The Richmond School Board met this evening at 6PM to consider a host of what looked to be rather typical items and also to receive and vote upon a recomendation from the Charter School Review Committee (SR07-08-72)(agenda). Dispatched to the back corner of a room adjacent to where the schoolboard meeting was taking place, part of the overflow crowd, the obvious draw was the Patrick Henry Initiative vote.

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The Virginia NAACP has come out in opposition to the Patrick Henry charter school. The REA and Richmond Council of PTAs also reiterated their opposition.

I’m not sure whether this one falls more under “All Education All The Time” or “High Comedy.” Either way, the Richmond Defender has a small blurb on the PH charter school (No website, but PDF here). Their first couple of questions are some that we’ve heard a lot the last couple of weeks:

Will the proposed charter school be open to all Richmond children, including the disabled? Will the school’s requirement of “parental involvement” and a staggered, year-round school schedule be an obstacle to working parents?

But the knee-slapper comes at the end:

And what will be the involvement of the Lexington Institute, the neocon Virginia think tank that has been advising the project?

Now, not being involved with the effort, I don’t know anything about the Lexington Institute, who they are or even if they’re actually involved. But of the people I do know who are involved and/or supportive of the the PH effort, “neocon” is the last descriptor that would come to mind.

Never a dull moment in Richmond…

The Patrick Henry Charter School is open to any Richmond City elementary student and the upcoming School Board vote, likely to occur on 5/5/08, will impact every child and district within the city limits. They’re asking for your help. See their mailing for all the details: PDF here, Word doc here.

Not surprisingly, their take isn’t exactly enthusiastic. While the article doesn’t out-and-out accuse the PH Initiative of promoting school segregation, it certainly floats the suggestion. REA President Wade Ellegood (who, you might recall, is on the committee to recruit a new RPS Superintendent), is particularly opposed:

I think they are making a major mistake by allowing this charter school even though it has not met the criteria of the state…Outside of that 90 percent of what’s in their application does not meet state standards and it does not make any sense for us to invest in something that doesn’t meet state standards.

Richmond City Parent Teacher Association President Tichi Pickney Eppes is only slightly less disagreeable towards the concept, stating that “all of our elementary schools are accredited. So if that is the case we don’t necessarily need another chartered elementary school. The kids are doing fine it would appear in their current environment.”

If you’ll pardon the editorializing again….Does Mr. Ellegood include the 7 or 8 current RPS schools that didn’t meet Adequate Yearly Progress in his comments about not investing “in something that doesn’t meet state standards?” And does Ms. Eppes really believe that all of “the kids are doing fine…in their current environment?”

Finally, the article mentions “traditional charter schools that are operating currently in RPS.” Would someone be so kind as to inform me which RPS schools are charter schools? Because the state Dept. Of Education seems to think there are only 3 (with a 4th due in August) public charter schools in Virginia, and none are in the Richmond area.

School Board chair and 4th District rep George Braxton will not seek re-election this fall, citing the ever-popular “focusing more on my growing family and career” as his reason for stepping down.

Two questions spring immediately to mind:

• Are West and Braxton it or will more follow suit?
• Who’s best for the 4th District now?

It’s going to be an interesting few months.

At last night’s school board meeting, the PH Charter group had their proposal returned pending more information. Meetings with the school board to provide that information should occur soon, with a tentative vote scheduled by the board for May 5.

The City of Richmond is receiving its 17th Tree City USA award from The National Arbor Day Foundation. The award will be given during a ceremony that will include a Tree City flag presentation, a tree planting and a give-away of free tree seedlings to festival attendees by the Virginia Department of Forestry.

The award ceremony will be held Saturday, April 19, 11AM, at the City ShowMobile Stage, 2nd and Decatur streets, during the Richmond Earth Day 2008 Festival in Manchester.

From Kathy Graziano:

Richmond City Council Member Kathy Graziano today announced that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has approved a permit to restore the lake at Forest Hill Park to its historic boundaries.

The project has been in the planning stages for more than three years by the Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities. The Department will move forward to commission engineering drawings and specifications, and start the bidding process within the next two months, with work to begin this summer.

Read the whole release at the above link.

RPS Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman announced this afternoon that she won’t seek to have her contract renewed when it expires next year. I think that’s a good start, but is “next year” soon enough? It seems to be that the school board would be well-served to step in and encourage her resignation a bit sooner, even if it would be fairly hollow gesture at this point. I think it’s also key that she’s not the only “turnover” in central administration; again, I’m not holding my breath.

And while we’ve yet to hear a public comment from Mr. Braxton, at least one other school board member has offered up some thoughts (and it’s probably not the member you think it is):

I don’t often use the first person in school board meetings because every decision we make must be a collaborative one. Taking personal credit doesn’t do too much to advance our work, but taking personal responsibility does. I want you to know that I am responsible as a leader of an environment where corruption, incompetence, fraud or waste can pervade such a major function of the system. I am responsible for having the internal controls in place to catch errors before they become regular practice. And to the thousands of kids, parents, mentors, teachers, principals, and support staff who show up everyday to do their best to build something worthy of pride, I am sorry.

The School Board will tonight board produce its audit response plan; Thursday, RPS administration will update the school board and public about its improvement steps at a special meeting of the Facilities and Operations committee.

Will it make a difference?

Amidst all the personal and political conflicts between school board members, RPS administration and city central government, it’s easy to forget that there are still some pretty damn good teachers employed by Richmond Public Schools. Now you can nominate your favorite to be a Super Teacher . A VA Lottery-sponsored program, Super Teacher Awards will “pay tribute to those educators who go the extra mile each and every day to serve their students and their communities.” 8 Grand Prize winners (1 from each of 8 geographical regions) will win $2,000 credit with The Supply Room Companies to outfit their classrooms and $2,000 cash from the Virginia Lottery. 3 additional teachers will win a $500 preloaded Visa debit card.

Entry deadline is April 11. Enter at the Lottery’s web site; mail-in forms also available.

(This story comes to us from Marc LaFountain with Richmond DPW. We’ve been meaning to post it for a couple weeks now)

On January 23, a Department of Public Works sanitation crew working in the Oxford area of southwest Richmond came upon an elderly woman lying in her driveway. They immediately helped her home and offered medical assistance. They also arranged for her to have special door service so that she will not have to bring her trash can down to the street in the future.

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About 15 Richmond & Chesterfield police cars (and a couple of fire/rescue) have descended on Jahnke & Dorchester Ave. A loud crash was followed by lights & sirens galore, as Jahnke between Forest Hill & the railroad tracks was saturated with emergency vehicles.

Edit: Apparently a high-speed chase out of Chesterfield crossed into the city, came up Jahnke and ended abruptly at 5101 Dorchester. I was turned away before I could get closer than a couple hundred yards out, but it appears if the car hit the house itself. Photography was frowned upon.

Rescue took at least one person away, presumably an occupant of the car being pursued. Here’s hoping the residents of the house didn’t get injured in this mess.

Word has trickled out that a Richmond grand jury decided against indicting David Fielding for his actions. The Stratford Hills business community is said to be delighted with the decision.

Now, if the Baskin Robbins owner would just do something about the boarded up window and the ripped awning…

Channel 12 is reporting on the assault of 3 Governor’s School students at George Wythe HS this afternoon. The students, while awaiting rides home, were attacked by 6 as-yet unnamed individuals, resulting in a concussion and several broken bones. No arrests have yet been made.

RPS officials have announced the interim moving of the Governor’s School pickup point from Wythe to Lucille Brown MS.