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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Alexandria City High School has a new leader. Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt introduced Michael Burch, a longtime ACPS administrator, as the next principal of the largest high school in Virginia during Thursday's School Board meeting.
Burch's hiring came through the board's consent calendar of personnel actions, which passed unanimously, and Kay-Wyatt announced his selection during her remarks. Burch, appearing by video, briefly addressed the board, saying he was honored to serve as the school's next principal. He starts July 1, the date set in the district's principal-search timeline, which lists June 11 as the final-approval date, moved from an original target of May 28.
Burch steps into a role that has seen repeated turnover. According to ACPS, the school had operated without a permanent leader since July 2025, when Executive Principal Alexander Duncan III left after two years to become principal of Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington. Duncan had himself replaced Peter Balas, who also departed for an Arlington school. Lance Harrell served as acting executive principal this year and will return to his previous post; Kay-Wyatt thanked him at Thursday's meeting for guiding the school through the year.
The opening also came with a change in title. As part of the search, the district said it restructured its high school leadership, retiring the "executive principal" title, which carried additional central-office duties, in favor of a "principal" role focused solely on the four campuses. Burch is the first to hold the retitled position, and campus administrators were renamed campus principals. ACPS said the search drew six applicants, narrowed to two finalists: Burch and Anthony McWright, executive principal of an arts and STEAM academy in Denver and president of the Arts Schools Network.
ACHS enrolls roughly 4,500 students across four campuses, with hundreds of staff. According to the job listing, the position's salary range was $120,672 to $180,518, and the role requires a master's degree in educational leadership, a Virginia administration endorsement and at least five years as a principal or lead administrator. Established in 1965 and formerly known as T.C. Williams High School, the school's legacy inspired the film "Remember the Titans"; the board renamed it in 2021.
Burch joined ACPS in 2010 and has most recently served as the school's lead administrator for operations and student support, a role he held for three years. Before that he was an assistant principal at the King Street campus, and over the years he has worked as a testing coordinator, summer school administrator, assistant athletic director, and a physical education, health and driver education teacher. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia Tech and a post-master's certificate in educational leadership from George Washington University, according to ACPS, which also lists his state certifications in administration and supervision and in physical, health and driver education. The Theogony, the ACHS student newspaper, has reported that Burch is also a U.S. Army veteran with more than 30 years in education who holds a doctorate in sports management from Texas Woman's University; those details do not appear in ACPS's official biographies, which date his ACPS service to 2010.
Across his ACPS career, Burch has led several division initiatives, including the operational launch of the new Minnie Howard campus, the rollout of the school's academy model and the construction of the master schedule that kept instruction running during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also coordinates the school improvement plan across all four campuses.
At a community meet-and-greet held over Zoom on May 14, Burch told attendees he would be ready to lead on day one and would work to strengthen relationships with students and staff. He described his leadership style as logical and rooted in building systems, and framed his approach around consistency and long-term progress. His commitment, he said in his opening statement, was simple: to lead with collaboration and an unwavering focus on students. He pointed to the scale of the school as its central challenge, saying that meeting the needs of thousands of students and their families requires hearing every voice.
Unlike McWright, who would have come from outside the division, Burch has spent his entire ACPS tenure within the ACHS system.
His appointment follows a leadership transition at ACHS, and comes as the wider division prepares for its own, with Kay-Wyatt set to retire this fall.
