can oppose it by voting for togetherness.
It is no irony that TC’s theme this year is TC United. While it was not meant to be a slogan to ask you to support one high school, it represents the progress we have made as a school to show our strength in numbers and unity. We are one TC. We are one Alexandria. We are TC United. Please vote for the model that is already working: one connected TC Williams High School.”
