This is probably a good idea. It's been proposed a lot over the years I gather but gets push back

Remember the shitshow the last time they tried to redistrict the schools?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Is there enough room in either Henderson or John Marshall to consolidate it into one 6-12th grade school? I don’t think it should be necessary to close both and increase the student/teacher ratio at other schools in a teacher shortage.

Just want to point out, it's really hard to swallow the idea that they can (let alone should) close 5 schools (specifically 3 elementary schools) and then blow the cash to rebuild Fox in the middle of a premier upper class neighborhood...

Anecdotally, I’ve noticed many baby strollers in Northside, esp Brookland and Highland Park so in 10-15 years the need might be there again.

Oh definitely, that’s why I don’t agree with shutting down all three elementary schools. The consolidation would be a temporary measure.

I like the idea!

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It’s also hard to swallow the fact we wouldn’t even need to replace Fox at all had RPS and the City been competent.

Living here several years has demonstrated over and over again this city does not value competence or basic upkeep.

Young proposes a version of this every once in a while and my bet is that he simply aims to drive a broader conversation that speaks to efficiencies. He likes to ruffle feathers. Closing (all) those 5 schools, specifically, isn't going to happen, but having the discussion could still be helpful in other ways. Me, I'm not a fan of closing schools for several reasons...And certainly someone other than Young himself would need to study which if any schools would even be up for discussion.

Unless they book it to the suburbs as soon as their kids hit grade school like every generation before them

RPS usually doesn’t embrace suggestions related to efficiently managing their school buildings - they seem to prefer to poorly maintain as many buildings as possible (and need to have unused buildings on hand when one is unexpectedly closed for mold or fire damage - true story).

The bullshit here is the city has plenty of money. Check the surplus and the rainy day fund. They had tens of millions of new money for police last year. What Young wants to do is close schools and open charters, and demonize collective bargaining. Check this parent's reflection on the potential closure: http://www.rvadirt.com/blog/2023/1/30/opinion-school-closures

Whether it saves money or not, it will make educator’s jobs harder. I promise you that.

Thanks for the link

That is the most thoughtful write-up on this issue I’ve read.

I agree with regards to the community centers and the surplus. This is why I cannot trust the city; they’re always speaking a double narrative. We’re either too broke to afford schools or we’re flush enough to afford tax rebates. We can’t have it both ways.

Also 6th graders and 12th graders together seems like a recipe for disaster.

I think it's a really bad idea, what about all the kids that live near those schools, they'd be forced to get driven/ ride the bus to a futher school. I hated my rps high school experience as too many crazy kids already, more would only contribute to the problem for kids that aren't wild. Trying to compact all those kids in a few schools is overwhelming for everyone involved, there'd be a fight everyday. And they wonder why nobody wants to be a teacher, those that have never attended an RPS high school can't relate it's literal insanity.

This comment is spot on in some ways. Fewer schools that are more crowded is another way of putting this.

Young brings this up every few years. Let’s preface this with: he’s the absolute worst BUT

He’s not wrong. There are some serious discrepancies in school sizes that are an atrocious waste of school funds and lead to inequitable distribution of resources. Compare Henderson to River City or Swansboro to Broad Rock.

However, rezoning schools and moving students around like that is an extremely complex issue and not one that Richmond is prepared to take on given that they can’t even decide on a calendar or curriculum.

Why?

that's happening less and less, seeing as the suburbs are totally unafordable, unless you want to be past short pump.

^^^^^

Blog is spot on.

Let's not forget that fox is a good school. RVA needs to keep good schools. Get rid of all the good schools and we will actually be an even worse shape

Just curious, is Young a registered Republican or somehow affiliated with the Republicans in any way? His actions over the years have led me to contemplating this question, but I can't find anything online about it.

Seriously?

The fact that you are getting down voted for this just goes to show how detached from reality some folks on here are.

I'd be very curious to know how many of them have kids in RPS or actually talk to RPS teachers or admin.

I’m not understanding the problem, disaster is very vague.

I don't think you're necessarily wrong here, but I think the catch is that there are currently no functional alternatives. The result is that city schools gets stuck in an endless feedback loop of poor performance.

Lots more poor performance when more teachers start to leave because of things like this.

I believe he calls himself an independent

I agree, and good teachers are where the rubber meets the road in education. Good teachers deserve good pay, good facilities, and good administration. All of these cost money that isn't there without full, or close to full, utilization. And even if you could snap your fingers and get full utilization, there are the challenges of years of deferred maintenance due to years of chronic underfunding. There aren't easy answers and there are way more paths that lead to failure than success. The only way out is to honestly acknowledge the challenges and tradeoffs and come up with a balanced solution with the correct incentives for long term success.

The problem here is that yes, this will help with the administrative bloat that takes up a lot of budget costs. But it doesn’t solve the systemic issue of why that administrative bloat exists, which is unfortunately held at the state and federal level.

I'd assume the administrators are looking at "cost of keeping X school open/maintained" vs "cost to bus students to another school"

Thankfully they don't let the national parties inject money into the school board or city council.

>they can’t even decide on a calendar Every year they kick the can on the calendar and wait until the last moment to approve it. It is getting old.

I assume Fox would be rebuilt with an insurance claim

None of the schools he wants to close are in HIS district. 🤔

This is so dumb. It's going to overcrowd and overwhelm other schools. Not to mention the Richmond neighborhood feuds that may come into play as a result of forcing students to switch schools. Last year the rezoning caused multiple fights at several middle/high schools. It's going to happen again if they close those schools down. Not to mention RPS's central office is already an absolute mess. Focus on hiring people to fill central office vacancies before touching a topic like this....

Apparently it's short by a few million and they're going to have trouble talking them into it because alarm panels and whatnot.

And nothing else...

Gotcha, I haven't really followed what happened or anything since then, just knew it burned. Even still, a few million could be better than what it would cost to rehab other schools.