All results / Stories / Ronald E. Carrington
RPS $311.2M budget for 2020-21 unveiled
Superintendent Jason Kamras’ proposed $311.2 million general fund operating budget for the new fiscal year that will begin July 1 received mixed reviews at the Richmond School Board meeting on Monday night.
Kamras delivers first State of the Schools address
Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras delivered his first State of the Schools address Tuesday night to a packed house of more than 300 people at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.
RPS dealing with bumps in student transportation system
Richmond School Board Chairwoman Dawn Page continues to find bumps in the road in the school system’s hub stop system, where students attending certain schools have to walk to their nearest school to catch a bus to their high school or middle school.
Who should be on Monument Avenue?
Who should go on the pedestals along Monument Avenue once the Confederate statues are removed?
'Girl power' electrifies RPS mentoring program
Fourteen eighth-grade girls came together at Richmond’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in a room set up in the round with self-esteem games, prizes, conversation and positive energy as the sounds of Alicia Keys’ “Superwoman” fueled the atmosphere.
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.
Richmond 7th District School Board race
For Broderick, the key is organizing priorities for limited resources; Burke attributes success on board to experience, engaging the community; Robertson seeks to expand ESL classes, trauma-informed care for RPS students
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.
New 'RVA Illuminates' to kick off holiday season Dec. 6 at Kanawha Plaza
It’s the most wonderful and magical time of the year, as dazzling and brightly colored displays and holiday festivities take over the city.
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.
Democrat, Republican and independent candidates looking to fill open Henrico sheriff position
Three candidates are vying to be- come Henrico County’s next sheriff, succeeding longtime GOP Sheriff Mike Wade, who is stepping down after serving in the position since January 2000.
RPS ramping up online learning
Distance learning via computers soon could become more robust for public school students in Richmond while schools are closed.
Black History Month events calendar 2021
A variety of events are planned in and around Richmond for Black History Month.
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.
School day care?
Empty public school buildings may be central to city task force plan to help parents with day care as they return to work
Sharonda Robinson hoped against hope that Richmond Public Schools would reopen this fall so her sons, ages 6 and 8, could be in school taking classes while she went to work.
RPS school construction costs, process criticized
Richmond School Board members Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, and Jonathan Young, 4th District, used Monday’s School Board meeting to express concern that the bidding process Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration used to choose contractors to build three new district schools has added tens of millions of dollars to the cost.
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.
Relief?
Richmond School Board votes 6-0 to open five schools for emergency day care for 500 children of essential workers and low-income families
Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras acknowledges that a huge number of parents with children in the school system may need help with child care to avoid financial ruin.
Area meal programs feed first responders, help restaurants
City Hall is planning to pump more than $500,000 over the next two months into Richmond-based restaurants that serve meals to Richmond police officers, firefighters and ambulance staff.
