In Richmond, Schools Should Build Schools & Put Students First

Today I sent a draft resolution [included below] to change the way school construction projects are managed here in Richmond, and I want to share a bit about it.

So you probably know that the city and the schools are separate entities. This allows for democratic, community-based governance of our schools. But in Richmond when it comes to building schools — it gets a little muddy. Typically a school district has a few professionals on staff that work with the architects, engineers, and contractors to renovate schools and build new ones. For a district like ours with facilities needs like ours this would really make sense to do.

Right now the way it works in Richmond, the city issues all the RFPs, owns the contracts, and they are the ones to hire firms to design the projects, build the projects, and oversee the work. Then, when the school is done, the city turns the building over to the school district. It’s one of those things that’s the Richmond way — but not the way it’s done in most other places. It undermines school board authority, and can make school construction about political needs, not student needs.

In Richmond, city authority to manage school construction has meant overspending on external contractors to manage work that our District should have overseen. It has meant the district faced difficulty managing repairs for contracts that the city owned. It has meant using prototypes for school construction that don’t meet the needs of our district. It has meant promises of quick completion, mistakes caused by rushed work and then inevitable delays. Case in point, the three schools in progress right now were supposed to be completed last summer. Simply put, it has tied school construction to Richmond’s ever-shifting political dynamics. I don’t want to see that happen again.

Right now the city in the midst of debating the merits of another big development deal — this time, a casino. We know how this is going to play out. Last year we were told that we needed a coliseum in order to help the schools. Before that, we were told we needed a football training camp.

Well, I hate to speculate, but I don’t think it would surprise any of us if we’re told that we must vote for this casino if we care about our kids and that there are schools that just won’t be built unless we bet on this casino.

This is manipulation and it’s shameful. It’s just not right to build a casino here in Richmond so poor people can gamble the little they have to pay the rent while we convince ourselves we did something good.

So in November I’ll be voting against building a casino anywhere in Richmond. A casino is the wrong choice for every neighborhood in our city. And at our next meeting on Monday I’ll be making the case that schools should build schools. It’s time for the Board to take ownership of school construction so that we can ensure our students get the schools that they deserve.

Proposed resolution for schools to build schools in the City of Richmond

WHEREAS Richmond Public Schools has primary interest in the design of school facilities to meet the unique needs of city students and it is standard practice for school systems to oversee the design and construction of new school facilities throughout the commonwealth and nationally;

WHEREAS Virginia Code § 22.1–28 states “that the supervision of schools in each school division shall be vested in a school board” and residents in the city of Richmond democratically elect school board members to serve as the governing body of the school district;

WHEREAS Richmond Public Schools is solely responsible for the ongoing maintenance and operations of it’s school facilities and it’s operations are directly impacted by construction issues or delays;

WHEREAS in 2018 the Richmond School Board adopted a facilities plan to modernize school facilities, then estimated at $800 million, and as such has a definitive interest to oversee a competitive bidding process for the construction of new schools;

WHEREAS Richmond City Council adopted RESOLUTION №2018-R033 supporting oversight of the design and construction of public schools of the City of Richmond by the School Board of the City of Richmond, stating that it is in the best interests of the citizens of the City of Richmond for schools to build schools;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT; Richmond Public Schools will solely own and oversee the bidding, design, and construction process for future schools built in the city of Richmond.