Tonight at 5:30PM #RPSBoard will be meeting and I’ll be live tweeting in this thread. There’s a pretty lengthy agenda (link below) including 46 pages of public comment, COVID19 reopening scenarios, Camelot Contracts, and an overview of the RPD MOU.
go.boarddocs.com/vsba/richmond/…
go.boarddocs.com/vsba/richmond/…
We're off to a rough start right now.... some technology issues happening right now. Difficulties getting in. Waiting on roll call. #RPSBoard
We’re at a quorum. I see Doerr, Barlow, Gibson, Burke, Page, Owens, and Young. I don’t see Cosby or Sapini. #RPSBoard
Camelot Contracts got postponed as they adopt the amended agenda. Gibson has a comment about the agenda. She wants a number of items to not be for action and only discussion because the board hadn’t seen the items before and they hadn’t been posted to board docs for the public
sooner. There is pushback to Gibson’s objections due to deadlines and such. #RPSBoard
Gibson makes a formal motion to move the items for discussion only. No one seconds the discussion so the motion fails. #RPSBoard
Awkwardly no one moves to approve the minutes for well.... a minute. Owen has to nudge the crowd for a motion. #RPSBoard
We’re onto 46 pages of public comment. First speaker is Tom Hartman who is against pulling SROs out of schools. He wants a resolution between RPS and RPD. Tonight. #RPSBoard
Elias Luckritz Marquis is a student from Linwood Holton Elementary wrote in because he didn’t like there is racial injustice in school. He says there shouldn’t be racial injustice anywhere. Asks for school boards help. #RPSBoard
Emmett Sheridan is an upcoming 6th grader at Henderson Middle Schooler and he wants to voice his support of a student-led, broadly inclusive coalition to address disparities in RPS. #RPSBoard
A number of students and parents are writing in to express their support of “Jazz Miles’” idea of a student led inclusive coalition to address disparities in RPS. Some are form letters others are more customized. #RPSBoard
Okay I couldn't wait. I had to find Jazz Miles's comments. Screen shots from his comments submitted to #RPSBoard below.
Phil Rippke says “Please sever all ties to RPD and use the savings to hire more counselors” #RPSBoard
Susan Hass is writing in about teacher retention. She cites a 58% retention rate in the last 2 years at her school. Says teachers leave b/c of school admin. Says she was told the problem was known but now wasn’t the time to deal with it. She wants to know when is the time.
Jessica Shim writes in to ask #RPSBoard to not renew with Camelot and to terminate MOU with RPD to move toward counselors. Says Camelot is a for profit company that has faced allegations of abuse and mistreatment. Speaking of orgs facing allegations of abuse and mistreatment....
RPD. She urges... time is up. Remember there is a 2 minute time limit.
But anyway. I can keep reading her comments so I’ll go on. She urges the board to terminate the MOU b/w RPS and RPD and invest the $ to start programs that are non disciplinary. #RPSBoard
But anyway. I can keep reading her comments so I’ll go on. She urges the board to terminate the MOU b/w RPS and RPD and invest the $ to start programs that are non disciplinary. #RPSBoard
Melissa Mannon doesn’t have children but thinks a thriving school system that meets the needs of youth and serves as a safe space for ALL students is important for the community. Therefore she is writing to ask they remove RPD from schools. #RPSBoard
Nina Ford is a RPS teacher and she supports the immediate removal of SROs from the schools. She then thanks Kenya Gibson DOR her public statements on the racist structures that remain intact within the school. They go on to cite priorities in Dreams4RPS to back up why
police should be removed from schools. While time was cut off on her comment.... this is going to become relevant later in the discussion about the RPD MOU because their document tells us that RPD only gets involved when there is a violation of the law. #RPSBoard
Amanda Reisner is a teacher who is concerned about the opening of schools. Her main concern is the cleanliness as they werent clean enough pre-COVID. Another concern is for working parents. How will they manage their district with another district’s schedule. #RPSBoard
Jessica Jaffe says police presence in schools directly contributed to the school to prison pipeline. Black students are suspended/expelled 3x more than white students and students who have been previously suspended/expelled are 3x more likely to be involved with juvenile justice.
Bethany Awesome “can’t recall a single genuinely respectful interaction” they’ve had with a SRO. #RPSBoard
Quillin Musgrave says the value of youth programming provided by RPD and mentoring opportunities for cops and kids is bullshit while juvenile detention facilities fill up with kids and kids feel like they are in prison at school. “Cops don’t prevent crime.” #RPSBoard
Amy Brown is asking about additional reopening surveys that focus on safety measures regarding PPE, transportation costs/concerns, teacher to student ratios, plan for increased subs, will staff see a selection of plans for virtual opening scenarios? #RPSBoard
Eric Mahan thinks the relationships SROs have is because they are well intentioned people who want to contribute. Why do they go through a training program developed by an inherently racist structure like the police department? #RPSBoard
Sarah Hunter is a new teacher asking for the termination of RPD in RPS Anne replace w/ non disciplinary support staff. She read that our former teacher of the year @RodRobinsonRVA said that most of his students got their 1st charges at school for disorderly conduct. #RPSBoard
Chara Robinson just became aware of a RPD officer threatening a middle school student at Albert Hill. Says policing is not the answer. #RPSBoard
nbc12.com/2019/05/09/par…
nbc12.com/2019/05/09/par…
Erica Biggert is an educator who works with RPS. She says schools should be a safe place for students to learn so RPD needs to be removed. #RPSBoard
Barry O’Keefe wrote in to support Kenya Gibson’s open letter “Black Lives Matter” and says we have to remove police from schools. #RPSBoard
Michael Langan joins with Kenya Gibson yo transition police out of schools, have more substantive conversations about special education, (time got cut off here) conduct a long overdue audit of schools, immediately allocate resources to black teacher recruitment,
put forward a just reopening strategy for the fall 2020 school year. #RPSBoard
Mark Fisher believes it’s time to reconsider the presence of police in schools. Says he was maced by police before curfew on June 1, 2020. #RPSBoard
Aiga Langan supports Kenya Gibson’s platform for starting to correct racial injustice in RPS. Says RPS must remove officers and invest funding into mental health and school counseling. #RPSBoard
Eric Spivack is asking about social distancing on buses. When looking on the constraints of distance on the bus, it would require 2-3 times more buses which isn’t realistic. Could we require masks, even on young kids. #RPSBoard
Ryan Dondero says RPS should remove SROs. He cites the goals states in the MOU with RPD stating the trends are in conflict with their mission. #RPSBoard
Katelyn Fraizer wants to support Kenya Gibson’s plan. Alright I finally went and got the link to her piece. A number of people’s comments are in support of it. #RPSBoard
medium.com/@kenya.gibson/…
medium.com/@kenya.gibson/…
Margaret Cook says virtual schooling for days and weeks on end being considered is like a slap in the face to working/single parent families. How can they facilitate virtual learning when both are at work as essential, front line, health care workers? #RPSBoard
Oooohhhh.... Candice Roquemore Bonner is in support of Jazz Miles coalition. Been a minute since one of these support letters came through in public comment. #RPSBoard
Amanda Cleland implores #RPSBoard yo remove the “unnecessary and detrimental impact of police. We need empathy and positive attention for our children, not life-impacting punishment.”
Greg Lewis says the survey on reopening schools is flawed because there is no 5th option for reopening as normal without virtual learning. He calls virtual learning a failure and urges the board to stop the terrible experiment on the kids. #RPSBoard
Kyle Dosier says ending the MOU with RPD is a first step. The next step is demanding #RVACouncil replace the services RPD provides with appropriate community-driven care. #RPSBoard
Sam Howard says schools do not require law enforcement. Says as a trauma and forensic nurse, they see the fear that even the most robust child and adult have when a police officer enters their treatment area. End the agreement with RPD. #RPSBoard
Barbara Haas is a librarian at Boushall and wants to speak on SROs and says painting a wide brush is not helpful. Says their SRO is what is possible when you reimagine police. Says he is an integral part of school culture and climate. Says “at potential” students get advice and
snacks. Say he is a fixture in the classroom. Says it’s about relationships. Say students don’t freak out when he’s needed, they calm down. #RPSBoard
Monica Gamble says they don’t have a child care solution if a part time school schedule is implemented. They support full time, full day instruction. They are willing to support any such plans including transporting their own child, providing meals, wearing masks, etc. #RPSBoard
.@AnsPerkins writes with concerns regarding reopening plans. Asks what the plan is for updating IEPs due to COVID19. Another concern is for students who need visual cues from teachers— will masks be used? Where is the written plan that includes the planning period for them?
.@AnsPerkins Goes on to point out the lack of clarity around the data provided. What was the sample side? Was the survey in Spanish for ELL? What accommodations were made to receive input from SPED? What format other than electronic was the survey sent? Etc. #RPSBoard
Jennifer Surratt is the top of page 28 out of 46. She says RPS must sever all ties to RPD. #RPSBoard
Nathan Hoyt supports Gibson’s proposal you end RPS’s “toxic relationship” with RPD. Says behavior management in schools should not be where someone is branded a criminal. #RPSBoard
.@RichmondDoc writes in to demand the end of the partnership between RPS and RPD. Says the presence of police in schools continues a pattern of over policing BIPOC students and communities. #RPSBoard
Kristin Saybe says they need to transition RPD out of schools. Also need to protect at risk students from predatory for profit companies (eg Camelot). #RPSBoard
Stacy Brown writes about it being 13 weeks since schools closed and she is tired but that doesn’t change how deadly the virus is and how real the threat is. They couldn’t keep people safe during food/computer distribution. What’s point of sending kids back to school if not safe.
Joelle Walker says she has been sexually harassed and physically intimidated by cops in RVAas an adult. If RPS allows officers to intimidate children anyway like her adult has shown her, what kind of environment is created? #RPSBoard
Clem Martin says “cops in schools are super distracting. School can already feel like jail and to add a figure like that to the environment make it even more uncomfortable. Which in turn makes it so the student has trouble focusing on what they are there to do, learn. ACAB.”
If you’re wondering..... the speaker skipped ACAB when she was reading the comments. But that’s how they are typed so I’m including it. Also, I lost my place in the comments because I went backward to listen to see if she said it or not. 🙃
Alright. Had to take a break. I’m back with Cassidy Haight. She says RPS’s commitment to a safe and loving school culture can’t be achieved is RPS continues to staff schools with police officers as the presence of an officer can trigger memories of violent events. #RPSBoard
Kevin Comley is writing on the topic of prudent spending. Basically he doesn’t think the adoption of the new curricula was prudent in the face of COVID challenges. #RPSBoard
Rebecca Hollman wants to replace police in schools with nurses and mental health professionals. #RPSBoard
Katherine Yates says police presence in schools do not reduce crime and it is teaching children early that they should be distrusted and treated like criminals. #RPSBoard
Cassie Powell and Brionna Nomi of the Legal Aid Justice Center su muy comment to divest $ from RPD to invest in counselors, approve 90 day review of MOU, add review of the SCORE to 90 day review, and revise SCORE by eliminating out of school suspensions. #RPSBoard
Like ~5 people have submitted the same form comments and they are grouping their names together before reading the comments once. Comments are about school push out, RPD in schools, and school to prison pipeline. #RPSBoard
Elizabeth Jorgensen-Best believes that having police in schools has done nothing to help students. They’ve only seen students escalate more. Asks how we are supposed to trust RPD if we can’t trust them on our streets. #RPSBoard
Deanna Fierro states that she and other members of the RPS Latinx Committee asked that the Reopening Survey be distributed in more than one manner besides online but it’s only been distributed online. She’s done a lot to distribute to families. Urges for more comm channels.
Kimberly Certa says police do not have a place in education. #RPSBoard
Chris Farmer keeps it simple. “I believe that police should not be in schools at all.” #RPSBoard
We are on page 39 and hour 2 of public comment. People got time y’all. #RPSBoard
Todd Raviotta says for too long the buildings and staff have been neglected while the poli e force has gotten ballooning budgets. #RPSBoard
Elizabeth Milbourn sat on the SCORE committee 2 yrs ago and says there was little movement regarding decrim of students. Liability was main concern vs what is best for the student. #RPSBoard
Kelly Gerow’s concern with reopening is that it would be impossible for most families to work and coordinate childcare around any of the opening options. #RPSBoard
Eddie Stat wants RPS/RPD relationship reviewed meaning current policies with SROs, avoid feeding school to prison pipeline, ensure policies are in alignment with long term interests of students and not disproportionately applied to minority students, consider offsetting
roles of SROs with other roles and practices that are less punitive. #RPSBoard
Cody Camblin asks that #RPSBoard materials are required to be posted online at the same time as the agenda.
Last commenter Katie Spencer says RPS funnels children into the school to prison pipeline. Drastic measures to break that must take place. Shift the role of RPD in schools to minimal. #RPSBoard
First board action item is receive for action Title Grants. We’ll be hearing from Dr. Epps. #RPSBoard
This is the Title I/II/III/IV Grant Applications. Each title fund has specific rules that outline allowable expenses as well as formulas for how school divisions allocate funds. For Title 1, budget is driven by each school’s Schoolwide plan. Title II/III/IV are division level.
The largest portion of Title 1 is for personnel. They have Ddrd early intervention instructional assistants for all K classrooms in Title I schools, teacher 2% raise/step, teacher training stipend, support new community hub model. #RPSBoard
Title II is typically used in Richmond toward class size reduction. #RPSBoard
Title III supports students who are ELL. This is the smallest of the title grants at $230,570. #RPSBoard
Title IV supports students in well rounded education, college and career readiness, and technology. #RPSBoard
They are submitting with this Title I grant applications for Huguenot High and Thomas Jefferson High School to be one Title I schools. #RPSBoard
It sounds like the difference between actual and projected amounts received is a difference in data reporting times. I think that’s what I gathered from Dr. Epps answer. It kind of made my brain melt a little. #RPSBoard
Page asks a question about funding calculation. Title I is based on school funding plans (eg number of students in school). Title II/III/IV are based on division wide stats. #RPSBoard
No more questions. Motion to approve the title grants. Dr Sapini and Cosby have joined so now all 9 board members are in play. There is no discussion. 8 yes with Gibson abstaining. #RPSBoard
Next item is to receive an action a request to suspend a portion of policy of 5-4.2 promotion and retention of pupils in light of COVID19. This is for 6-8 graders for principals to be allowed flexibility since grading stopped unexpectedly March 13th. #RPSBoard
There are no questions. They have moved to approve. There is no discussion. Motion passes 7-0 with Young and Gibson abstaining. #RPSBoard
The next item is to receive three budget transfers:
- VPI instructional assistant salary benefits
- nursing services (menstrual health supplies)
- drop out recovery
#RPSBoard
- VPI instructional assistant salary benefits
- nursing services (menstrual health supplies)
- drop out recovery
#RPSBoard
Barlow questions how the custodial services has extra funding to go to the VPI instructional services. Answer is that it was an overestimate. Approval has been motioned. No discussion. Motion passes 9-0. #RPSBoard
Next item is receiving for action tuition, meal, and rental rates. Only change is to Arthur Ashe Center where last year it was $2500 plus 10% admissions receipts and now it will be 7% admissions receipts which brings it in alignment with what the city charges. #RPSBoard
Barlow asks what the 10% to 7% decrease looks like for revenue. Darin Simmons says it’s hard to tell, it’s already not an attractive facility for rental because the air conditioning is out. Page asks if there is an increase or decrease in rental. Simmons says decrease due to A/C.
Gibson asks if civic associations can meet in school buildings for free. Simmons thinks it’s a great idea. Kamras says if Simmons is good, he’s good. Owen asks what defines a civic association. Kamras says they can come up with internal guidance. #RPSBoard
#RPSBoard attorney says there is already a policy that addresses that but she needs to find it to see what they would be moving away from. Barlow asks for a statement of revenue of what they generate from the civic associations just so they are aware.
They approve the rate sheet unanimously. #RPSBoard
They are receiving for action a request for authorization for the Superintenfent to hire during the months of June, July, and August. This gives authority to Superintendent instead of having to wait for next school board meeting to take action. #RPSBoard
Gibson is asking if anyone is amenable to making this specific to teacher positions or school site based positions. Her motion to amend has been seconded. Young wants to convey his support. #RPSBoard
Page asks Kamras how this impacts his ability to do his job. Kamras recalls that last year this is what they did. Says he has no objection this year. #RPSBoard
They are voting on the amendment. Amendment passes unanimously. Now the motion on the floor is to authorize the superintendent to hire school based staff during June, july, and August. That also passes unanimously. #RPSBoard
Now they have moved onto Personnel actions. Those have been approved with 5 members voting yes. 4 abstaining. #RPSBoard
Next item is #RPSBoard receiving a proposed equity agenda as presented by Superintendent @JasonKamras. Here is the 10 point Racial Justice Policy Agenda he is about to talk through.
.@JasonKamras says he looks forward to feedback particularly from students, mentions Jazz Miles group of students for their input on the racial justice policy agenda. #RPSBoard
I had to take a snack break so I’ve just been listening. Burke, Gibson, Barlow, and Page have all had questions and spoken so far. They all have follow up questions and want more information about this agenda. They all seem to be craving something more concrete which
isn’t quite the phase this draft agenda is in right now. Everyone seems agreeable to putting some force behind this agenda. Page just asked about a timeline. Kamras says he would like to talk to the leadership team and have a timeline for them by the next meeting. #RPSBoard
This will be up for discussion more in depth at either the next school board meeting June 29th (this is supposed to be focused on school reopening) or in July. This is TBD. #RPSBoard
We have moved onto receiving the drafted changes to SCORE (the student code of responsible ethics). Drafted changes are summarized below. #RPSBoard
Gibson believes that our country is calling us to transform discipline in a tangible way and that begins with this document. She says the document is complicated and yet there’s a lack of clarity on how it’s applied. #RPSBoard
Gibson is of the mindset there are no bad kids. There are needs that are unmet that need to be addressed. #RPSBoard
Gibson challenges the administration to revisit the document. Especially as it relates to special needs students. #RPSBoard
Barlow wants to know when SCORE needs to be approved because this is the time to have an opportunity to look a lot closer at SCORE as a board. He thinks discussions of restorative justice and support staff go hand in hand with SCORE. Says ideally they would make a determination
on RPD in line with their determination on SCORE. #RPSBoard
Harry Hughes from admin says they may not have time to make robust changes with engagement before school year so asks if board would be okay with keeping the existing document in place so they had time to get the right feedback for changes. #RPSBoard
Burke brings up how some of the SCORE changes are state guidance. #RPSBoard
It's 9:32 and there are 11 agenda items left including cops in RPS and COVID updates. #RPSBoard
.@JasonKamras asks for time to meet with his leadership team to think through what they can do given the urgency of the moment but also not rushing through the work coming back to the board with something concrete in the next few days. #RPSBoard
We have moved onto the overview of the @RPS_Schools - @RichmondPolice Memorandum of Understanding. Below is the overview being presented. #RPSBoard
The above overview is just a summary document that is being processed and provided. Basically it is filtered information. For the unfiltered document that it is based on, you would have to read this 14 page document. #RPSBoard
go.boarddocs.com/vsba/richmond/…
go.boarddocs.com/vsba/richmond/…
In addition to the 14 pages there is this 1 page addendum. #RPSBoard
go.boarddocs.com/vsba/richmond/…
go.boarddocs.com/vsba/richmond/…
Barlow asks for more data in regards to the 121 arrests SROs were involved with. For example, are there legal infractions they were involved with that did not result in arrests. Also a breakdown of the different types of each offense. #RPSBoard
Page is thankful they are taking a comprehensive approach by engaging students and parents. She thinks we are approaching the SROs from a knee jerk reaction and approaching it from there will have long term consequences that we won’t recover from. #RPSBoard
Gibson asks for data beyond this past year. She brings up equity where the specialty schools don’t have SROs or metal detectors. She talks about the relationship between security officers and SROs. “The ecosystem of discipline.” #RPSBoard
Doerr wants to add the role of guns in schools to the discussion. She doesn’t believe that guns should be in schools. She also brings up the cop at Albert Hill who threatened the student, it wasn’t until this info she came out that she realized it wasn’t an SRO so she would like
to understand more about how RPD officers are interfacing with students. #RPSBoard
We are moving onto reopening scenarios for fall 2020. Here are all the options. They all seem to involve some version of a virtual learning option. #RPSBoard
They just made the survey available online on Friday. They are working to make it available at all food distribution sites. Currently the survey has ~500 responses. They want thousands. It is available in English and Spanish. #RPSBoard
Switched things up. In bed with Aristotle live tweeting from bed. Ready to fall asleep as soon as the meeting comes to a close. #RPSBoard
Kamras says he is in contact with his colleagues in the counties and they are working toward a unified approach. They are going to do the best they can but no promises, no guarantees. #RPSBoard
Kamras says they didn’t add a fully open non virtual non hybrid option because it doesn’t seem plausible or reasonable. He understands the burden it adds on families. #RPSBoard
There are open text fields for alternative schedule suggestions and any other comments people want to add. #RPSBoard
Gibson has about 10 million questions. She’s rolling through them. #RPSBoard
I guess all her questions were rhetorical as Kamras doesn’t answer any of them. I was looking forward to him trying to answer that lengthy list of questions one by one. Damn. #RPSBoard
Barlow asks how they are going to handle staff that aren’t comfortable coming back because they are high risk or a family member is high risk or just due to general exposure. #RPSBoard
Barlow has a bunch of questions as well. None were answered either. I guess they will all be answered at the next meeting on June 29th that is dedicated to the reopening plan? Maybe? 🤷🏻♀️ #RPSBoard
Now they are realizing the vote for the plan would be July 20th which sounds a little late so they might need to add another meeting in July. #RPSBoard
We have moved onto summer school COVID plans. It's a virtual summer camp esque experience. #RPSBoard
As it is 11:10PM Owen asks if there is anything between 5.06 and 5.13 that they need an update on. Gibson says she supports the agenda change with the exception that the board receive a written update on the VDOE MOU. #RPSBoard
Item 5.13 is the first read of the board's admissions document. Here is a summary of what the changes are. This is really related to residency. #RPSBoard
With no new business the meeting adjourns. #RPSBoard
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