Are charter schools a threat to public education?

That issue will be the focus of a two-part program titled “Protecting Public Education” that will feature a panel discussion and the screening of a documentary about the cost of privatizing education, “Backpack Full of Cash,” it has been announced.

Two churches, Third Street Bethel AME Church in Jackson Ward and First Unitarian Universalist Church near Byrd Park, are teaming up to host the events over the next two weeks. The programs will be free and open to the public.

First up will be the panel discussion from 6 to 8 pm. Thursday, Oct. 26, at Third Street Bethel, 3rd and Jackson streets. The panelists are to include the Rev. Ben Campbell, a member of the Richmond Public Schools Foundation and other programs to support city schools; Dr. James H. Hershman Jr., a historian from Georgetown University; and two educators, Sabin Duncan, executive director of Virginia State University’s Student Success Initiative; and Dr. Helen Stiff-Williams, an education professor at Regent University.

Kimberly Quick, education policy associate at The Century Foundation, is to moderate.

The Richmond Branch NAACP and the Virginia Education Association are sponsoring the event. The film on charter schools is scheduled to be screened from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, at First Unitarian, 1000 Blanton Ave.

Several groups are sponsoring the event, including Richmond Teachers for Social Justice, Support Richmond Public Schools, the Richmond Education Association, the Richmond Council of PTAs and the Mu Lambda Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, an education honor society.

For more information, please contact Warren Kennedy at (804) 517-5820 or zarrwig4@gmail.com.