Stumping for schools //
James E. “J.J.” Minor III, president of the Richmond Branch NAACP, leads a rally in front of George Mason Elementary School on Church Hill showing support for the Richmond School Board’s $224.7 million plan to build five new schools and renovate two others during the next seven years. Rally participants called on Mayor Levar M. Stoney and the Richmond City Council to fund the plan “for the children.” He said, “The community at large understands the importance and urgency in supporting this much-needed improvement and redevelopment” of school buildings. “If we don’t stand up for our students now, this facilities plan will join the other plans since 2002 collecting dust on the shelves.” He noted that 86 percent of Richmond’s voters backed school modernization in a November referendum.
