Richmond Public Schools parents, alumni, faculty and interested residents waiting in line to speak at Monday's School Board meeting as the board considers how best to rezone city schools. (Photo by Rodrigo Arriaza)
Dozens of concerned Richmond Public Schools parents spoke against a proposed rezoning plan that would pair city elementary schools at a special School Board meeting this week.
Over 50 community members waited in line to share their thoughts on four rezoning plans up for School Board consideration at Monday's meeting. The options — named Proposals W, X, Y and Z — were recommended to the panel by its Rezoning Advisory Committee, and they target school district lines in different parts of the city in an effort to alleviate racial segregation and overcrowding at schools. Proposal X would take measures a step further by pairing schools.
Under the plan, school district lines in the East End and South Side would be redrawn, while North Side and West End students would change schools halfway through their elementary school education. Proponents say the change would mix majority-white and majority-black student bases and foster racial integration.
If the measure is approved, Ginter Park, Barack Obama and Linwood Holton elementary schools would be paired together in a three-school combination. Students would attend either Ginter Park or Obama from kindergarten to second grade based on their district, and all would funnel into Holton for grades 3 to 5.
In the West End, students would attend George W. Carver Elementary School from kindergarten to second grade and Mary Munford Elementary School from grades 3 to 5, and then feed into Albert Hill Middle School. Finally, students would attend William Fox Elementary School from grades K to 3 and John B. Cary Elementary School for fourth and fifth grade, and then go to Binford Middle School.
Opponent of the proposal, who wore red shirts at the meeting and held signs with slogans such as "We are one RPS" and "We can't afford multimillion-dollar pairing plans," said they realize diversity is an issue at Richmond schools, but the school pairing option would be too costly and would divert funding from schools in the East End and South Side, allowing them to slide further into disrepair.
"For a school system that already struggles with limited resources in day-to-day logistics, pairing is far too massive an undertaking, especially in this rushed time frame," Megan Barger said. "The questions pertaining to budget and logistics that the multimillion-dollar pairing plan would require have not been answered at all, and unfortunately, over time, RPS has not earned the trust of any of its constituents sufficiently."
But not everyone was against the school pairing plan. Rebecca Richardson, a parent with children at Holton Elementary, called the pairing plan a brave move forward toward achieving racial integration in the city's schools.
"There’s a million reasons why we could say ‘Let’s wait until next time’ and push it out by a year, or 'Let’s wait until we get x, y, z results,’ but I think we need to act now," Richardson said. "It’s not going to be perfect, but we need to do something, and to do nothing is to be complicit with the culture of white supremacy that has existed and is thriving still in Richmond today.”
The School Board is scheduled to vote on rezoning during a public hearing at its Dec. 2 meeting, where attendees also will have a chance to share their thoughts, but board members weren't convinced that they'll be able to reach a consensus in time. Fourth District representative Jonathan Young said he didn't plan to vote for any of the four rezoning options at next week's meeting. Similarly, 3rd District member Kenya Gibson said she doesn't feel that the School Board is ready to agree to commit funds toward the rezoning plan.
"In order for this board to vote to adopt a pairing now, what we would be saying is that we want this above everything else, this is a have-to-have," Gibson said. "I don't think the board is ready to make that decision yet, and so there's no way we can vote for it unless we're ready to make that commitment."
The Richmond School Board will meet on Monday, Dec. 2, at 6:30 p.m. in ESH Greene Elementary School. For more information on the rezoning process, visit: rvaschools.net/2020-2021-rps-rezoning.
