de facto segregation Archives - RVA Mag

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu

Toward A Vision Of Racial Equity In Richmond Schools

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , , ,

We both bring a nuanced perspective to education. Taikein is a native of Prince Edward County. Growing up three blocks from the historic R.R. Moton High School, he learned the impacts that flawed policy and selfish adults have on students. His passion is to guarantee that all families have the opportunity to design an education that piques the interest of their children. Genevieve is a graduate of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) who benefited from her experiences as a white student in nominally desegregated schools, which would later shape her interest in researching school segregation. At the same time, she also benefited from the accommodation that RPS continues to extend to white families. 

Our vision for racial equity in Richmond schools includes real integration, enabled by stronger and more inclusive advocacy.  It is based on our collective personal and professional experiences, research and best practices from around the country. We believe these strategies will lead us toward greater racial equity in Richmond and the education all of our children deserve. 

Real integration as a goal

To advance racial equity in education, Richmond education stakeholders — all of us — need to work toward what youth activists in New York City have dubbed “real integration.” Real integration deepens our collective consciousness around dismantling racial caste in public education. It is based on what NYC student activists call the “5 Rs,” or Race & Enrollment, Resource Allocation, Real Relationships, Representative Staff and Faculty, and Restorative Justice. The students acknowledge that racial diversity in enrollment represents a first step on the path toward real integration, but then turn toward the importance of distributing educational resources equitably, fostering shared power and relationships across lines of difference, ensuring racial diversity among faculty and staff and approaching discipline restoratively rather than punitively. Real integration is a comprehensive and continuous process, one that stands to benefit individual students and our broader society. Students who learn early how to connect, think and problem-solve across social cleavages will possess fundamental skills for an increasingly diverse 21st century workforce and democracy.

Real integration in historical context

Real integration draws on elements of a too-often overlooked 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision dealing with a Richmond area school district. The Court’s ruling in Green v. New Kent County required school districts to immediately eliminate segregation “root and branch,” laying out six factors that would determine whether a district no longer operated two systems of schooling, one for Black students and one for white students. Like the more contemporary demand for real integration from NYC students, the Green factors went beyond ensuring that students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds attended schools together to require desegregation in faculty assignment, facilities, transportation, extracurriculars and quality of education. Green v. New Kent County dealt specifically with the New Kent school division’s long delay on school desegregation, exemplified by an inadequate freedom-of-choice plan that offered too little freedom or choice to Black families bearing the burden of tackling a system of racial oppression. The decision also addressed Massive Resistance that had unfolded elsewhere in Virginia, including the wholesale closure of public schools in Prince Edward County. Its emphasis on equalizing woefully unequal school facilities also got to the heart of what Barbara Johns, an early youth leader in the movement, demanded. 

Taikein Cooper & Genevieve Siegel-Hawley

In the wake of federal retrenchment on school desegregation enforcement, Richmond moved quickly to stem white and affluent flight to surrounding suburbs. The city accommodated — and continues to accommodate through student assignment policies — white and affluent preferences for schools and classrooms imbued with the highest status and containing the most meaningful educational resources. And when the high-status schools do not have the necessary resources, unequal social and political capital ensures they are soon forthcoming. We have, as a society, continued to make policy choices that create and sustain racially segregated, high poverty schools and districts. Because we also then choose to starve those same schools and districts of much-needed resources, Richmond’s accommodation of white and affluent educational preferences too often has come at the expense of historically marginalized students. While RPS has taken steps in the right direction, students don’t receive the same education in each school. 

Harms of racially unequal education — and advocacy to address them

This is a situation that damages us all. It sanctions sharp discord between our democratic ideals and unequal reality, creating childhood confusion that closes racially and economically advantaged students off to the full humanity of their less advantaged peers. This, as Dr. Martin Luther King powerfully reminded us, “distorts the soul and damages the personality” of all involved. Ongoing accommodation to white and affluent families additionally means that as a community, we remain comfortable ill-equipping the overwhelming majority of Richmond students for participation in our economic and civic life.

Advocacy to undo these systemic injustices in Richmond has been marred by a culture of false starts and ulterior motives. Authentic community engagement gives us an opportunity to elevate the voices of those most affected by flawed policy and practice. To effectively do this, we must learn from other social movements to advocate for robust change in the city. As advocates, we should commit to the following: 

● Embracing and nurturing youth activism.

● Remaining patiently impatient. Changing systems in a meaningful way takes time. We must understand and clearly communicate that these changes won’t come overnight and some mistakes will be made along the way. Setting these expectations will be a quintessential task as we truly work to build “people power.”

● Developing cross-racial dialogues and alliances. 

● Centering needs of families of color; cultivating white allies that are willing to speak up about a system that continues to heavily cater to their interests.

● Supporting the recommendations put forward by the RPS Equity in Enrollment commission.  We know that over the years, many students in RPS have been ineligible for admission or enrollment related to a host of barriers, including lack of transportation and difficult-to-attain prerequisites. While the current administration is working to eliminate those barriers, the Commission’s work is rooted in not only making admission more equitable, but is also hyper-focused on supporting students who have been historically underrepresented at the specialty schools. Full disclosure: we are co-chairs of this commission, which also includes student and family voices, as well as the voices of RPS educators and cross-sector allies. In many ways, the commission embodies best practices outlined in this section. 

The choice and solutions before the city

Our city now confronts a choice. School segregation between Black and white students in Richmond has skyrocketed over the past several decades, even as residential segregation has slowly fallen. Roughly 70% of elementary-school-age children would need to change schools to achieve a racial distribution that reflects the overall RPS enrollment, compared to about 58% of residents. Ongoing separation in our schools is driven in part by how our school boards draw attendance zone boundaries and design choice policies that allow students to attend out-of-zone schools. It flows too from federal, state and local policies related to housing and land use and past and present discrimination in mortgage lending and real estate. Individual choices about where to live and send children to schools interact with these systems and are shaped by how much meaningful contact we have experienced with members of other racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Which brings us back to the fundamental importance of real integration in public education.

Based on our personal and professional experiences, and with real integration as our guide, we offer the following ideas for individuals, advocates and policymakers to consider as we move forward.

● Make existing school segregation a trigger for rezoning processes and ensure that new processes further integration and do not exacerbate segregation. These goals should be clearly delineated as among the top 1 or 2 priorities during the rezoning process. Center students’ voices in rezoning by including student representatives on the committee and school board.

● Create diversity goals and weight current systems of choice like open enrollment and specialty schools to advantage disadvantaged students. As RPS expands secondary school choice with theme-based middle and high schools programs, ensure that civil rights guardrails like interest-based admissions, guaranteed transportation and extensive outreach define the system.

● Coordinate the housing, transportation and education sectors to enhance mobility and create more affordable housing in the zones associated with highly resourced schools.

● Transform how we fund schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

● Centralize and redistribute local PTA funds. 

● Nurture teacher and leadership diversity in all RPS schools through intentional faculty assignment policies. Prioritize diversity in teacher and leadership pipelines.

● Support intensive, intentional efforts within RPS schools to disrupt racially disparate academic tracking and discipline.

● Work with our regional school division partners to ameliorate a regional system of segregation. Support efforts to expand access and equity in existing regional partnerships like the Governor’s schools and draw on school choice lessons from CodeRVA, the first federally funded regional magnet school in the state.

There are many actions needed to enhance racial equity in the city of Richmond, but none are more pressing than transforming our public schools. Our current public education system is perpetuating inequities; sometimes by choice, and other times by force. RPS has made some small steps toward addressing this sobering truth, but we have not gone far enough. De facto segregation has not only limited educational opportunities available to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (who are disproportionately Black and Brown), it permeates throughout the fabric of this city. As we grapple with heightened awareness to racial injustice in America, it’s important for us to find viable solutions in this city as well. Embracing the aforementioned vision of real integration in Richmond Public Schools is the step in the right direction.

Taikein Cooper has a deep affection and strong commitment to local politics and helping people engage in the American political process. Born in historic Prince Edward County, one of the five counties in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, Cooper is a 2006 graduate from both Southside Virginia Community College and Prince Edward County High School. He has lived in Virginia his entire life, except to attend college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Genevieve Siegel-Hawley is an associate professor of educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research examines school segregation and resegregation in U.S. metropolitan areas, along with strategies for promoting inclusive school communities and policy options for a truly integrated society.

This essay is part of the Richmond Racial Equity Essays series, exploring what racial equity looks like in Richmond, Virginia. It is reprinted here with permission. Check out the full project, the accompanying videos, and the podcast.

Op-Ed: Kenya Gibson’s Substantive Racial Justice Leadership Is a Threat to the Powerful

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , ,

Richmond Third District School Board candidate Kenya Gibson has come under fire in the run-up to her election campaign. To Richmond community organizers Monique Drake and Brionna Nomi, the critiques are misleading and disingenuous.

At a time when people in Richmond and across the country are awakening to issues of systemic racism and racial injustice, leaders of color are standing up to represent the voices of their communities and serve as bold, undiluted agents of change. However, progressive Black leaders who dare to address and eradicate historic inequities face blowback from moneyed interests who seek to maintain their power, status and privilege. Kenya Gibson, who serves as the Third District School Board Member in Richmond, is one such leader.

Kenya Gibson is the most consistent and stalwart progressive elected official Richmond City has to offer. During her tenure, Kenya and supporting board members successfully fought for  the construction of three new schools without closing or consolidating existing schools. Kenya has secured more free speech protections for teachers and fought to improve teacher retention, a longstanding problem within the city. Kenya successfully sought to protect funding for Richmond Public Schools and helped to defeat the costly $1.5 billion real estate tax-funded Dominion Coliseum redevelopment plan. She pushed the School Board to adopt good governance policies that promote transparency, engagement, and a needs based budget. 

Yet despite Kenya Gibson’s substantive record – or, arguably, because of it — a group of parents, many aligned with the policies and initiatives of Mayor Stoney, are positioning themselves as “integrationists” and challenging Kenya. The “integrationists” accuse Kenya, a consistent progressive champion in her community and a woman raised by a white mother and a Black father, of supporting the Confederacy, opposing LGBTQ rights, and opposing school integration. This effort is a strategy devised by political interests on behalf of the elite establishment.  

Certainly, there are some good faith actors who differ with Kenya’s policy choices. However, these individuals are not the driving force behind the campaign against her.  

In the era of Black Lives Matter, BIPOC communities — using their voices and with a sense of agency — articulate a vision of racial justice that combats systems and policies of oppression. Black Richmonders such as Kenya have a conception of racial justice that includes removing Confederate monuments and names, but they don’t allow the conversation to stop there. Kenya has spoken out against new prisons and argued for the removal of police from schools. She has pushed for an understanding of racial justice that moneyed interests and wealthy donors don’t like. Kenya has pushed for progressive taxation — raising taxes on the wealthy with an eye towards promoting high-quality fully funded schools, secure housing, robust transportation, and other public services. 

A people of color-centered justice movement has been hijacked and misappropriated by some white liberals who wish to center themselves and their own needs without authentically engaging with Black communities. Often it is those with privilege who have access to resources and power in our society who benefit most from a more superficial understanding of racism. Non-profits reliant on funding from the wealthy can often reproduce a superficial understanding. Who benefits when racial justice is not about policy and systems, but rather about symbols or individuals engaged in self-help? Often, it’s professional-class white liberals who then get to feel good about themselves while ultimately leaving the power structure intact. In the end, their actions work against the very values they claim to champion.

Many of those engaged in this attempt to smear Kenya are supporters of Mayor Stoney and the Navy Hill Development/Dominion Coliseum proposal that Kenya helped defeat. Mayor Stoney has contributed to and endorsed Kenya’s opponent. Others are white parents newer to the district, who don’t seem to fully grapple with the contradiction of demands that the school system be responsive to their racial justice analysis in the absence of a well-funded broader inclusive process, where all parents are engaged. It’s a context where the form of racial justice can lose the content. 

Examining the specific accusations made against Kenya reveals how deliberately misleading her detractors have been. 

Cindy Menz-Erb, an ally of Mayor Stoney who lost to Kenya in a 2017 special election, wrote an email to an exclusive group of Third District parents making outlandish and categorically false assertions. The same assertions later appeared on a flyer for the suspicious and newly formed “Northside Parents Collective.” We know that these items would be disturbing if true, so they’re worth debunking.

For starters, Kenya’s detractors have accused her of being pro-Confederate because she was the lone vote against the renaming of J.E.B. Stuart Elementary — named for a Confederate general — in honor of Barack Obama. The context behind Kenya’s vote is that she wanted more time to consider renaming the school after local Richmond leaders, such as civil rights attorney Oliver Hill, or Albert Norrell, who was one of the first Black principals in Richmond. Kenya’s position echoed that of longtime community members who spoke out against the renaming process.

Image via Support Richmond Public Schools Facebook Group

Critics also accused Kenya of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment for opposing a revised student dress code, which was more equitable for gender nonconforming students, within the Student Code of Responsible Ethics (SCORE). Kenya in fact supported the changes to the dress code for LGBTQ+ students, but voted against the SCORE document because it failed to address disciplinary procedures that, in practice, criminalize normal childhood behavior.

Further, Kenya is accused of being an integration foe because she opposed pairing, a severely flawed model for school integration. As part of Richmond’s rezoning process, Superintendent Jason Kamras and some school board members pushed the idea of school pairing as a strategy for creating a more diverse student body. Under pairing, a school district takes a majority-white school and a majority-Black school, both of which serve Kindergarten through 5th grade, and pools the students. One of the schools is then assigned to the K-2 students in the pool, and the other school to grades 3-5. 

The pairing idea for Kenya’s Third District — actually a tripling — would have combined three K-5 schools: Linwood Holton Elementary, which has a 55 percent Black and 45 percent white student enrollment, and Barack Obama Elementary and Ginter Park Elementary, both of which are more than 90 percent Black. The plan would have turned Obama and Ginter Park into K-2 schools, and Holton into a 3-5 school. 

It is true that pairing had some support from parents legitimately interested in racial justice. That acknowledged, pairing is a model that is in conflict with what we know are best practices for education. Public education advocates have pushed for a community schools model precisely because it promotes parental involvement. Pairing would have made parental involvement more difficult for those families who don’t have access to transportation and who work jobs that don’t afford them flexibility — in other words, the burdens of pairing would have fallen heavily upon Black working-class families. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District is one of the only school districts in the country that has attempted pairing. The superintendent who pushed it there, Clayton Wilcox, was suspended and ultimately resigned over a pattern of racist and sexist remarks. Parents have spoken out about the effect of pairing disproportionately burdening working-class families 

Superintendent Kamras falsely characterized pairing as a method of integration and likened those who had concerns about pairing to racist Jim Crow segregationists. Ultimately, he was unable to convince any school board member to back a pairing effort in their own district, yet tried to put Kenya on the spot and force the plan in Northside. Community members saw Superintendent Kamras pushing a policy lacking a track record and characteristically short on details, such as costs and what transportation would look like. Also lacking was data on the long-term impact the transition of pairing would bring on already traumatized and stressed children. Worst of all, white parents were centered in the discussions on pairing, while Black parents were misled, delayed, or altogether kept out of the process.

Here is a point we must emphasize: While integration must be understood as a tactic of achieving racial justice, integration itself is not necessarily a racial justice silver bullet. At the time of Brown v. Board of Education, integration was a tactic the NAACP used to intervene in the various components of white supremacist infrastructure. Their strategy was not based on the notion that the habits of poor Black people could only improve if they were exposed to the “middle-class” values of white people, or that diversity is a valuable pedagogical device. Rather, the NAACP understood the dynamics of white supremacist budget priorities that “separate but equal” school districts for white and Black students made it politically impossible for Black students to receive the necessary funding.

This should be instructive then in identifying the criteria to evaluate whether integration efforts are advancing racial justice and representing the transformation we need. Who does it place as the central protagonist? Does it reproduce existing power relations or transform them? Does it result in more overall funding for schools? Does it result in a gain in the resources being spent on students of color?

Kenya has stood up for parents, students, and teachers against an initiative she viewed as lacking in transparency, poorly thought through, and lacking consideration of the perspective of educators, as well as a significant representation of RPS parents. Kenya has extensively experienced and considered the role racism plays in schools, and remains a stalwart advocate of integration done well, led first and foremost by the communities integration is supposed to serve. Her commitment to racial justice is reflected in her endorsements by The Richmond Crusade for Voters, Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters, Richmond For All, and others.

Kenya Gibson is what real social justice leadership looks like: substance over symbolism. She has won funding for students, supported community schools as a formula for success, defeated efforts that infringe on democratic governance, and made Black Lives Matter at Richmond Public Schools. Since Kenya’s positions are popular, adversaries attempt to challenge her with harmful statements and false accusations. We see through it, and we are confident voters in the Third District will as well. 

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect editorial policy.

Top Photo: Kenya Gibson speaking at a Justice & Reformation Fish Fry at Marcus-David Peters Circle. Photo by Kristin Reed.

Standing Up For Racial Equity In Schools

|

Topics: , , , , , ,

Henrico Justice, a group formed by current students and recent graduates of Henrico County Public Schools, is working to end systemic racism in their schools, one march at a time.

Henrico Justice, a local organization created by 18-year-old Godwin High School graduate Natalie Christensen, has held two rallies in support of the Black Lives Matter movement — one in June and the other on Saturday, July 11. Henrico Justice was created to inform the public about economic and racial inequity and disparities in the Henrico County Public School system, and hopefully create some positive changes. 

Christensen, who started the organization at the end of May, said Henrico Justice all began with a graphic she made about segregation in the county’s public schools. After it got a hefty amount of traction on social media, Christensen figured she would make a poster for a protest. This also drew a fair amount of attention online, and ultimately led to a group of about 20 former and current Henrico Public School students coming together. Now they are organizing their own protests to get the word out about inequity in the county. 

“I really wanted to mobilize students, because one of the main things that I noticed was how the school system isn’t equitable in HCPS,” Christensen said. 

Photo by Natalie Christensen

The first protest in June started at Matthew Robertson Park. The group marched to a location where the school board regularly meets on the east end of Henrico County. According to Henrico Justice member Tani Washington, the protest was held in this location because the group wanted to “cater to those who were being most affected by the inequities.”

According to Christensen and Washington, the inequities they are referring to stem from the differences in the ways the West End and East End are dealt with by the Henrico County school board. As of now, Washington said, the HCPS school board reports that more money is spent per student on schools on the East End; however, the West End has more resources. 

“Schools on the West End have more facilities, more resources and more opportunities for students,” Washington said. “Those students on the West End are predominantly white.”

This issue with the lack of diversity on the West End is one of many additional obstacles Henrico Justice is trying to tackle. According to Christensen, one of their goals as an organization is to help make the demographics of each HCPS school match the overall student profile within Henrico County. Right now, the student profile of HCPS appears as if though it’s diverse; it reports 37.1 percent of students are white, 35.3 percent are Black, and smaller percentages make up other races. 

However, Christensen said, if you look at the makeup of individual schools within the county, the majority of high schools are over 50 percent one race, either Black or white — a situation that amounts to de facto segregation. Christensen said she plans to introduce the idea of redistricting the middle part of Henrico County, so there would be more diversity throughout the county without having to make students travel from one side of the county to the other. 

Photo by Natalie Christensen

“We just know that students do better in diverse environments,” Christensen said. “Because of the disparities and in wealth between East and West Ends, it just makes schools really inequitable.”

The students of Henrico Justice are not in this fight alone. Teachers, faculty members, staff members, and other organizations such as the NAACP of Henrico have joined the students in protest or served as liaisons to help get the ball rolling. 

“Of course, rallies and marches are great, but those are sort of demonstrative in terms of getting the movement started,” Washington said. “The movement really is going to continue into the school year.”

The protest on July 11 consisted of masked individuals marching from Short Pump Park to Short Pump Town Center and back again. Performers and speakers joined the protesters. According to Christensen, over 100 people came to show their support. For the students of Henrico Justice, keeping groups this large united and organized has been a complicated endeavor.

“It’s definitely been a challenge,” Christensen said. “We are trying to disrupt, but also keep it safe.”

Photo by Natalie Christensen

As far as their goals for the future, Taylor White, who recently took over leading the group as Christensen prepared to go to college in California in the fall, said they’re planning more protests for the future. They intend to continue protesting until they get a response from the Henrico School Board. White also said she wants to begin to transition Henrico Justice into an organization that engages in community service initiatives. They welcome anyone who wants to help fight the good fight. 

“I think Henrico Justice could be a great way for students outside of school, completely detached from HCPS, to have a space to voice their thoughts with each other and connect with other schools across the county,” Washington said.

Top Photo by Natalie Christensen

Adding Fuel To The Fire

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A polarizing petition circulated on the first day of school by state Senator Glen Sturtevant has local school and government officials outraged.

Tuesday, September 3 was the first day of school for Richmond Public Schools, a day that is generally fun and memorable for students and their families. But at Mary Munford and William Fox Elementary Schools, back-to-school excitement was overshadowed by a campaign tactic used by Republican Virginia state Senator Glen Sturtevant, who is up for re-election in November.

That morning, Sturtevant campaign workers met arriving students and parents at Munford and Fox with petitions they were encouraging the parents to sign. Entitled “Save Our Neighborhood Schools,” the petition had been drafted by Sturtevant himself, and stated that “State Senator Glen Sturtevant strongly opposes the rezoning of Mary Munford Elementary and Fox Elementary.”

The petition referred to “pairing” proposals currently being considered by the Richmond School Board, some of which would combine the student bodies of William Fox Elementary, which is 60 percent white, and John B. Cary Elementary, which is 83 percent black. This combined student body would then attend Fox for kindergarten through 2nd grade, and attend Cary for 3rd through 5th grades. Another pairing proposal would combine Munford’s student body, which is 72 percent white, with that of Cary.

In a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch column, Michael Paul Williams pointed out that the title of Sturtevant’s petition carries heavy historical implications. Williams writes that “S.O.N.S.” was an acronym commonly seen on bumper stickers used in local opposition to the crosstown bussing proposals of the 1970’s, which sought to end de facto segregation that had persisted for more than a decade after Brown v. Board of Education.

Richmond School Board Chair Dawn Page and School Board member Scott Barlow told VPM that they feel the Senator’s actions are unwelcome and intrusive. School Board Vice Chair Liz Doerr expressed her distaste and concern for the actions in a public FaceBook post that evening, calling it an “election year stunt,” and Mayor Levar Stoney echoed this sentiment, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Sturtevant’s petition says that the rezoning proposals are “wrong for our schools.” However, his petition only mentions Munford and Fox. “Developing a petition specifically for Mary Munford and Fox, the whitest and most affluent schools in the city, was race baiting and political posturing,” said Doerr. “I would like to remind the Senator and his campaign team that he represents many other schools in Richmond that will be impacted by this plan other than just Fox and Munford.”

Mary Munford Elementary School, via RVAschools.net

Along with the announcement of his petition on Tuesday, Sturtevant’s office sent out a press release detailing legislation he planned to propose in the General Assembly. The legislation Sturtevant proposed in his petition would require a voter referendum before a school rezoning plan can be enacted — despite the fact that rezoning is already one of the main tasks that school board officials are elected and expected to do.

The Senator will not, however, be able to propose new legislation until January of 2020 when the next General Assembly session begins — and his ability to propose legislation depends on his first winning re-election in November. Meanwhile, Richmond’s school board plans to vote on rezoning by the end of this year.

Richmond’s School Board has worked to include the community throughout the rezoning process, holding community meetings several times a month all across the city since August and utilizing an online feedback form for taking public comments.

With Richmond Public Schools enrollment expected to increase 6.6 percent within a decade, the plan to rezone is an effort to alleviate overcrowding at schools. It is also meant to remedy educational and fiscal disparities between city school districts due to the breakdown of racial diversity. RPS employed consulting company Cropper GIS to craft the rezoning proposals, and the first two of the four options were announced in July. Almost all of the proposals involve some pairing of local elementary schools.

The negative responses from parents in Fox Elementary’s district in particular led Richmond City Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras to characterize some of the backlash as “Massive Resistance 2.0” in a Twitter post. However, more recent responses on the RPS feedback form have seen an increase in support. Still, the issue remains divisive in Richmond — and with his petition, Sturtevant has taken a definitive stance on one side of the divide.

Some see the petition’s rhetoric as ironic, since Sturtevant’s own stint on the Richmond School Board, which lasted from 2012 until 2016, is associated with the controversial 2013 rezoning plan that resulted in the closure of Clark Springs Elementary, which had the effect of increasing de facto segregation within Richmond’s school system.

After the closing, former Clark Springs students were rezoned for Cary, making that school less than 25 percent white. Students from the Museum district, predominantly an affluent, white community, had formerly attended Cary Elementary prior to the new zoning, but in the 2013 plan, those students were rezoned for Fox. This raised white enrollment at Fox from 65 percent to over 75 of the student body, according to data from a 2016 University of Richmond study.

The Richmond School Board in 2013. Sturtevant is in the middle of the back row. Photo via Glen Sturtevant/Facebook

The UR study found that white-black segregation in Richmond elementary schools rose from a rate of 65 percent to 70 percent under the new zones created in 2013; it called the plan “a rapid, politically charged and resegregative school closure and elementary school rezoning process.” And a 2013 Style Weekly article reported that Sturtevant, along with another school board member, Kim Gray, privately asked Matthew Cropper of Cropper GIS to draft a third rezoning proposal over one weekend in May, right before the board was due to vote. This was the plan that was ultimately adopted — the plan that increased de facto segregation in Richmond City Public Schools.

Sturtevant was sued in 2013 by Kimberly Johnson Jones, a parent in the district that accused him and other school board members of conducting private dealings that resulted in an unfair protection of white enrollment. The case was eventually dismissed when Jones moved out of the district, but significant evidence had been presented. Court documents indicate that Sturtevant sent private emails disclosing details of his plan to his allies on the board, leaving four other members in the dark. Evidence was also entered indicating that Sturtevant and Gray had private phone calls with Cropper leading up to the creation of the final proposal.

Ghazala Hashmi, who is running against Sturtevant in the upcoming state Senatorial election this November, is quick to point out this history. She asserted that the petition is simply a stunt that Sturtevant is using to divert attention from his complicated past as a school board member, as well as his Republican-aligned voting record in the Senate, which she claims has undermined funding for public education. “He’s trying to hamstring local school board members from doing their jobs,” said Hashmi. “As a Richmond-area educator of 25 years and a mom who sent both of her daughters to public school here, this issue is deeply personal to me. I am committed to ensuring that all of our schools have robust and equitable funding so that every child is afforded the same opportunities, regardless of their zip code.”

With many public officials on record expressing distaste for Sturtevant’s petition, the rezoning discussion is clearly going to remain a pertinent talking point leading up to the Senatorial election on November 5. Hashmi has strong words for the incumbent. “If he wants to do the job of a school board member, he should go back to running for school board. As a Senator I will do what Sturtevant has not: stand up for teachers, students, and Central Virginia families by prioritizing and expanding funding for public schools.”

Top Photo via Mary Munford Elementary School/Facebook