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 Richmond Waldorf School is tucked in behind Westover Baptist Church, at 1000 Westover Hills Blvd

All lanes of Canal Street between 7th Street and 9th Street and all lanes of 8th Street between Franklin Street and Cary Street will be closed from 6 a.m. to Noon on Saturday, May 10. These closures will be needed for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The southbound lanes of the Manchester Bridge will also be closed for the race from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. The northbound lanes of the bridge will not be closed.

Motorists are encouraged to avoid these areas during the closure times or to be prepared for traffic delays associated with detours. The 14th Street Bridge and the Lee Bridge are alternatives for motorists who need to go south of the James River during the closure.

The next milestone comes May 15, 5PM, in a public meeting between the PHI folks & the school board. Let’s hope that someone affiliated w/ RPS actually reads the proposal thoroughly by then.

The point to the above rant is to show just how broken some of the fundamentals are. It’s clear to anyone who’s not trying to protect a cushy job/paycheck that things have to change. And this brings us to the Patrick Henry School Initiative. Hills and Heights is not affiliated with the Patrick Henry folks in any way. We are not, as one email suggested, their PR arm. We are simply Richmond citizens who are concerned with the state of Richmond schools; as such, we fully support their efforts and do what we can to get the word out. Are there problems with their approach/procedures/etc? Perhaps. Is their proposal perfect? Probably not. And, frankly, we’ve typically been wary of charter schools as a whole (which is another discussion for another time). But at this point, RPS desperately needs some out-of-the-box thinking from someone who’s truly acting in the best interest of the kids, and that’s precisely what this effort is. It’s concerned parents & citizens doing something, which is more than can be said for most of the folks in charge of Richmond’s schools. It may succeed and become the new model for public education in the Richmond area, or it may fail and be quickly forgotten. But if it’s shot down before it even gets a chance, that’s a failure for the entire city.

If you read all of that, you deserve a medal. And probably a drink!

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.

This begs the question: will Bert run unopposed, or will other hats be thrown into the ring?