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| Priceless (click the above link to see prices of Gucci handbags) |
The purpose of the meeting was to improve communication and create a plan for future funding in the wake of Jones' recent announcement that he is proposing level funding of the schools’ operational budget and only $5 million for repairing facilities. The school system had requested an $18 million increase in operating funds and $18 million for facilities.
That brief shining moment came when Kathy Graziano, 4th-District member and former Council President, admonished School Board members and RPS administrators that while she might "want to have a Gucci bag," she doesn't "have the money for a Gucci bag.” Meaning: How dare you ask for more? If you want to go to a "Gucci" kind of school where the roofs don't leak, five-pound ceiling tiles don't fall on your head and you have laptops like the kids in the surrounding counties do, then maybe you need to move to the counties.
As jaws dropped and faces registered shock, Kimberly Gray, 2nd-District School Board member -- who can always be counted on to fight for our kids and teachers -- took a deep breath and in calm, steady voice, told Graziano: “We should think of [schools] as food on the table, not a Gucci bag.”
Graziano sensed her faux pas and immediately apologized. However, she could not resist telling RPS School Board members, Superintendent Dana Bedden, Deputy Supt. Thomas Kranz and CFO Ralph Westbay (in that tone of voice parents sometimes use with unruly children) that they needed to learn the difference between "niceties and necessities."
Graziano and other City Council members -- including at least three probable Mayoral candidates -- all professed their "love" for the city's children in one breath and in the next, pleaded poor-mouth oh-so-sincerely as they told School Board members that there just isn't enough money in the budget to fully fund the schools and provide for much needed facility improvements. Sorry, kids.
Their solution? If you guessed that Jones and City Council members proposed that (yet another) study be done to assess the facility needs and create a plan, you would be right. Click HERE to read the flimsy four-page document created by Davenport & Company, financial advisors to the Mayor who are paid by taxpayers. From the very first sentence -- "Protect the financial integrity of the City of Richmond (the “City”)" -- it is clear that the plan the group is pushing is NOT about the schools, but really about the Mayor and the City. Good luck with that, guys.
More's the pity that Graziano didn't lecture the Mayor and her colleagues about the difference between "niceties" and "necessities" when they approved plans on-the-fly at the last-minute when Jones pushed the Redskins/Bon Secours deal, never mind the money wasted on study after study and meetings ad nauseum about that baseball stadium in the bottom and the bike race (which, admittedly was nice, but failed to make the dollars rain as Jones and his people predicted and promised). And who can forget the procurement mess that accompanied the building of the new jail that is smaller than the old jail?
Perhaps she and her colleagues could ask the Mayor if spending $500,000 on a security detail is a "nicety" or a "necessity"?
The two most egregious and redundant problems this report reveals are 1.) it calls for the creation of yet another group to waste time studying a problem and creating a report and, 2.) it is evidence that the people on the second floor of City Hall haven't been paying attention.
Maybe we need to call for a study group during which RPS students, parents and teachers take turns reading the various documents out loud (and slowly) to the elected officials. To be sure, Richmond already has so many studies, reports and audits that sit on shelves in City Hall gathering dust that the politicians who call for them ought to figure out a way to use them as shingles to fix any number of leaky roofs throughout the schools.
Superintendent Dana Bedden, his administrative team and the members of the School Board were impressive. They stayed on-message and professional throughout the meeting. It was clear that all had done their homework. Click the links below to read RPS Chief Financial Officer Ralph Westbay's analysis of the Mayor's Budget.
Please check out the following documents that are ALL available on the RPS website. Along with the work of the RPS Facilities Task Force, the following organizations provided valuable insight into the district’s facilities planning process:
- Cropper GIS - enrollment forecasting
- BCWH Architects - school assessments
- K12 Insight - community survey
The RPS Facilities Needs Report was presented to the Richmond City School Board on April 13, 2015. To view meeting documents and video, please click on the links below.
Meeting Documents
Community Meetings
RPS officials and board members held several community meetings in October 2015 to review the Facilities Task Force Needs Report and gather community feedback on the district’s short- and long-term facilities plan. To view a list of meeting dates and locations, click here.
Meeting Documents
Facilities Needs Report Presentation - October 27, 2015
Facilities Needs Report Presentation - October 29, 2015
Community Presentation Facilities Needs Report (42 MB)
Facilities Needs Report Presentation - October 29, 2015
Community Presentation Facilities Needs Report (42 MB)
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