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Alexandria City High School's King Street Campus administrator is leaving the school division at the end of the current school year, Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt recently announced — adding another leadership vacancy at a school already navigating a principal search, and coming as the district simultaneously conducts a superintendent search following Kay-Wyatt's own impending retirement.
Ashley Carter Sinclair, who joined ACHS in September 2023, will depart to pursue a new career opportunity, according to a March 24 message to students, staff, and families through the ParentSquare platform.
Carter Sinclair's departure is notable in part because of its timing. When ACPS announced its principal search on March 17, it simultaneously restructured its high school leadership titles, renaming campus-level administrators as campus principals. Carter Sinclair had been named to serve as King Street campus principal under that new structure. He will instead leave at the end of the school year.
Ryan Belmore
The district said it will conduct interviews for the administrator position in tandem with the ongoing principal search — a coordinated approach Kay-Wyatt said is intended to ensure a cohesive leadership selection process.
The departures stack atop one another at a school that has struggled to retain leadership. ACHS has operated without a permanent principal since July 2025, when former Executive Principal Alexander Duncan III left to become principal of Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington. Duncan was himself a replacement for former Executive Principal Peter Balas, who also departed for an Arlington school. Lance Harrell has served as acting executive principal in the interim.
The district launched a nationwide principal search in March, with first and second round interviews expected this month and School Board approval targeted for its May 28 meeting. The selected candidate is expected to begin July 1.
That search will run concurrently with a superintendent search after the School Board voted unanimously March 26 to accept Kay-Wyatt's resignation. The following morning, Kay-Wyatt sent a personal message to families and staff citing family as the reason for her decision.
Ryan Belmore
"The time has come to turn that same devotion toward my family, to honor the relationships that have anchored and sustained me," she wrote.
Kay-Wyatt, who became the first Black female permanent superintendent of ACPS when the board appointed her in May 2023, will retire Oct. 1 — nearly two years before her contract was set to expire. The board approved a separation agreement that includes a $37,500 payout and has said it will hire an outside search firm, strongly preferring to move directly to a permanent hire. Additional details on the process are expected this month.
Ryan Belmore
Kay-Wyatt praised Carter Sinclair's roughly two years of service, citing his work to align curriculum and instruction across the connected high school network, his role in refining the High School Project following its launch, and his central part in developing the Titan Agora, an ACHS digital showcase celebrating student life and culture. ACHS is Alexandria's only high school, enrolling more than 4,500 students across four campuses.
Carter Sinclair came to ACPS from the District of Columbia International School, where he served as an assistant principal and director of developing teacher supports. He also served as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College and spent 15 years as a teacher, coach and administrator in New York City public schools. The welcome announcement at his arrival was issued by then-Executive Principal Alexander Duncan III — who would himself depart for Arlington two years later, setting off the principal vacancy ACPS is now working to fill.
ACHS is Alexandria's only high school, enrolling more than 4,500 students across four campuses.
