Ways to engage, my thoughts on pairing and guidance for our community
I want to check in with the Richmond Community and First District residents regarding the rezoning process. I know there has been a lot of information (or misinformation) thrown at our community and we as RPS leaders need to do everything we can to encourage open and respectful dialogue.
Background:
By some measures, RPS hasn’t completed comprehensive rezoning for nearly 30 years so we’ve got a lot to do! We have wonky zones, serious overcrowding on the southside and room to improve as it relates to integrating our schools.
Over 2011 and 2012, the Richmond School Board attempted to rezone elementary schools but ended up rejecting the Zoning Community’s recommendation in favor of a piecemeal approach with lots of associated drama. As part of this approach, the School Board zoned Museum District residents out of Cary Elementary and into Fox Elementary resulting in further racial segregation between the schools. Today a majority of Cary’s students are black while a majority of Fox’ students are white.
Here is a great historical and policy memo from at VCU, U of R, and Virginia State professors.
This School Board is now conducting a comprehensive rezoning process and one of the proposals on the table is to pair Cary and Fox by combining the two school zones and sending all kids to Fox (that would be a K-2 school) and then to Cary (that would be a 3–5 school). More on that later, but first I want to let you know the ways in which you can engage with this process.
How You Can Engage:
Please note that we are early in the process. While there have been two initial proposals put forth by our zoning consultant, those are starting points for discussion. I expect there to be many other proposals as we continue with this process. No decisions have been made or will be made by either the Board or the Rezoning Committee for several months. There is plenty of time for your voice to be heard.
Please consider attending one of the community discussion meetings listed below. Often times the loudest voices don’t always represent the majority and so it is important that we have deep and representative community engagement. I encourage you to speak even if you are nervous or you may submit a written comment during the meeting. Some notable meetings that you might be interested in are as follows:
Rezoning Community Discussion on July 25th @ 5:00 PM at William Fox
Rezoning Committee on July 30th @ 6:00 PM at Thomas Jefferson
Rezoning Community Discussion on August 13th @ 5:30 PM at William Fox
Rezoning Committee Working Session on the West End on August 23rd @ 6:00 PM at Cary Elementary
Rezoning Community Discussion on August 27th @ 5:30 PM at Cary Elementary
A full list of meetings is here.
If you prefer, please schedule a time to talk with me or another School Board Rep. My number is 804.731.6949.
You can also fill out the Zoning Feedback Form here.
What You Can Expect from Me:
In the end of the day, all of this is about our values. I value listening to the community, diverse schools that celebrate the contributions of all our amazing students, and making decisions that benefit EVERY child in the city. I know that school related issues are emotional and many are contentious and that is understandable — we are talking about the future of our own children and our city’s children, and I expect our community to be thoughtful and passionate.
Things That Are Not Helpful:
1) Inflammatory headlines from the RTD — The most recent headline from the Richmond Times Dispatch may have led you to believe that most white families from Fox don’t want to send their kids to a majority black school when in fact, it extrapolated that conclusion on the basis of 10 people submitting feedback through an online form. 10 people!
2) Pitting good people against good people — In regards to the same article referenced above, there are legitimate non race-based considerations for assessing a particular zoning scenario but the assumption here is ascribed to race. A lot of time it is about race, but we do a disservice to people by not allowing for nuance.
3) Making assumptions about the quality of RPS schools — We should not make assumptions about the quality of the school based on the race of the students in it. In the case of Fox and Cary, both are accredited, both have deep parent engagement and both have amazing students.
4) Assuming that we know it all — While I firmly believe in integrated schools and acknowledge that racial and socio-economic diversity benefits all children in our multi-cultural world, I believe that we white families need to be aware of how we show up in integrated communities. Sometimes we can be harmful to black communities if we act like we know best and replace or take over the good work that black parents are doing to support their schools. Sometimes this can result in siphoning resources away from black students to white students. We as white families need to work together to fight the immediate instinct to take over before asking the people who have been there on the ground how we can help.
My Thoughts on Pairing:
I’ve been doing my own research including talking to my school board colleagues across the state and I’m still learning. Here’s what I’ve found so far.
Benefits:
From a former superintendent in Northern Virginia, “There’s so much inconclusive research around groupings, but one thing we know for sure is that young kids are learning to read through second grade and reading to learn after that. Grouping K-2 together is beneficial since resources for reading advancement can be focused there.” More support here.
Other reported benefits can include:
- School assemblies can be more age focused
- Reported higher levels of teacher and parent satisfaction
- Address racial and/or socio-economic imbalances
Considerations:
There is an abundance of research to support that transitions negatively impact student outcomes. While much of this research is focused on middle school transitions, a district requiring four transitions between kindergarten and graduation could result in negative outcomes.
Other reported disadvantages can include:
- Parents having children in more than one school
- Lack of mentors for younger children
- Decreased parent involvement because they have to split their time between two schools
Closing Thoughts:
I know I don’t always get it right, I always have a lot to learn but I promise to listen and grow. Please don’t hesitate to reach out as we navigate this process together.
