ACPS Dedicates Jean B. Reid Media Center, Honoring a Teacher Who Changed How Alexandria Children Learned to Read
On International Literacy Day, Alexandria City Public Schools honored Jean B. Reid — a reading specialist, teacher-mentor and literacy leader whose influence stretched from struggling third-graders to graduate classrooms.
ALEXANDRIA, VA — A room filled with books now carries the name of an Alexandria educator who spent much of her career helping children discover that reading could become a source of confidence rather than frustration.
Alexandria City Public Schools dedicated the Jean B. Reid Media Center at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School on Sept. 8, International Literacy Day, bringing together Reid’s family and friends, students, staff, Acting Superintendent Grace Taylor, School Board members and other members of the ACPS community.
ACPS summed up the meaning of the ceremony this way: “We didn’t just put a name on a media center—we celebrated an educator whose story will remain part of the ACPS story.”
That story began long before the sign went up at Brooks Elementary.
A Teacher From a Family of Teachers
A 2001 Washington Post profile of Reid paints a vivid picture of the educator behind the honor. Reid grew up in a family where teaching was part of the family fabric: her mother, grandmother and several aunts and uncles were educators. She graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1968 and went to work for Alexandria schools that same year.
By 1971, at just 25, she had become a full-time reading specialist. Over the decades she served at Lee, Charles Barrett, Stonewall Jackson, Patrick Henry, Mount Vernon and Cora Kelly elementary schools, while also taking on leadership roles, mentoring interns and helping other teachers sharpen their craft.
The Post reported that Reid became known not simply for teaching children to decode words on a page, but for protecting their confidence while they learned. One Alexandria parent, Lisa Scholar, recalled that her son entered Reid’s class in third grade reading below grade level. “Within two months, Jean had him right where he needed to be,” Scholar said in the 2001 profile, adding that his self-esteem remained intact.
That detail gets at why Reid’s name still resonates. Her work was not only about test scores. It was about making children feel capable.
The Teacher Other Teachers Turned To
Reid also earned a reputation as the person colleagues sought out when a classroom challenge seemed overwhelming. The Washington Post described a young Cora Kelly teacher, Jeremiah Lafreniere, struggling early in his career. Reid began stopping by his room regularly, offering practical advice and helping him work through some of his toughest classroom problems.
Her influence reached beyond Alexandria, too. She taught the reading component of a graduate education program at George Washington University, was recognized nationally for work in teacher training through the internet, and became an expert in the “Four Blocks” balanced-literacy model. She contributed a chapter to True Stories From Four Block Classrooms and was scheduled to speak to the International Reading Association in New Orleans in 2001.
That same year, Reid was named Alexandria’s Teacher of the Year and received The Washington Post’s Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award — recognition that highlighted both her work with struggling readers and her generosity with fellow educators.
A Legacy Built Around Literacy
Reid retired from ACPS in 2001 after 30 years as a reading specialist. In December 2025, the Alexandria City School Board approved naming the Naomi L. Brooks Elementary media center in her honor as part of a group of commemorative facility names recognizing people whose service and lasting contributions helped shape the school division and the city.
The Sept. 8 dedication was deliberately scheduled for International Literacy Day, an especially fitting date for someone whose career centered on helping children become readers and helping teachers become better reading teachers.
For generations of Alexandria students, Reid’s legacy may live in memories of a patient teacher, a hard-won breakthrough or the first time reading finally clicked. For future students at Brooks Elementary, that legacy now has a permanent place on the wall.
More information about ACPS commemorative facility namings is available on the Alexandria City Public Schools website.
