Richmond Faces a High-Stakes Test Tuesday ...

There is no nice way to say this.  So, I best just get it said.  The only member of the current City of Richmond School Board who deserves to be re-elected on Tuesday is Kim B. Gray of the 2nd District.   

For nearly four years, this School Board has (stubbornly) ignored all criticism and concerns about its leadership. In repeated displays of pigheadedness in the face of abundant facts — for example, a 2011 drop-out rate of 14.1 percent and a four-year graduation rate of less than 60 percent — it continues to blather about its "steadfast commitment to achievement."

Other than Gray, no board member has been willing, or able, to speak honestly to the public about the strengths and shortcomings of the city school system, a system that costs taxpayers more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year while posting dismal SAT scores and failing to graduate a large percentage of its students.  

Sadly, for the last four years, each time Gray's colleagues were faced with opportunities to demonstrate the leadership and courage necessary to hold RPS administrators accountable and bring some substantive reform to our city public schools, these elected officials chose instead to ignore their duties as defined by the Code of Virginia and to hide behind RPS Supt. Yvonne Brandon.  

If singing "Kumbayah" and circling the wagons in the face of mismanagement and wrongdoing could fix our city schools, they would have been fixed long ago.  

If allowing administrators free rein to submit budgets that have precious little basis in reality could have made our schools right, they would have been made right long ago.  

If lying about board finances and giving contracts to cronies and relatives could fix RPS finances, our schools would be models of pristine management and best practices procurement procedures. 

If cheating on the Standards of Learning tests by classifying children as having disabilities they don't really have in order to boost SOL scores, could deliver a truly educated student who is college-bound or job-ready, our city would not have so many children and young adults sitting in jail or on public assistance.  

I know the challenge of standing up for our children, their families and our teachers can be daunting.  I served on this board from 2002-2008.  I have been on the frontline of this fight for the last ten years and for 20 years before that, I was an RPS parent and volunteer in our schools. 


So, please understand that based on 30 years of caring about our city, our children and our schools, I must confess that I have had more than enough of the recurring excuses that the members of the current RPS School Board and Supt. Brandon use to try to explain away low test scores, low graduation rates, skyrocketing drop-out numbers and the crisis in our middle schools.

I am tired of watching good friends and young families flee the city when their children reach a certain age.  And, I am way past tired of seeing far too many of our young people thrown into the cradle to prison pipeline that not only fills jails, but kills futures and cripples efforts at regional cooperation.  

I know from direct experience that as one of nine members of the Richmond School Board, one faces a threshold choice. You can choose to be a cheerleader for the administration. Or you can actually do your job — look behind the administration’s news releases and public spin, demand information and ask difficult questions about performance and the use of public funds. It’s so much more pleasant and less time-consuming to be a cheerleader.

That’s why there were eight of them on this board and that's why we need to choose wisely on Tuesday when we vote for those who will lead our nation, state, city government and public schools for the next four years.

The School Board’s repeated failure to carry out its statutory role of overseeing — not just cheering on — the administration, hurts the children and taxpayers of our city the most.  Ask yourself -- How many more generations of children will we sacrifice because we are unwilling to demand better for our city and our children? 

As the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia decide who to vote for in the presidential and senatorial races, the people living in the City of Richmond face an additional high-stakes test this election day.  City-wide we know that there will be at least five new people elected to serve on the School Board.   We already know that three seats are uncontested: Don Coleman from the 7th District, Shonda Muhammad in the 6th and Tichi Pinkney Eppes in the 9th Districts have no opposition. 

That leaves contested races in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th districts. Based on a combination of research, interviews and performances at public forums with the various candidates, I urge you to elect the following individuals.  (To learn more about each, click on their last name and you will be redirected to research and information about why each wants to serve and the qualities they can bring to the School Board).

·      First District: Glen Sturtevant

·      Second District: Kim B. Gray

·      Third District: Jeff Bourne

·      Fourth District: Kristen Larson

·      Fifth District: Mamie Taylor

      (I am not endorsing anyone in the Eighth District since I was unable to interview both candidates)

Richmond schools need to change. We cannot afford to continue to waste time, money and our children’s futures for a mouthful of “coulda, woulda, shoulda” from elected officials.  

Please remember to vote on Tuesday and encourage all your friends and neighbors to do so as well.