Local Connections in RTD Story on Schools

City Council President Kathy Graziano was quoted and Patrick Henry was mentioned in a recent RTD article Race in Richmond: Schools aim for social diversity

On a chilly weeknight at Southampton Elementary School, about three dozen parents attended a meet and greet featuring City Council President Kathy Graziano, School Board member Adria Graham Scott, and faculty and principals from South Richmond schools.

Graziano frequently hears parents say they will leave the city when their children reach school age.

“The city must have a middle class to survive,” she said. “And to accommodate young middle-class families, we need to have an investment in the schools.”

Jennifer and Hurst Kelley, who are white, worked on the school decision like a difficult math equation, with the prime factor being the well-being of their 4½-year-old daughter, Lorelei.

Jennifer had been following the debate over Richmond’s first charter school, a situation that left her wondering how committed school officials are to change. Damning auditor reports of computers languishing in a warehouse gave her further pause. But she wanted to check out the system firsthand.