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NextUp RVA promotes positive youth development
Recent graduates excited about their future
Shiya Brown was a Richmond Public Schools student at Lucille Brown Middle School in 2015. When she became part of NextUp RVA’s second cohort, she explored several after-school programs that helped her grow academically and creatively.
RPS honors former coach and mentor by naming middle school gym for him
Allen “Cutt” Cole mentored hundreds of students as a teacher and track, flag football and basketball coach at Thomas H. Henderson Middle School in North Side.
VUU, VSU join public schools to retain Black and Latino male teachers
Richmond Public Schools’ RVA Men Teach program has partnered with Virginia Union and Virginia State universities to create a Teacher Residency program for male minority teachers.
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.
Fox students get warm welcome at Clark Springs Elementary building
Students from Fox Elementary School started their first day of classes Monday at their new home—Clark Springs Elementary School, which will be their temporary campus for the remainder of the school year.
RPS chief operating officer quits
Alana Gonzalez, the chief operating officer for Richmond Public Schools, has submitted her resignation, effective Friday, May 20.
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.
Fox students return to in-person classes at First Baptist Church
As the sun rose at 7:15 a.m. Monday, a parade of happy and enthusiastic parents with their elementary-age children made the trek to school at Richmond’s First Baptist Church on Monument Avenue.
School Board still working on final 2022-23 budget
Nearly four weeks after approving the 2022-23 budget, the Richmond School Board is still struggling to complete a final version with all line items filled in to send to City Hall and City Council.
28th Annual James River Film Festival RVA kicks off March 31
The 28th Annual James River Film Festival RVA is back after a pandemic break, with 13 films being shown at venues around Richmond from March 31 through April 3.
School Board approves $365.6M budget, after slashing $6M from Kamras plan
After months of quibbling, the Richmond School Board approved a $356.6 million budget Monday night that provides a 5 percent raise for teachers and other schools employees, but eliminates money for new student laptops, instructional contracts and cellphones for employees.
Community meeting sparks recommendations to curb city gun violence
Affordable day care. Better relationships with recreation and parks activities and schools. Summer jobs for teens. Mental health and first aid training. Those were some of the recommendations offered by about 60 community residents, public officials and representatives of nonprofit agencies that gathered Feb. 24 in a call to action to stem the tide of gun violence in Richmond.
Jordan Pendleton, 10, roars to lead role as young Simba in national tour of ‘The Lion King’
Richmond’s Jordan Pendleton has been selected to play young Simba in a national touring troupe of Disney’s “The Lion King.”
Piece of the pie: Joyebells gives back to community
Joye B. Moore’s recipe for supporting the community is just as sweet and as her now famous Joyebells Sweet Potato Pies.
‘We are resilient’
Fox Elementary School parents, students, teachers and administrators vow to bounce back after fire destroys the 111-year-old school on Hanover Avenue, sending students back to virtual learning
Five days after a huge blaze turned Fox Elementary School into a hulking ruin, students, parents, teachers and staff of The Fan school are readjusting to virtual learning.
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity members commit to cleaning local gravesite of national founder’s family
Beginning next month, members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity will keep up the family gravesite of one of the fraternity’s founders in historic Evergreen Cemetery in Richmond’s East End.
Former RIchmond firefighter is Petersburg's first woman fire chief
Shortly after being sworn in at Petersburg’s new fire chief on Jan. 31, Tina R. Watkins described the moment as “surreal” and something she has envisioned since childhood.
RPS joins lawsuits that challenge Youngkin's push to stop mask mandates
Richmond Public Schools is among six school districts to block Gov. Glenn Young- kin’s executive order to repeal mandates for masking in schools to protect students from spreading the Covid-19 virus.
School Board votes in new leaders
The Richmond School Board voted in a new chair and vice chair—Shonda Harris- Muhammed, 6th District, and Kenya J. Gibson, 3rd District, respectively.
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