Virginia Department of Education

Richmond’s public schools are deep into the 2018-2019 semester, with midterm exams on the horizon for some, and the long shadow cast by the condition of the city’s education hanging over all.

That condition, detailed in a report released on September 27 by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), revealed that less than half of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) met the state education standards required to be awarded accreditation. Additional data released by VDOE also showed RPS had statewide lows in on-time graduation rates and attendance, and statewide highs in dropout and absentee rates at a middle school and high school level. The sole omission was George Washington Carver Elementary, who became embroiled in a cheating scandal earlier this year.

For Gladys Wilder, a retired teacher with 30 years of experience in RPS primary, correctional, exceptional and special education that includes establishing an annual “book tasting” event at Swansboro Elementary, the effort to meet state standards is still fresh in mind.

“It was a struggle to get there. But Swansboro broke out because of leadership,” Wilder said. “I mean local leadership, in-school leadership, principals and assistant principals. It was a whole school effort.”

“No child, no human learns the same way. There’s no box where you can put every child and this is it. Our philosophy, and I’m sure the philosophy now, is every child can learn, every child can achieve. You just have to meet that child where it is.”

RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras seems to share some of Wilder’s beliefs. In a statement published following the report’s release, Kamras was adamant that any cause for the data’s findings didn’t come from the learning ability of RPS’s students, instead serving as “a reflection of our failure to provide them with the education they deserve.”

My administration is committed to changing this – once and for all – for every young person in RPS, Kamras said.

Wilder, for her part, stressed the importance of not placing guilt for educational failures on individual error, including parents and educators, something she felt may been implied in the wording of Kamras’ response.

“To me, is that like placing the blame on those who are in the trenches, the teachers? I will not do that,” Wilder said, instead drawing attention to the curriculums teachers are expected to abide by — and may occasionally have to veer away from to ensure all students learn what they need.

True to her skillset, Wilder referenced Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade in describing this situation RPS teachers are placed in.

“There’s blame all over,” Wilder said.

The state requirements for accreditation, recently updated in 2017, include increases in academic performance and decreases in failures in advancement, with special focus for high schools on absenteeism, graduation and dropout rates, in addition to the Standards of Learning (SOL) pass rates that were the sole criteria for accreditation in the past.

The continued presence of SOLs, and the challenges they bring to education, was a point of concern for both Wilder and Sharonda Ragland, an instructor in Virginia Union University’s Department of Mathematics.

“We need to stop teaching to the test,” Wilder said. “If you just teach to the test, and if the words in the test are not what you’re teaching, the kids are going to fail. Teach the child.”

Joining the conversation, Ragland adds, “And they don’t learn at the same rates, but they’re expected to take a standardized test that all of them may not be prepared for.”

Just because it works for one doesn’t mean it’s going to work for all. You’ve got to see what works for your school.

The topic of preparation for students is one Ragland is familiar with, serving last year in a math and science summer program designed to act as a “stepping stone” to college-level coursework for high school students, complete with college credit, improved study habits and early connections with other students. Virginia Union is also home to the Upward Bound program, offering graduating high school students in the RPS system a brief but direct experience at college-level courses and residential life.

Referring to her experience in the summer program, Ragland said, “The ones that have come in through that bridge seem to retain better versus the ones just coming from high school to college without any preparation. It makes a difference.”

The question of how RPS moves forward following this report is one with a number of answers. Tinkhani Ushe White, Ed.D., whose experience stretches from RPS teacher to principal in the Henrico County Public School system to School Improvement Specialist with Chesterfield Public Schools, suggests a path forward may lie in greater cooperation between state authorities, school divisions and the schools themselves. However, White acknowledges the difficulty this method may have with solving “issues outside the school’s control,” like absenteeism or poverty.

“The big thing there is for schools divisions and states to work hand in hand with their schools to try to figure out the issues that are preventing schools from reaching those minimum benchmarks, and then working to supply those needs and close those gaps,” White said.

Gary Broderick, an advocate for Richmond education and School Board candidate in Richmond’s 7th District, had his own ideas in his diagnosis of what he described as a “moral crisis for our city” in a statement to RVA Mag. Broderick wrote that fair funding and compensation should serve as parts of creating an ”atmosphere of support that makes long term investment in RPS a sustainable choice for teachers.”

Gary Broderick, School Board Candidate. Photo by Gary Broderick

“The path forward is clear,” Broderick wrote. “We must exert the political courage to demand corporations pay their fair share of taxes, so that we can staff our schools properly and wholly counteract the racist and systemic defunding of our schools.”

Some measure of Broderick’s recommendation may be coming to RPS, as Richmond City Council prepares for an uphill battle in requesting greater state support for public education as part of the city’s legislative package during the upcoming General Assembly session.

“We must teach each child the values of empathy and communication that are at the core of the kindness, mindfulness, integrity, and leadership, which can only be taught by example.”

Those words were spoken by First Lady Melania Trump two months ago at the United Nations. Does she know who her husband is?

In Virginia and across the country, educators have been reporting a disturbing rise in hate-filled bullying among students of all ages, from the youngest in grade-school to college students. While bullying has a long history in American classrooms, the current surge stands out both for the similarity of its targets—Muslim students, immigrants and children of immigrants, children of color, girls, Jews—and the language used against them. And educators have a shared theory as to the cause: Donald Trump and the degraded discourse of our society.

The evidence is abundant. Indeed, the Southern Poverty Law Center has concluded the “Trump effect” is helping to create “an alarming level of fear and anxiety” in children and “inflaming racial and ethnic tensions” in America’s classrooms.

According to the Virginia Department of Education, there were 2,694 incidents of bullying during the 2015-2016 school year. Bullying certainly isn’t isolated to the commonwealth. This past June, BuzzFeed reported that it confirmed 54 cases across 26 states, including a number of incidents in which students were harassed with references to Trump’s proposed border wall.

In one incident reported by BuzzFeed, a third grader chased a Latina student around the classroom yelling “build the wall!” In another, an eighth grader said to a black classmate: “Now that Trump won, you’re going to have to go back to Africa, where you belong.” The Commonwealth has taken some action recently, passing legislation this summer. HB 1709 was introduced by Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax). It requires school principals to notify the parent of any student involved in an alleged incident of bullying of the status of any investigation within five school days of the allegation. Still, much more work needs to be done.

“Bullying is only getting worse and it’s driving young children to suicide,” says Miranda Bash, a QMHP A-C (qualified mental health professional) in Richmond. Parents don’t always know everything about their children. I say that from experience.”

Many families across the Commonwealth can relate. One Richmond family, originally from Mexico, have reported that their son has been taunted frequently at school. Being called a “churro,” getting threatened with “the wall;” this is the environment children are forced to deal with now.

All too often, these children suffer in silence. One local songwriter, Tyler Layne, is trying to change that.

“In high school, I went through a lot of bullying,” Layne told me in our interview. “Being bullied in school and online, put a lot of pressure on me,” Tyler kept everything he was dealing with inside, knowing things could get worse, “I just didn’t want to talk about it.”

Things did indeed get worse, with Layne dealing with worsening depression, “I just didn’t value my life.” By junior year of high school, Layne “didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning.” Fast forward two years, and Layne began work on his latest single, “Breathe.”

“The song is me reflecting on that time in my life,” he said. Layne told me that by sharing his story, he can hopefully make people more comfortable sharing theirs. In fact, “Breathe” is Layne’s first time sharing his story, “even to my parents.” With this song, the songwriter wants people to know “it’s okay to not be okay.” To stress that point, Layne teamed up with the “Buddy Project,” a movement that aims to prevent suicide and self-harm by pairing people as buddies and raising awareness for mental health. Tyler started a chapter of the project at VCU. Together, they’re aiming to decrease the suicide rate by 20 percent by 2025.

Unfortunately, Trump is still president, with impressionable children everywhere seeing everything he does. First Lady Melania Trump, speaking at the U.N. this September, said, “By our own example, we must teach children to be good stewards of the world they will inherit.” As she should know, that lesson starts at home.

Top photo credit: Huffington Post

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