Speaker Scott's Black & White Gala in 25 Photos, Richmond Crusade Throws Down on School Superintendent, SCOTUS Won’t Hear Thomas Jefferson HS Case
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🚩 Primary date for U.S. House and U.S. Senate (both parties): June 18, 2024
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25 Photos: Speaker Scott Says Thanks to Friends with a Black History Month Gala to Remember
RICHMOND, VA — Photos from the Black and White Gala at Richmond’s Main Street Station. 👡 In a free black tie event to say “thank you” to supporters and friends and celebrate Black History Month and the General Assembly week known as crossover, history-making Virginia House Speaker Don Scott was joined in celebration by hundreds of others representing a diverse array of Virginia’s political, advocacy, community and legal worlds.
Those present included other history makers including Virginia’s 66th Governor, L. Douglas Wilder (who was mobbed by attendees for photos and conversation), Congressman Bobby Scott and Finance Chair Senator L. Louise Lucas. The event brought together all of the worlds of a historic Virginia Speaker: Constituents from Portsmouth, law firm friends, policy advocates, lawmakers and family. The Black & White Gala was also another big win for PR maven Kimberly Wimbish, the owner of KMK Productions, as yet another memorable event that was a rare break during the breakneck legislative session that packs a year of hearings, floor sessions, votes and policy work into a 60 day period.
All seven of Virginia’s Black Senators, the largest number of Black Senators in the history of the Commonwealth, were also in attendance. The event was a rare weekday black tie event during legislative session and it was also rare in its diversity and bipartisanship. Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and Lt. Governor Winsome Sears were also in the room as were several other Republicans. The music, which included Richmond DJ
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Thomas Jefferson Admissions Case
By Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury - RICHMOND, VA — An admissions policy adopted by the Fairfax County School Board in 2020 to promote greater diversity at the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology will remain in place after the U.S. Supreme Court opted not to take up a case challenging it brought forward by a coalition of parents.
The court did not offer a reason for not hearing the appeal of a May 2023 ruling by the Richmond-based U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. But the decision sparked a dissent from Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who wrote Tuesday that the high court should “wipe” the appeals court ruling “off the books.”
“The Fourth Circuit’s reasoning is a virus that may not spread if promptly eliminated,” said the justices, who accused other schools of using Thomas Jefferson’s admissions model as a “blueprint for evading” the Equal Protection Clause.
Prior to December 2020, Thomas Jefferson’s admissions process relied on a student’s performance on standardized tests, grade point average, writing samples and teacher recommendations. 🚩 READ ENTIRE
Richmond Crusade for Voters Wants Richmond School Superintendent Jason Kamras Out
🚩 Below is the full press release from the Richmond Crusade for Voters regarding their demand for the ouster of current Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras
The Richmond Crusade for Voters call for the release of Jason Karmas from Richmond Public Schools
March 20, 2024 -After 2 years of in-depth study and consultation with stakeholders in and outside the RPS school system, The Richmond Crusade for Voters has concluded that we have seen enough.
We know that our children can perform better, given the proper opportunities to do so. Several years ago, we were presented with a strategic plan, by Superintendent Jason Kamras, called DREAMS4RPS. This document contained his top 10 goals to accomplish between school years 2018-2023. The goals included:
1. 100% Accreditation of RPS schools - Not Successful RPS added only 4 schools. Only (1) high school and (1) middle school is accredited.
2. Increase the graduation rate as well as the percentage of graduates attending a 4-year or 2-year college, entering the workforce in a living wage job, or participating in national service – overall and for each subgroup (race, economic status, IEP status, and ELL status)-Not Successful Only 72% of RPS seniors graduate, on time. Furthermore, many students that graduate cannot read, write, or perform basic math on grade level and are unable to earn a living wage.
3. Increase the proficiency and advanced rates in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies – overall and for each subgroup. Not Successful- especially among Black high school students pertaining to reading, writing, math, science and social studies.
4. Increase teacher retention – overall and for each subgroup. Not Successful RPS had a 22% reduction in teaching staff even though there was a $12,000.00 salary increase (Note, people do not quit jobs. They quit because of bad pay or poor management).
5. Decrease the gaps in proficiency and advanced rates – by race, economic status, ELL status, and IEP status. Not Successful RPS creates deficiencies by neglecting needed interventions and supports at the middle and high school levels for reading, writing, math, science and CTE preparedness. Though there is an increase in the number of students enrolled in Algebra I, at the middle school level, there is not an increase of students enrolling in Algebra II at the high school level. This is an indication of students failing Algebra I.
6. Increase student satisfaction (for example, with school culture, building cleanliness, and engagement level of classes); family satisfaction (for example, with school safety, academic rigor, and timeliness of transportation); and staff satisfaction (for example, with level of support, freedom to offer feedback, and availability of resources) – overall and for each subgroup. Not Successful RPS has been plagued with reports of mold, improper blood removal, outdated fire alarm systems, multiple shootings resulting in death, lack of transparency, staff uneasiness.
7. Increase student enrollment – overall and for each subgroup. Not Successful RPS currently has 8700 empty seats.
8. Decrease chronic absenteeism – overall and for each subgroup. Not Successful RPS has a chronic absenteeism problem that is out of control.
9. Decrease suspensions – overall and for each subgroup. Not Successful To date, RPS has not addressed a problem of suspensions at the elementary level. Though there are in-school suspension options at the middle and high school levels, only out of suspension is available at the elementary level putting our younger students at risk of missing crucial instructional time.
10. Increase funding from local, state, federal, and philanthropic sources. Not Successful Though funds have increased, we find a gross misappropriation of assets such as a proposed spending of over $700,000.00 for trailers when RPS has 8400 vacant seats. RPS is currently spending $24000.00/student outpacing Fairfax County by $4000/student. Recently. over $80,000 was spent on an investigation where $8000.00 was spent to suppress the results. The results had been altered and redacted before being presented to the RPS Board.
These facts point to why many RPS students cannot read or write, at grade level, and the unacceptably low-test scores we witness in Richmond Public Schools (i.e. PAL/SOL). The impact of this systemic failure not only fails our children, but also negatively impacts our community ensuring the continuation of poor socio-economic conditions in our city. When so many of our children leave RPS high schools ill prepared, they are destined to low paying jobs, low wealth households, increased poverty rates and the preconditions which lead to increased crime and perpetuation of the "culture of poverty".
RPS teachers have been calling for adjustments in the curriculum, to be more in tune with the socio-economic makeup of their student population, in their buildings. They know a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. Each population and demographic within the city is different. Curriculum specialists have attempted to make changes, only to be ignored by the Superintendent. Teachers and administrators are complaining of the toxic work environment that now exists within RPS. Most feel retaliation would result if they spoke out.
Our conclusion, the problems, as we see it, begin and end at the top. The responsibility of any hired administrator is to produce positive results based on proven methods, staff consensus, setting realistic goals and objectives, and to do so in the most cohesive manner possible while holding everyone accountable, even themselves. The Superintendent has NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL carrying out his agenda and delivering on promises. He has failed by his own metric. Consequently, we are calling for the immediate removal of Jason Kamras, as Superintendent of Richmond Public Schools. We urge our school board to work more cooperatively and hold our administration accountable, to immediately devise corrective action plans with timelines to select a new, qualified candidate. Tangentially, The Richmond Crusade for Voters and our community partners will work collaboratively, in an effort, to support our school system, by calling out obstructionists, holding RPS Board members accountable and developing our score cards for this year’s upcoming elections for public consumption.
WE are confident that RPS can do better, because WE can do better....TOGETHER
Feb. 29: Richmond Crusade for Voters Event
The Richmond Crusade for Voters will host a '“meet and greet” event on Thursday, February 29.
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