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MLK Day celebration in Petersburg to include special proclamation
A special program honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 50th anniversary of the city declaring a holiday in the slain civil rights leader’s name, begins 3 p.m., Jan.15 at the Petersburg Public Library, 201 W. Washington St.
RPS superintendent’s chief of staff resigns
Michelle Hudacsko, chief of staff for Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras, has resigned.
Superintendent proposes 35.3 percent budget increase for RPS
Superintendent Jason Kamras is proposing a 35.3 percent operating budget increase to meet the district’s anticipated expenses for the 2023- 2024 school year.
Absenteeism at RPS is down 1.8 percent, but remains high
Chronic absenteeism among school-aged children who miss 10 percent of days or more due to excused and unexcused absences continues to plague school systems, including Richmond Public Schools, throughout the country.
VCU names new School of Medicine dean
Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine will have a new dean as of April 15.
RPS makes history in collective bargaining negotiations
Richmond Public Schools recently negotiated agreements with four collective bargaining “units” that will result in increased salaries, compensation and benefits for those employees. The RPS school board was the first in the state to pass a collective bargaining resolution last December since the Virginia Supreme Court banned such agreements for public sector employees 45 years ago.
City School Board, NAACP raise concerns about RPS budget proposal
Superintendent Jason Kamras’ budget presentation during a School Board meeting last month launched the school division’s budget talks for the 2023-2024 school year, while also raising questions about budget allocations for RPS students.
No new curriculum for RPS
Initial task force calls for changes in implementation
Richmond Public Schools does not need a new curriculum — rather, teachers want autonomy in how to customize existing curricula for their classrooms, according to a 15-member task force.
Richmond Community High School graduate receives national scholarship
Morghan Williams, a Richmond Community High School graduate who is a first-year student at North Carolina A&T, is one of 25 students in the United States to be awarded $10,000 through the Sallie Mae Fund’s Bridging the Dream Scholarships for High School Seniors.
'Gentle giant’
A. Donald McEachin, hailed as trailblazing figure in Virginia politics, dies
A few weeks before Rep. A. (Aston) Donald McEachin’s Nov. 8 successful bid to maintain his seat in U.S. Congress, he contacted Rev. Ralph Hodge, senior pastor at Richmond’s Second Baptist Church-Southside.
George Wythe considers colors and history for new school
About two dozen people attended the third community meeting on a recent rainy Tuesday night at George Wythe High School to hear about three color palette considerations for the interior of the building and suggestions for displaying memorabilia.
RPS program receives $20,000 grant
Young Kings in Action, an enrichment program for sixth- through eighth-grade boys at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Ujima Legacy Fund.
RPS to launch 200-day school year in July
Fairfield Court Elementary School is the first Richmond Public School that will participate in the district’s 200-day school year pilot program, beginning July 24.
Author reaches back to family roots for children’s book
The Great Migration was an exodus of 6 million African-Americans from the rural South to the North and the West between 1910 and 1970. Desiree Cooper’s parents were children of the Great Depression, and her family was among those who relocated to leave the trauma of the Jim Crow South.
‘It feels like a nightmare’
UVA shooting deaths create wave of grief
The three University of Virginia football players killed in an on-campus shooting on Sunday were remembered by their head coach as “incredible young men with huge aspirations and extremely bright futures.”
City’s last Confederate statue removed
A statue commemorating the death of Confederate Gen. Ambrose Powell (A.P.) Hill was removed on Monday, from Hermitage Road and West Laburnum Avenue where it had stood for 120 years.
Parents, teachers question Holton elementary’s leadership, environment
When Richmond’s Linwood Holton Elementary School opened in 1999, it did so with the intention of reflecting the philosophy of its namesake, former Gov. A. Linwood Holton, who supported civil rights and school integration.
Report card
Funding, other details still unclear a year after Fox Elementary fire
It will take at least two more years to reopen historic William Fox Elementary School in The Fan — but only if nearly $26 million is available to make it happen.
