Bridges for Schools Back-to-school Update for City of Richmond from Kim Bridges

Kim Bridges, the Richmond City school board representative has a back-to-school update for the Near West End….

In the 1st District, a noticeable difference is the move of Richmond Community High School to the Northside.  The maintenance and ADA repairs needed for that school were extensive, so the move made sense from a facility standpoint, although I was sad to see this program leave the neighborhood.  But the Brookland Park neighbors have already welcomed the specialty school with open arms, and the former Chandler building–where the RCHS program has moved–is in far better shape with additional space to allow the program to grow to meet the needs of students and fill the long-range plans of its advisory group and RPS.

At Thomas Jefferson, the Seniors have had a picnic, the Freshmen have had orientation, and neighbors around the school (like me) have gotten to hear the familiar sounds of music drifting through the air as the band and athletes have been practicing for several weeks.

At Albert Hill Middle School, lots of new students turned out to make sundaes and search for destinations around the school during the ”get to know your school and schoolmates” event.  With the new blacktop completed behind the school, Hill’s building and grounds have never looked better.  Even the soccer field on Thompson had a makeover with new goals that were treated well and used (but not moved, thankfully) by lots of summer soccer players.

At Mary Munford Elementary, the students came by on Friday for “Meet the Teacher” time.  Through the efforts of the city’s mowing, RPS grounds maintenance, and parents chipping in for some of the finishing touches, the school was spiffy for new and returning families coming for a preview of the year ahead.

System-wide, RPS administration has been working really hard to have a seamless back-to-school experience.  Dr. Brandon prepared a department-by-department review of the work that went into getting things ready.  You can see it at http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/schoolboardnew/index.htm.  I stopped by a new teachers’ training to meet a bunch of bright and energetic newcomers to RPS, and even some of the “vets” I ran into later reported a great teacher training last week.  (And, believe me, veteran teachers have high expectations!)

The year ahead will be filled with challenges and excitement for both the students and the system as a whole.  A few items of note for the district:

• The successful “Effective School-wide Discipline” program has expanded to 10 schools this year; this program takes a positive approach to discipline that involves everyone in the schools, and schools using it report noticeable decreases in disciplinary measures like out-of-school suspension.  By next year, nearly half of all RPS schools will be involved in the program.  Like others, I’m eagerly anticipating the results, which should include significant reductions in behavioral problems and improved environments for learning.
• Ninth graders interested in engineering or technology will have a new avenue for coursework, mentoring, and hands-on application at VCU through the Governor’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program at the Technical center.  http://richmond.k12.va.us/pdfs/NR/STEMatRTC_07232009.pdf
• Partnering with the city, truancy efforts will continue to get children to school and work with families where students have had 10+ unexcused absences.  Did you know that the truancy rate has declined over the past 6 years from 26% in 2003/2004 to less than 9% last year?  That’s collaboration that’s setting things in the right direction.
• 225 high schoolers at risk of dropping out will have a targeted program to catch up on coursework and advance towards graduation in 3 Performance Learning Centers at Armstrong, the Richmond Technical Center, and the Adult Career Development Center.  Another 150 or so will be able to attend
  “Twilight School” at Huguenot, TJ, and Wythe.  Increasing our graduation rate won’t happen without these programs and other approaches to reach students before it’s too late.
• On the operations side, the results of two and a half years of intensive auditing by the city and RPS internal auditors are leading to a number of new processes and policies.  Even though the city auditor has completed the audits agreed upon in 2007, the Internal Audit office has a new audit plan underway to continue to delve into areas of risk and ensure continued oversight and increasing efficiency.  Check out the plan at http://richmond.k12.va.us/indexnew/sub/Dep…
• Dr. Brandon has been building her leadership team with new heads of School Nutrition, Human Resources, and Instruction joining us recently–one from within, one from the private sector, and one from an Atlanta-area school system.  Look for more announcements in the days ahead.
• New school construction should finally become a reality. Public input into the new and renovated spaces will be critical, so look for announcements soon about the “charettes” to discuss what we want these new facilities to be.  The major facility improvements will make a tremendous difference in areas that are over-crowded and not designed for 21st century learning needs.  Take a look at this first phase of the multi-phase, long-range plan at:  http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/pdfs/ExecSummaryM…
• Preparations for the 10/11 school budget will begin shortly, and, unfortunately, additional budget cuts at the state level may still impact schools during the current year.  Stay tuned as we learn more about what to expect.

September’s going to get into full swing quickly.  I’ll send another update shortly with 1st District and RPS dates so you can get involved as soon as possible.  Happy school year!

Kim Bridges

1st District School Board representative