This week, the Richmond School Board voted 5-4 to redraw school lines in the South Side and East and West ends. (Photo by Rodrigo Arriaza)
The Richmond School Board adopted a plan to redraw school lines Monday night, though the question of how to rezone North Side schools was left up in the air.
The rezoning plan, which mainly shifts elementary school boundaries in the South Side and West and East ends, will take effect at the start of the 2020-21 school year. In a narrow 5-4 vote, the panel adopted the plan after five hours of deliberation and public comment across two back-to-back meetings.
Notably, the rezoning plan doesn't currently propose pairing any schools — a controversial idea to move students halfway through their elementary school education in an effort to integrate racially segregated student bases. Instead, the plan addresses the issue by shifting school boundaries to balance racial demographics and ease overcrowding.
Unable to reach a consensus on the North Side at Monday night's meeting, the School Board will hold a special meeting later this month to add the final piece to its rezoning plan.
"This has been a huge undertaking and it has been very emotional and very political, but we must remember that it’s about the children," School Board Chair Dawn Page said. "It’s not about the grown-ups, it’s about doing what’s in the best interest of our children.”
In the South Side, some Broad Rock Elementary School students will be moved to the new Greene Elementary School, which is set to open in fall 2020, and Oak Grove Elementary School students will move to Blackwell Elementary. There are no boundary changes planned for South Side high schools, and at the middle school level, lines will be redrawn to send students to the new Hull Street Road Middle School, also opening next year.
In the East End, students living in Whitcomb Court will be moved to George Mason Elementary School to relieve crowding at Fairfield Court Elementary. Meanwhile, in the West End, students living in the Museum District will be moved from William Fox Elementary to John B. Cary Elementary, reversing a 2013 rezoning decision. With the change, the black student population at Fox is expected to increase from 22% to 37%, while white students at Cary will increase from 10% to 35%.
"It balances utilization between Cary and Fox, and it increases socio-economic diversity at the two schools," School Board Vice Chair and 1st District member Elizabeth Doerr said of the zoning change.
Also under the approved measure, George W. Carver and Bellevue elementary schools will become magnet schools by 2021. The board will aim to open 50 seats at Mary Munford Elementary School to Carver students and will provide transportation to and from the school. Finally, access to a weighted open enrollment lottery will be increased for low-income families.
Proponents of the rezoning plan on the board called it the start of a long and necessary process to address equity at Richmond schools, while others thought it didn't go far enough, or said they needed more time to review its effects.
“Our students, along with our teachers, deserve big, bold and transformative change," said 4th District member Jonathan Young, a proponent for expanding open enrollment at RPS who voted against the measure. "Anything less than that is at best window dressing, and at worst, checking a box at the risk of short-changing an opportunity to do something radical for equity."
During the meeting's public comment period, parents and community members focused on the proposed pairing plan, with some calling it a big step toward integration.
"This is about de-concentrating poverty, this is about affording access to opportunities for communities of color," Kim Gomez said. "This is, for white people, a chance to give up on whiteness and begin the transformation of claiming our humanity, for when we are separated from one another, we can remain blind from injustice."
Others, meanwhile, saw it as a costly measure that could do more harm than good.
"The administration’s desire to do well is evident, but it’s already taken on more than it can handle, and it’s going to take time to fix the problems that have plagued RPS for years," said RPS teacher Chris Lombardi.
Another RPS teacher, Emma Lavaty, also said that K-5 elementary schools create unique benefits such as reading buddy, mentorship and tutoring programs between older and younger students that would be difficult to replicate with school pairing.
As for the North Side, school pairing remains a possibility, with Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras mentioning the option of pairing schools with a delayed implementation in fall 2021. The special meeting to conclude the rezoning process and reach a decision for North Side schools will be held at Ginter Park Elementary School on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m.
