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Perry Miller chosen to lead Richmond International Airport
The Richmond International Airport will get its first African- American president and chief executive officer on Aug. 19.
Plans to use city schools for day care program break down
Talks between City Hall and Richmond Public Schools over using five school buildings as day care sites have broken down.
Down again: Student achievement drops again for Richmond Public Schools, according to 2018-19 SOL test results
Richmond Public Schools student achievement continues to decline, according to state Standards of Learning test results released this week by the Virginia Department of Education.
Exonerated Five member stresses importance of knowing your rights in face of police questioning
As the credits rolled, the audience of more than 200 people fell silent with astonishment and anger after viewing “The Central Park Five,” a documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon about the 1989 case in which four African-American teens and a Puerto Rican teen were wrongfully convicted in the brutal assault and rape of a white investment banker as she jogged in New York’s Central Park.
City voters will cast ballots for constitutional officers — commonwealth’s attorney, sheriff and treasurer
Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette W. McEachin is unopposed in her bid for re-election to a four-year term.
Patients and doctors alike adapt during a year of COVID-19
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, everyday activities people often took for granted — hugs, seeing friends at birthday parties, dinners out and midday coffee runs with colleagues — were no longer considered safe and harmless.
Grim: State accreditation and dropout data, recent audits reveal problems that have long plagued Richmond Public Schools
Educating all students remains a tough challenge for Richmond Public Schools. While the data show the majority of students complete 12 years and leave with a diploma to start careers or begin additional study, Richmond seems unable to make classroom education meaningful for a substantial minority who end up dropping out.
In the black
Unexpected gift elicits cheers, tears at Morehouse College commencement
Commencement was a red-letter day for Morehouse College graduate Monte Hathaway of Henrico County and his family. That’s when the speaker at Sunday’s 135th commencement ceremony on the Atlanta campus, billionaire tech investor Robert F. Smith, made a surprise announcement that has since gone global.
Day care options opening for student virtual instruction
More lower cost day care options are starting to emerge for Richmond Public Schools students to attend virtual classes and relieving parents who must work or who feel ill-equipped to double as teachers.
Incumbent Thornton facing 2 challengers in Fairfield District primary in Henrico
All five seats on the Henrico County Board of Supervisors are up for election in November.
Richmond comes alive with holiday events
Richmond will turn on the holiday lights this week and welcome Santa to Downtown to officially launch the celebration of the season.
RPS ramping up online learning
Distance learning via computers soon could become more robust for public school students in Richmond while schools are closed.
School Board gives final approval to $418M spending plan
Backed by a $25 million boost in contributions from city taxpayers, the Richmond School Board Tuesday approved spending a record $16,814 for each of the 24,800 students projected to be served in the 2019-20 budget year that begins July 1.
Black History Month events calendar 2021
A variety of events are planned in and around Richmond for Black History Month.
School Board sends proposed $310.6M budget to mayor
The Richmond School Board voted 6-3 Monday night to send to Mayor Levar M. Stoney a proposed $310.6 million operating budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year that will begin July 1 — equaling a per pupil cost of $13,362 for each of the estimated 23,200 students expected to be enrolled in city schools next fall in preschool through 12th grade.
Black History Month events
A variety of events are planned in and around Richmond for Black History Month.
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.
Some Richmonders on edge following national tragedies
Like many Americans, people around the Richmond area are dazed and distracted, saddened and angered after two mass shootings last weekend in Texas and Ohio left 31 dead and dozens of other wounded.
School fight
Students, parents and community members pleadfor speedy replacement of George Wythe High School regardless of who is in charge. Two-hour public hearing reveals deplorable rodent, structural problem.
Richmond can build and open by September 2024 a new George Wythe High School and two other school buildings that also are top priorities if City Hall would just begin cooperating with the School Board instead of throwing up roadblocks.
Rift grows between School Board and City Council over Wythe replacement
A Richmond city councilwoman is calling on the School Board to halt its effort to retake control of school construction and to come to the table with city officials “to create a process that everyone can support.”
