Emotions ran high during Monday’s Richmond School Board meeting, as members discussed and argued over the proper path to improve school safety, following multiple security failures, shootings and deaths this year.
Richmond Public Schools is in the process of renaming city schools “named for individuals or symbols that represent racist ideologist, including individuals who served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and/or owned slaves,” according to the school district’s website.
After dozens of public hearings, surveys, and name submissions, Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras has recommended new names for four city schools.
OPINION: Magnolias and Mendacity
School Board and city officials need to seize the moment and embrace solutions rather than age-old slugfests when building new schools.
Spring has arrived and the air is filled with pollen, the smells of magnolias and the sounds of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and Richmond Public School Superintendent Jason Kamras caterwauling in the wind.
They’re upset that a majority of School Board members voted April 12 to “have schools build schools.” During a recent news conference at George Wythe High School, Stoney promoted the notion that School Board members who voted in favor of the resolution were somehow denying students a new George Wythe High School. As proof, he pointed out that last October, right before the election, he announced he wanted to build a new Wythe High School.