ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria's Electoral Board wants students out of school on Tuesday, June 15, the day of the 2027 primary election.
The city's election calendar lists primaries that day for mayor, City Council, the General Assembly and clerk of the Circuit Court. Primaries are held only if the political parties call them.
Bruce Brown, the Electoral Board's chair, asked the School Board on Thursday to amend the 2026-27 school calendar to make the date a non-school day for students, teachers and staff. He said that would be consistent with the current calendar, which already treats the Nov. 3 general election as a non-school day.
The division's 2026-27 calendar, approved Dec. 18, 2025, lists Nov. 3 as Election Day and a professional learning day, with no school for students. June 15 falls in the last week of the school year, which ends June 17 on both the traditional calendar and the modified calendar used at Samuel Tucker Elementary School. It is not currently a day off. Elementary and middle school students have a regular school day, and high school students have a two-hour early dismissal, one of four final exam days from June 14 to 17.
The request is not new. Brown said the Electoral Board first made it in a July 22 letter to the School Board.
The School Board has closed schools for an election before. On March 26, it voted to close all schools to students on April 21 for this year's special election, citing the number of schools that serve as polling places and an expected higher-than-usual turnout. ACPS made that day a staff work day and said no makeup day was needed.
"Having students in class on Election Day would be a significant risk to the safety and security of students, teachers, and staff in the 10 schools that the Electoral Board uses for voting," Brown said, summarizing that letter.
He also cited logistics. On election day, he said, more than 10,000 voters come in and out of those 10 schools and seven adjacent recreation centers, which he said adds to the difficulty and potential danger of running an election on a regular school day.
The city's precinct list, last updated in March, includes polling places at these ACPS schools: Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, George Washington Middle School, Naomi L. Brooks Elementary, Douglas MacArthur Elementary, Alexandria City High School's King Street campus, James K. Polk Elementary, Ferdinand T. Day Elementary, Samuel Tucker Elementary and John Adams Elementary. Lyles-Crouch and Tucker each serve two precincts. The city has moved its City Hall polling place to Lyles-Crouch, and its George Mason Elementary polling place to Trinity Church on Cameron Mills Road.
Voters can look up their polling place at alexandriava.gov/elections.
Brown praised the division's help with past elections. "We are acutely aware that voting would be incredibly difficult for the citizens of our city without the School Board's assistance and the use of your facilities," he said.
Brown said Cerissa Cafasso, who was also signed up to speak, had been held up at work and endorsed his remarks.
Board members did not respond. The board does not typically answer speakers during public comment; Chair Christopher Harris has said the board's role during that period is to listen, not debate.
Ryan Belmore is an Alexandria resident and the founder and publisher of The Alexandria Brief. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to ryan@alexandriabrief.com.
