
Marcus Newsome, Petersburg's superintendent of schools, works with a student at A.P. Hill Elementary School. (Photo courtesy Petersburg City Public Schools)
Editor’s note: This online-only article accompanies a feature in our January issue, “The Battle for Petersburg,” about the city's fight to regain financial stability.
The room is cozy where the Petersburg School Board meets, tucked away on the second floor of the building off South Crater Road. It’s early October, a month after cuts to the school’s budget were revealed by City Council: a reduction of $3.4 million from the $11.8 million already planned for in the fiscal year 2017 budget. The city’s contribution would now be the minimum allowable by state law as a percentage of property tax. Superintendent Marcus Newsome paints a dismal picture of city allocations to the board.
“We don’t see anything from the city at this point,” he says. “Most transfers were booked to FY16. We brought the deficit down to $700,000, but we’re left in a challenging position. We’ve spent everything we’ve brought in, and we’re challenged in cash flow. I anticipate that this is going to continue for months to come.”
Like City Council, the School Board members are under pressure to scrimp and save every penny. At the meeting, several announce they will carpool to an upcoming conference in Williamsburg, and not submit any reimbursement requests for gas.
Still, school stakeholders are less concerned about the city’s financial difficulties than visitors might expect, and if residents are looking for a shiny spot in city news, Petersburg’s public school system is beginning to glow.
In November, elections for three seats on the six-member board yielded one change, an unopposed candidate to fill a vacant seat. The two incumbents also ran unopposed.
“My first couple of months here were the most unusual I’ve ever seen in my career, where the school division was months behind in payments to some of the vendors,” says Newsome, a former Chesterfield County Schools superintendent who started work in July. “That’s because the school division was not receiving its allocation from the city.”
To fix the shortfall, Newsome cut vacant teacher seats, and jettisoned plans to expand programming and professional development, and to provide additional resources for classrooms, like laptops. He maintained teacher raises, though, and operationally the school system saw little impact.
That’s partly because of something few realize: The city’s influence is slight in comparison to the state’s, which contributed more than $30 million of Petersburg’s current budget of $53.8 million. Federal dollars also help, as do private grants from organizations such as the Cameron Foundation.
The Virginia Department of Education’s interest in Petersburg schools goes back many years and has not always been friendly. In 2013, then-Gov. Bob McDonnell, having failed to establish controversial charter schools, tried to formally take over six schools in the state, including A.P. Hill Elementary and Peabody Middle in Petersburg. A judge ruled the move unconstitutional.
But the city’s financial problems have intensified support from the state and, functionally, the commonwealth is ever-present. In the McAuliffe administration, this intervention is directed by Daniela Lewy, executive director of the governor’s Children’s Cabinet. The Challenged Schools Initiative focuses heavily on Petersburg, in part as a litmus test for Richmond and Norfolk schools.
State officials were instrumental in hiring Newsome, providing an extra $60,000 for his salary via a General Assembly incentive fund. He retired from Chesterfield at the end of June after 10 years on the job. The previous Petersburg superintendent, Joseph Melvin, who retired abruptly in October 2015 and later claimed to be fired without cause, had been on the job less than three years and was the sixth superintendent in 10 years. An interim superintendent finished out the 2015-2016 school year.
Newsome praises the state for its financial support, citing a collaborative effort to release Petersburg lottery funding early to use to pay overdue bills. “The state is not going to bail the city or the school system out, but it’s clear that they want to provide every support system they can within the frame of the Code of Virginia,” he says.
The state has also given Newsome funds to hire executive leadership. The General Assembly allocated $300,000 in “executive incentive” to supplement salaries for what Newsome calls a “qualified and experienced leadership team,” and for $2,000 signing bonuses for teachers filling certain positions. One administrative hire was former Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Yvonne Brandon, who is now executive director of human resources and operations for Petersburg schools.
Those salaries are funded through this school year, and Newsome hopes they’ll continue. “Over the last 15 years or so, 50 different central administrators have left the school district,” he says. “It’s important to establish some stability here in the school system to move it in the right direction.”

Superintendent Marcus Newsome greets students at Petersburg High School. (Photo courtesy Petersburg City Public Schools)
Petersburg’s public schools have shown measured improvement in the last few years for Newsome to build on. Their on-time graduation rate improved by 13 percent in one year, according to Virginia Department of Education statistics released last summer. Petersburg High School is now classified as partially accredited. The most recent 84 percent on-time graduation rate is higher than Richmond’s 80.2, but still lower than Chesterfield’s 90.9 percent.
Newsome is undeterred, though. He sees his job as twofold: hiring and retaining highly qualified teachers, and providing them the best professional development available. He expresses hope that funding for signing bonuses and professional development will continue from the state.
“All things [being] equal, a teacher who is experienced, more often than not, is going to go to a school or a school district that has fewer problems,” Newsome adds.
Kori Reddick is not one of those teachers. The principal at A.P. Hill Elementary School, she transferred there in July 2013 after years as a teacher and administrator in other Petersburg schools.
“When we first got [to Petersburg], our neighbors were not encouraging me to apply,” she says. “But because I’ve always served in schools that have large Title I populations, large free- and reduced-lunch populations — in schools that need additional assistance — I was looking for the place that could best use my skill set and who might need help.”
The budget process for the next school year is well underway, with no expectation of more funding from the city, but Reddick isn’t concerned.
“I haven’t felt the budget constraints at the school level,” says Reddick. “Dr. Newsome has done an excellent job in making sure we don’t feel it. We have the same number of teachers, we still have the same instructional supply budget.”
It’s that focus on practicality and planning that endears the new school administration to many community members, who are encouraged by Newsome’s resourcefulness in the face of budget cuts. Turnover among teachers and administrators remains a concern, however, and state funding priorities can change, particularly with a new governor set to be elected in 2017.
Reddick and Newsome, though, say they’re not going anywhere.