RICHMOND, Va. -- Several Richmond School Board members are pushing back against Richmond Public Schools (RPS) Superintendent Jason Kamras's recently proposed Care and Safety Plan.
They said the plan was missing major components.
RPS Chief of Student Wellness Renesha Parks and Director of Care & Safety John Beazley presented the 15-point plan at Monday night's board meeting, listing recommendations for things like more metal detector wands and X-ray scanners, a new cell phone policy, and a third-party safety review from Richmond Fire and Police.
However, some school board members said the presentation, which listed the estimated cost and funding sources for each recommendation, was not enough.
"It seems like this presentation is a band-aid," School Board member Mariah White, who represents the 2nd District, said.
School Board Kenya Gibson, who represents the 3rd District, said there were inadequate recommendations about securing side doors.
"There's no mention of side doors in this document," Gibson said. "And let's be frank, there is a possibility that a gun got into the Altria Theater through a side door. I have not seen any evidence that said it didn't."
According to the 15-point plan, roughly six new "School Support Aides" would be hired to assist with morning arrivals and afternoon dismissals, as well as maintaining sight supervision in designated areas in school, escorting students in hallways, and checking hall passes.
The presentation reads that the idea was "borne out of our experience at Wythe where students would at times leave the building unnoticed given the large number of exits and limited monitoring personnel."
White mentioned the gray areas of increased metal detection and weapon scanning.
"All weapons can't be detected by metal detectors, and there are some guns that cannot be, also, which are ghost guns," she commented during the meeting.
Another recommendation included a third-party safety review from Richmond Police, Fire, and EMS.
Gibson said there were past incidents of safety departments giving recommendations to the school district, which she said were not followed up with changes.
"The stakes are high, and I have to believe that if there was a free way to keep our kids safe before, we would've done it by now," Gibson said. "So, do I believe passing it on to someone else is sufficient? No, I do not."
School Board member Dawn Page, who represents the 8th District, said she supported the third-party review.
"Schools can't solve everything, but I see those three entities, and possibly more, providing insight, that 'thinking outside the box' level of expertise," Page said. "I see this as a collaboration and I see this as a good thing."
Several school board members also brought up the lack of information about how to safely transition students in Richmond's Alternative School (RAS) to their home schools, as well as support for students with special needs.
Others were in agreement that the school board needs more information on safety training, noting that safety training should be required for roles at every staff and administrative level.
"We need training," White said. "Everyone needs training. Even this board. I saw it from the incident, of Huguenot."
School Board member Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed, who represents the 6th district, called for a third-party investigation into the events that led up to and occurred at the Hugenot High School graduation shooting in early June.
CBS 6 reached out to every school board member for comment following the school board meeting Monday night.
Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed sent a statement to CBS6, saying in part: "The 15-point safety plan that was submitted last evening was lengthy, an overload of information, and it lacked substance in my opinion. It did not include how we are moving forward with handling our graduations to identify a point, it provided a summary of information of what the administration would like to do, however for me, the plan moving forward must address the missing links and clearly identify how the plan will address student to student behaviors."
A new plan will be presented to the board with immediate action items and top safety priorities next month.
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