ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A presentation meant to showcase Alexandria City Public Schools’ community partnerships turned, briefly, into a defense of the central office staff who manage them — and a rebuttal to one of the loudest refrains of this year’s budget season.
The June 11 update was an information item, not a vote. Staff walked the School Board through a portfolio of more than 200 partner organizations — nonprofits, city agencies, businesses and universities providing tutoring, mentoring, soccer, dance, career training and family support, much of it at no cost to the division. Then board member Tim Beaty asked how many people it takes to run all of it.
The answer: not many. Taneika Taylor Tukan, ACPS’s executive director of community partnerships and engagement, told the board she has one additional team member, Dr. Greg Tardieu, the grants and partnerships manager, whose responsibilities are split across grants, donations and partnerships. Two staff, in other words, oversee more than 200 active agreements…