The Richmond Crusade for Voters recently considered the matter before the Richmond School Board regarding contract negotiations with Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras.

Before deciding on whether we would recommend renewing Mr. Kamras’ contract for another four years, our board considered the following major concerns:

Richmond Public Schools still ranks at the bottom, when compared to all Virginia public schools, for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

The graduation rate for RPS was 76.85 percent in 2017; it dropped to 71.58 percent in 2020.

There appears to be no progress report, no data regarding the superintendent’s performance that has been made available for either the School Board or public consideration.

In light of the above-mentioned concerns, the Crusade for Voters has the following recommendations:

The Richmond School Board should make public its past and future evaluations regarding what Mr. Kamras has accomplished as well as his shortcomings since he has been serving in his position.

Secondly, Mr. Kamras should be offered a two-year contract extension, assuming his performance evaluation is favorable, and the Richmond School Board should provide him with benchmarks for items and/or tasks they believe he should accomplish in two years.

Then at the end of that two-year period, Mr. Kamras should be considered for an additional two years based on whether he has reached the benchmarks recommended by the Richmond School Board.

JONATHAN DAVIS

President Richmond Crusade for Voters