Parenting the Whole Child: A Workshop

A Workshop Presented by The Del Ray Montessori School

Helping Kids Navigate Feelings 2/4, 7-8:30pm

Engaging Cooperation 2/18, 7-8:30pm
Alternatives To Punishment 3/4, 7-8:30pm
Encouraging Autonomy 3/18, 7-8:30pm
Praise 4/8, 7-8:30pm
Freedom From Labels 4/22, 7-8:30pm

Location: Bon Vivant 2016 Mt. Vernon Ave Now serving wine & dinner!

In an ever-changing world, how can we raise our children to live with vision and kindness? What will success look like? Join a conversation, moderated by Laura Pallandre, DRMS elementary teacher. Each week, we will workshop chapters of Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. We will analyze concrete methods of cultivating compassion and respect, independence and belonging, and freedom and self- discipline in our children.

$100 or $20 per session No registration required

Proceeds go to the New Building Fund of The Del Ray Montessori School (501c3 non-profit) Sarah Fondriest, Director, 703.380.1241 sarah@thedelraymontessorischool.com 

Proposed City of Alexandria Voter Precinct Changes

Proposed Precinct Changes in Alexandria

For Immediate Release: January 30, 2015

The Alexandria Electoral Board will hold a public meeting at the Voter Registration Office (132 North Royal St. Suite 100) on Wednesday, February 4,  at 7:00 p.m., to receive comments on a proposal to add one new precinct and change two polling locations.  The proposed changes would be in place for the June 9, Primary Election and would affect four precincts: Durant Center, Fire Department Headquarters, St. James Church and Chinquapin Recreation Center. 

1.      Addition of Charles Houston Recreation Center. 

Fire Department Headquarters (900 Second St.) and the Durant Center (1605 Cameron St.) have grown considerably with expanded development in the Old Town area, especially near Braddock Metro. The Alexandria Electoral Board proposes adding a new precinct at the Charles Houston Recreation Center  (905 Wythe St.), carved from the center of Fire Department Headquarters and Durant Center precincts with Oronoco as a southern boundary and Patrick Street and First Street as a northern boundary. These changes would reduce the voter size of Fire Department Headquarters and Durant Center (which are close to 4,000 voters each) in preparation for continued population growth in these areas. A map showing the proposed boundaries can be found on the Elections website. 

2.      Hermitage to Replace St. James United Methodist Church

The Hermitage (5000 Fairbanks Ave.) would replace the St. James Methodist Church (5000 Echols Avenue) with no change to precinct boundaries. Due to the proposed residential redevelopment surrounding St. James, it has become important to explore new polling places. The Hermitage facility offers a larger meeting space to hold voting. 

3.      Replace Chinquapin

Currently, voting at Chinquapin (3210 King St.) is held in a small room which presents challenges during large elections. Minnie Howard or T.C. Williams (pending school approval) would replace Chinquapin as a polling location with no change to precinct boundaries.

Residents who are unable to attend the February 4 meeting may submit written remarks to the Voter Registration Office, attn.: Angela Maniglia Turner, Deputy Registrar of Voters, 132 North Royal St., Suite 100, Alexandria, VA 22314 or by email at angela.turner@alexandriava.gov .  

Timeline for Precinct Changes:

•        February 4, 7:00 p.m. Community Meeting 

•        February 6, 9:30 a.m., Electoral Board Meeting - A public meeting will be held at the Voter Registration and Elections Office (132 North Royal St. Suite 100), at which the Electoral Board will finalize its recommendation to City Council.

•        March 10, City Council Meeting.  - The Board’s recommendation will go to City Council for first reading.  If Council votes to proceed, the proposal would go on for a second reading and public hearing, tentatively scheduled for March 14.

If adopted by City Council, the Voter Registration office will notify affected voters of the changes by mail prior to the June 9, 2015, Primary Election. 

For more information, contact Anna Leider, General Registrar, at 703.746.4050 or anna.leider@alexandriava.gov.

Raise starting Police Officer pay and fairly compensate current Officers in Alexandria, VA

The City of Alexandria has long been one of lowest paid police departments in the NOVA region. This has resulted in poor recruiting quality AND retention of officers. We pride ourselves on being one of the best police departments in the area and feel that we should be compensated as such.  First responders do not expect to get rich doing this job but we do expect to be paid fairly and comparably to our surrounding jurisdictions.

I am writing to ask you to introduce into your guidance and support a raise in starting pay for City of Alexandria Police Officers to $48,092.12 and a 5% across the board salary increase for all current City of Alexandria Police Officers.

The current starting pay for City of Alexandria Police Officers is 9% below the current market average and 12% behind the market leader (Fairfax County).  Our Police Officers starting pay has remained the same since 2006 ($43,617) which makes it incredibly difficult to recruit and retain quality officers.

It costs approximately $111,174.00 to train and equip a new police officer for The City of Alexandria.  This city has LOST approximately $2,779,350.00 in the past two years in training and equipments costs because of officers leaving to go to other departments that now don't have to spend their own money on training.     

As a tax paying citizen of the City of Alexandria, I want to know that my money is being invested in the future of the Police Department (and this City) - not paying to train an officer, just to leave and then get hired by a higher paying neighboring jurisdiction.   

By signing this petition, I am asking YOU as my elected officials, to make sure that our Police Officers are paid equally to the comparable jurisdictions so that we can maintain the quality of Police Officers that The City of Alexandria is known for.  

https://www.change.org/p/city-of-alexandria-city-council-raise-starting-police-officer-pay-and-fairly-compensate-current-officers?share_id=WKZqNVGDxV&utm_campaign=share_button_action_box&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

Nominations For Heart of DelRay Award

The “Heart of Del RayAward” is annually presented by the Del Ray Business Association to thebusiness that the community feels serves as the heart and soul of Del Ray.   On February 3rd, we will announce the 5 finalists and open up voting by the community.  Before the voting process to select the winner begins, we would like to get YOUR nomination for who you think should be one of the five businesses on the ballot. The Del Ray Business Association Board will then take into consideration all the nominations and comments in order to determine the five finalists.

Nominations should bebased on which business best demonstrates their warm and welcoming attitude to the community/customers, their commitment and generosity tothe community, and to their overall contribution to what makes Del Ray the bestplace in the world to live, work and shop!  In other words, what businesswarms your “heart” when you here its name?   Former winners of theHeart of Del Ray Award are as follows:   
2009                 A Show of Hands
2010                Jen Walker McEnearneyAssociates 
2011                 Bobi Bomar, Homes of Alexandria,Weichert Realtors 
2012                TheNeighborhood Pharmacy of Del Ray
2013                The Greener Cleaner of Del Ray
2014                Del Ray Pizzeria
  Nominations must be besubmitted by 5 pm on February 1st by
sending an emal to gtrdelray@yahoo.com
Remember - we are just soliciting nominations - we are NOT voting yet. The five finalist will be announced on February 3rd and voting will begin at that time.