Publisher's Note: The kids are listening

A comments section isn't a community. A neighborhood is.

New state data shows Alexandria students trailing Virginia averages in every tested subject. I reported on that earlier today. The numbers are what they are.

It’s okay to look at the data and want more. We should expect more. High expectations aren’t the problem.

But I’ve been thinking about how we talk about it.

Scroll through the comments on any school story. Attend a school board meeting. Listen to how neighbors talk about “failing” schools. We get loud about the bad news. We share it, debate it, and use it as proof of what we already believe.

When’s the last time a good news story about our schools got that same energy?

I think about the kids. They hear everything. They hear “failing.” They hear “behind.” They hear the sighs, the frustration, and the debates about what to do with their school.

I know because I was one of those kids. Not here, but in Rhode Island. Foster care, homeless, bounced around. I heard what adults said about kids like me. I heard what they expected. And I almost became it.

The data matters. But so does this: the story we tell about our kids and our schools becomes the ceiling they believe is there.

Expect more. Demand more. But maybe also ask: when something goes right, do I share that with the same energy? When a kid succeeds, do I notice? When a school improves, does it get the same attention as when it struggles?

The kids are listening. What do we want them to hear?

What we do next

It’s easy to post frustration online. It’s harder to show up.

I’ve been reading the comments on social media. Lots of blame. School board. Central office. Superintendent. “Where are the property taxes going?” Frustration everywhere. Almost nobody is asking: What can I do?

But buried in those same threads, I saw something else. Neighbors are celebrating real progress at Jefferson-Houston, a school the community organized around and fought to protect. According to community members analyzing the data, Black students and economically disadvantaged students are showing meaningful gains in reading and math. A school that some wrote off is proving what’s possible.

That didn’t happen because people posted about it. It happened because people showed up. Parents. Neighbors. Teachers. Community members who refused to give up on those kids.

Schools aren’t going to fix this alone. Programs aren’t going to fix it. The solution isn’t another committee or another task force.

It’s us. Neighbors. People who live here.

So instead of the next thread about what’s wrong, what if we asked different questions:

What can I do? Not the school board. Not the superintendent. Me.

Is there a kid in my orbit who could use an adult in their corner? A tutor, a mentor, someone who just notices them?

Is there a teacher I could thank? A classroom I could volunteer in? A school event I could actually attend?

Do I know what’s going well in our schools, or only what’s struggling?

If you don’t know where to start:

ACPS has a volunteer portal. Background check, sign up, show up.

Alexandria Tutoring Consortium pairs adults with kids learning to read. Twice a week. They train you. Last year, 89% of their students met their reading benchmarks.

Or just show up. To a school board meeting. To a basketball game. To the book fair. Presence matters more than you think.

The comments section isn’t a community. A neighborhood is. And neighborhoods are built by people who show up, not just people who have opinions.

The data says we’re behind. Fine. Let’s want more. But let’s also be the kind of neighbors who do something about it. Who show up for these kids like their futures depend on it.

Because they do.

— Ryan Belmore, Publisher