All results / Stories / Ronald E. Carrington
Thanksgiving food, fellowship at area events
Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends and fellowship. But it also can be a stressful and lonely time for others.
Kamras gets overwhelming public support for 4-year contract
Richmond Public Schools parents and students, teachers and staff overwhelmingly voiced their support for Superintendent Jason Kamras’ contract to be renewed for four years.
Vacation Bible School group puts message into practice
Petersburg High School’s Marching Crimson Wave has been trying to raise money for new uniforms for the marching band since spring.
New RPS HR director comes from system with similar challenges
Sandra Lee has her work cut out for her.
Richmond School Board awaits details on fall’s virtual reopening
In just a few weeks, Richmond Public Schools will be starting a new school year – virtually.
Virginia Museum of History & Culture reopens May 14 after $30M renovation
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture will reopen this weekend after a two-year, $30 million renovation with a celebration featuring new exhibits, rich family stories, entertainment, activities and food trucks.
Fascination with Teslas prompt second-grader with autism to write book
“Uziah Wants a Tesla.” That is the title and focus of the new book by 8-year-old author Uziah Smith-Bashir of Henrico.
Gov. Northam speaks at VUU Community Leaders Breakfast
Gov. Ralph S. Northam addressed the 41st Annual Community Leaders Breakfast last Friday honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a message of valuing Virginia’s diversity and the collective responsibility of supporting each other as the state moves forward.
Bad for grads
Richmond Public Schools’ 70.6% on-time graduation rate is lowest in Virginia
Richmond Public Schools had the lowest graduation rate in Virginia last June.
Ambassadors’ to help RRHA families with virtual learning
Three public agencies have partnered to ensure that families in the city’s public housing communities have the technical tools and resources to ensure effective daily virtual learning for their children.
Displaced Fox Elementary students to start classes May 9 in Clark Springs building
Fox Elementary School students, teachers and staff will move into Clark Springs Elementary School in early May for the remainder of the school year.
Richmond Virtual Academy may become its own school
The Richmond Virtual Academy is to become a new elementary school that could enroll between 400 and 500 students a year in online classes, the Richmond School Board decided Monday night. Instead of phasing out the program online learning program as Superintendent Jason Kamras proposed in February, the board, after hearing pleas from academy supporters, adopted a proposal by School Board member Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, to make RVA a school of record like other elementary schools, and eligible for annual state and local funding like other schools. While that decision must be approved by the state Department of Education, the vote to keep RVA as a functioning entity came as the board finalized its budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year. The board had a deadline on Wednesday to deliver a finished budget to City Council. Overall, the approved budget authorizes a record $548 million in total spending, or an expenditure of about $25,253 for each of the 21,700 students RPS estimated as enrolled in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Along with grants and one-time federal funds, the RPS budget provides $356.6 million in general fund spending, which mostly includes revenue from the city and state, or about $16,400 per student. The board, which cut $6 million from Mr. Kamras’ original general fund proposal, is relying on receiving a $15 million increase from the city in the fiscal year that begins July 1. That would boost total support from the city from $185.3 million this fiscal year to a new record of $200.3 million in 2022- 23. The increase from the city is largely designed to fund the local share of a 5 percent pay increase for teachers and other staff that the state plans to institute. Staff and teachers of the Richmond Virtual Academy, currently listed as a program and funded with federal CARES Act dollars, advocated for it to remain open and funded and rallied parents to lobby for the survival of the academy that adopted the owl as its mascot and bills itself as a space “where learning is a hoot.” The board’s vote was both a reaction to the lobbying and a rebuke to the adminis- tration, which had notified the academy’s entire staff that they would be laid off as of July 1 and would need to reapply for positions within RPS. Mr. Kamras initially proposed cutting the program from 70 to just 10 instructors, who would largely teach homebound students too sick or injured to come to school or students removed from in-person learning for discipline reasons. Cindi Robinson, the academy’s princi- pal, said the board’s action is good news for parents and students. “Virtual learning is not just a Band-Aid,” Ms. Robinson said, noting that numerous school divisions have found some students “actually thrive and do better” in an online program. Among them is Sheila Barlow’s 19-year- old son, Douglas. Ms. Barlow told the board that the virtual school has been a boon for her son and other students like him with serious disabilities who can now attend class from home in a safe environment. Her son has Down syndrome and can- not talk, she said. “He has a sign language interpreter for all of his classes,” Ms. Barlow told the Free Press. “If he goes back to in-person learning, my son would not have that service.” While the board’s action appears to have saved the virtual academy, the board’s funding will provide only for a reduced operation. Richmond’s virtual operation enrolls about 768 students, including 500 elementary school students, which is fewer students than Henrico and Chesterfield’s school systems. But that would shrink further. The board’s funding would allow for only 30 total staff, including a principal, counselors and other staff and about 23 instructional staff strictly for elementary programming. Currently, the school has at least 70 staff members, including a 43-member instructional staff. As part of the transition, the School Board agreed with the administration’s plan to end enrollment for middle and high school students who can move to the state’s online program, Virtual Virginia. The revamped Richmond Virtual Acad- emy also will oversee virtual educational programming for students who are home- bound for disciplinary or health reasons. According to board members, the ad- ministration is expected to drop the cur- rent homebound program that dispatches teachers to the homes of students to provide in-person instruction two hours a day. If it becomes a school of record as anticipated, RVA would not only have a budget, but would also report state Stan- dards of Learning test results. The board’s budget, meanwhile, cuts more deeply into the central office staff than Mr. Kamras proposed and largely eliminates contracts for consultants pro- viding curriculum training. Ms. Gibson also won approval for an audit of Mr. Kamras’ original budget plan after she turned up a significant discrepancy in total employee numbers compared with the current year. The board also provided funding for the first time to enable 400 students to take math, science and other required high school classes at the Richmond Technical Center along with their career and voca- tional training programs. Under the initiative advanced by Jona- than Young, 4th District, the students will no longer have to be shuttled back to their home schools for those courses. This change is seen as a harbinger of the proposed career and technical high school that RPS plans to create in a former tobacco plant in South Side. In addition, the board also provided funds to support an increase in the number of students during the next four years at two specialty high schools, Richmond Com- munity and Franklin Military Academy, and three regional high schools, Code RVA and the Maggie L. Walker and Appomattox regional governor’s schools.
State tests bring to light pandemic learning gap
Richmond Public Schools student learning gap widened with the pandemic, according to results from this fall’s Virginia Growth Assessment testing by the state Department of Education.
Kamras: New George Wythe won’t be completed until 2027
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras is insisting that it will take six years to produce a replacement for George Wythe High School, or three years longer than City Hall has insisted it would take if its personnel led the construction.
VSU’s new academic building scheduled for 2024 opening
Virginia State University students studying the Harlem Renaissance, American history or trends in education will soon do so in an expansive new academic building that the university promises to provide “transformational academic experiences.
RPS ramping up online learning
Distance learning via computers soon could become more robust for public school students in Richmond while schools are closed.
Richmond high school seniors will graduate, Kamras says
Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras wants to assure families than high school seniors will graduate and other students will advance to the next grade despite the closure of city schools being extended through the end of the school year.
Public hearings slated on 4 RPS rezoning plans
Rezoning plans for Richmond Public Schools are now in the city School Board’s court.
RPS to reopen April 12 to 800 students
After hours of debate, an attempted amendment and process clarification, the Richmond School Board voted Monday night to reopen schools to 800 students April 12.
Displaced Fox Elementary students to resume in-person classes temporarily at First Baptist Church on Monument Ave
Students from William Fox Elementary School will have classes at First Baptist Church on Monument Avenue and Arthur Ashe Boulevard starting Monday, March 21.
