Mayor is asked to pressure the School Board to giving Patrick Henry ownership of the school building

Ownership and the ability to secure a loan has been a stumbling block in Patrick Henry’s effort to renovate the rest of the school building on Semmes. According to Richmond Magazine.com members of city council have sent a letter to the mayor requesting that the School Board transfer ownership of the property to the school.

“Thing at Patrick Henry, they can fund the rest of the renovations if they can get [ownership of] the building, and until the building is surplused, they can’t do that,” said 9th District Councilman Bruce Conner before the meeting. Conner, along with 5th District Councilman Marty Jewell and 3rd District Councilman Chris Hilbert, voted to send the letter to Mayor Jones asking him to support surplusing the building. The letter is signed by Hilbert, who is chairman of the committee.

This all sounds good on paper but ultimately the Mayor has no power to force the issue and even if the school board were to give up their rights to the property, the property would then be under the jurisdiction of city council. Prior to Patrick Henry re-opening as a school the property stood empty and received the bare minimum of maintenance.