RICHMOND, Va -- The first day of school can bring with it a nervous anticipation of what’s to come for students and teachers alike.
During the first day of classes at Richmond Public Schools, a sense of the unknown provoked very different emotions for two people directly involved in day one of school.
Tan Mosby’s son is starting 4th grade at Bellevue Elementary School in Church Hill. She says her first-day excitement was dampered when she learned RPS would no longer provide transportation to after school child care facilities, like the Boy’s and Girl’s Club.
RPS officials said they made the decision to stop providing in-kind transportation to after school facilities because it was too expensive to maintain when the district faces a multi-million dollar budget deficit.
Mosby said she was not contacted about the change and feels like a ball has been dropped right off the bat this school year.
"As a city, I think we should be able to alleviate some of that burden off our parents,” said Mosby. “It’s a slap in the face because once again education has taken a punch, and that’s the biggest system we should support.”
"We realize that this may be an inconvenience or adjustment for some of our families, however we can no longer afford to provide this service,” said RPS spokesperson Kenita D. Bowers. "It should also be noted that none of the other surrounding school divisions provide transportation for their after school programs.”
Mosby said she would hope the school district and their after school partners could find some way working out the transportation to and from school. For now, employees at the Boys and Girls Club location Mosby’s son goes to after school said a 15-passenger van would be picking kids up after school.
The unexpected moments of the first day brought a much different feel to another Richmond elementary school only a few blocks away. David Peck,
David Peck, first-year principal at Chimborazo Elementary -- one of eight new principals at RPS -- said school staff across the metro have been working all summer to make day one go as smoothly as possible.
"The first day is super hectic. An administrator's day is 70 percent unexpected,” Peck, who joins RPS after working in Prince William County Schools for several years, said. "Students come into the building to learn, and they are learning in vastly different ways than you and I learned growing up."
"Make it applicable and relevant so that when they are getting out into society they are positive members of society," he added.
If Peck’s first day on the job was not busy enough, the principal also took over CBS 6’s Instagram page as a part of #CBS6takeovertuesday. Below are some of the behind the scenes highlights of his first day of school at Chimborazo Elementary.
