RICHMOND, Va. -- As Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney called out the school board for its response to low SOL scores across the district, the board's Vice Chair said his criticism of the board was an "unproductive" PR stunt.
One week before the start of the new school year, Linwood Holton Elementary mom, Theresa Kennedy, said she felt frazzled by the controversy surrounding RPS' academic achievement.
“It’s a lot of chaos and dysfunction," Kennedy said. “I think we need to be focused on getting kids back to school safely.”
Statewide, data from the Virginia Department of Education revealed SOL scores remained below pre-pandemic levels. But while nearly every school district saw gains in 2021-2022 from the peak pandemic days of 2020-2021, RPS continued declining.
About two-thirds of Richmond students failed writing, history, science, and math.
“To pretend like anyone should be thriving at this point feels a little gaslighty. It feels like we're ignoring the effects of the past two and a half years," Kennedy said.
Her perspective aligned with that of Superintendent Jason Kamras, who told CBS 6 Thursday that the scores were a reflection of the impacts of COVID-19.
But the chairwoman of the Richmond School Board, Dr. Shonda Harris Muhammed said the "devastating decrease to student achievement" cannot only be attributed to the pandemic. She supported calls for an emergency school board meeting Tuesday night to discuss the SOL scores and the "depressing state of affairs with student data."
“I feel like this is being politicized," Kennedy said. "But what's being politicized is how well RPS kids did on standardized tests. That's not okay."
Making it even more political, Mayor Stoney weighed in on Twitter Monday calling out the school board for how it has responded to the SOL data.
Mayor Stoney reiterated his disappointment that the board didn't adopt a year-round calendar to combat pandemic learning loss. The mayor also pointed to the fact that RPS prolonged virtual learning and the community was traumatized by COVID-19, which both contributed to low scores.
While admitting RPS' achievement was "alarming," he added an emergency meeting is unnecessary.
“I think that the mayor needs to cut it with the theatrics. I think anybody in the city who saw those scores agrees that this is an emergency," said School Board Vice Chair Kenya Gibson. “If he wants to dictate how we operate as a school board, he should run for the school board. And if he's not going to run for the school board, then he can support us by providing us with the resources that we need.”
Gibson called Stoney's tweets a PR stunt and encouraged him to address systemic inequities that directly impact education.
"This hysteric— It's just not productive. It's a shame because there are opportunities that the mayor could really help," Gibson said. "Let's ensure that we have affordable housing in place and that we're able to keep our families here and stable so that their kids are able to do what they need to do when they're in school."
Mayor Stoney also addressed "disconcerting" rumors that the board may take action to fire Superintendent Jason Kamras, calling it a "catastrophic" move before the school year.
On Friday, Harris-Muhammed said personnel matters would be discussed in closed session after Tuesday's special meeting and that any changes to district leadership would be left to the "will of the board."
However, Gibson said removing Kamras is not an option at this time.
“We need a superintendent that is able to meet our needs as a district, and we have a high-needs district. I can also say though, as a parent, I have no intentions of firing the superintendent a week before the start of school," Gibson said.
But 4th District School Board member Jonathan Young said the board will propose "major changes" to "multiple positions" including the organizational chart of division management.
Gibson agreed.
"I think that we just need to make sure that we're organized in order to be able to operate effectively," Gibson said.
As for what will be discussed Tuesday, Gibson said she'd like to talk about policies surrounding technology usage and concerns related to the curriculum.
"I do think it was a miss changing the curriculum right on the heels of the pandemic. Teachers were learning to teach virtually, and then now forced to use new materials. The new curriculum is pretty scripted which means that you're taking away the ability for teachers to be able to pivot and customize the lesson plans to really meet the needs of their students," Gibson said.
Kennedy said she hopes the board also reflects on how its priorities as a governing body have impacted student success.
"I don't think that anyone in this scenario has done anything perfectly. The board hasn't done things perfectly. The superintendent hasn't done things perfectly. Guess what? It's all of our first global pandemic," Kennedy said. "Don't go into a meeting that's called last minute and make seismic changes to how the schools function. That's not good for anyone. The board's got to stop shifting the ground that our kids are trying to walk on and then wondering why it's not working."
While the mayor also suggested the board hasn't prioritized student achievement during its biweekly meetings, Gibson defended the board's actions, highlighting emergencies that needed to be addressed throughout the year.
"I believe that the work that the board has been doing is very much focused on student achievement. I mean, we had a building (Fox Elementary) burn down. We had a bus depot burn down."
She added the board also had to deal with controversy over cold, pre-packaged lunches at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, "All of those things impact student achievement. Students can't learn if they're hungry."
Meanwhile, other members of the board were less eager for Tuesday's meeting, including 9th District Representative Nicole Jones who warned her colleagues not to jump to conclusions so soon.
“We just have to be mindful that we don't want to react," Jones said. "I do think that it is important to have a candid discussion about where we are as a division.”
Additionally, 1st District Representative Liz Doerr sided with the mayor that the emergency meeting is creating unnecessary drama.
"We need to work together as a board and superintendent team to figure out how we address learning loss during the pandemic. Pitting the school board against the superintendent via an emergency meeting just one week before school starts does not foster unity or teamwork. It’s political posturing and creating drama we don’t need. I hope in the future we can take the time to actually come up with a game plan together as a team rather than pointing fingers," Doerr said.
She said the board should unpack SOL data but added more context is needed to understand what the results mean.
"Yes it is true that RPS has a long way to go in improving its SOL pass rates but looking at static data doesn’t tell the whole story. For example, it doesn’t tell the story that our drop on math was less than the overall statewide drop in math," Doerr said.
A spokesperson for Kamras declined to comment.
CBS 6 also requested an interview with Mayor Stoney, but a spokesperson said he was unavailable.
