Patrick Henry School Initiative gets some Style
The Patrick Henry School Initiative gets a nice writeup in Today’s Style. PHSI President Richard Day:
My sense is there’s a good chance [the School Board] will shoot it down, but they won’t probably give us any solid, supportive reason.
Seeing the way RPS works, I fear he’s probably right, but either way, they’ve led a remarkable effort and I think they’re to be commended for their efforts. It’s a shame the entire school system can’t manage to work as hard as this group has.
After reading about the Patrick Henry Charter School in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, I wrote emails on March 3, 2008 to all the school board members to support the initiative. Only two board members responded. Below is my letter and one response from a board member.
School Board member,
Please support the Patrick Henry School Initiative. The city of Richmond is in dire need of a school offering a hands- on approach to learning that is both public and free. Also with more school choices, people are less likely to flee from Richmond to the counties (like a great number of my friends and relatives have).
I am currently looking for alternatives to RPS for my two children and I am considering Patrick Henry Charter school for my youngest.
signed parent
Dear Parent,
Thank you for your letter and interest in the proposed
charter school. As I have said before, the question of
whether or not the charter school will be accepted is not a
political one but rather, simply put, whether the proposal
establishes that the students will be educated at least as
well as they would if they attended a Richmond Public School
and whether the effort is sustainable. If these elements
can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the state board
of education and the RPS administration I don’t think there
will be any problem.
Thank you for writing.
signed school board member
I do hope the School Board makes the right decision and supports the Patrick Henry Charter School. Many families, here in my Churchhill neighborhood, are excited about this school.
Channel 6 has a brief feature as well.
Wonder who that School Board member is?
Lisa Dawson. Everyone who wrote in received the same letter.
Dawson writes: “….whether the proposal
establishes that the students will be educated at least as well as they would if they attended a Richmond Public School
and whether the effort is sustainable.”
Does Dawson think we are all a bunch of chumps? If the State Board approves it and if RPS ADMINISTRATION approves it … well, lah-de-dah, Mrs. Dawson, why are you sitting there keeping that seat warm? We could just have the state and the local administration decide if the charter school meets the requirements and then announce the decision. Who needs a school board if they aren’t going to trouble themselves to ask some intelligent questions and advocate on behalf of parents and educators who know the time has come for some serious change?