Richmond School Board approves Dream4RPS final draft

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — During its Monday night meeting, the Richmond City School Board approved the final draft of its Dream4RPS plan — a list of goals for Richmond Public Schools (RPS) which includes increasing staff pay, improving graduation rates and addressing bus driver shortages.

Dream4RPS plan outlines 10 goals — the three main priorities being academics, graduation rate and school ratings under the Virginia Department of Education’s (VDOE) new accountability system. Richmond’s public schools lead the state with 24 of its 54 schools already fully accredited.

“We’ve made great strides,” District Nine Representative Shavonda Fernandez said. “Highest number of accredited schools in 10 years, leading the state is impressive. Massive gains across all schools and indicators are wonderful.”

Some critics of the department’s new system said they’re worried it will disproportionally impact schools in low-income areas, but RPS officials said accreditation will show which schools need extra support.

At the meeting, school officials also addressed the issues involving the school district’s busses, which have included a COVID-19 surge among drivers in August , drivers getting paid late in September and students being left at their bus stops in the morning . Officials said they are continuing efforts to improve on-time arrival rates for the school district’s busses.

School board members said the Dream4RPS plan is ambitious but realistic and will be carried out over the next five years. The only member who did not approve the plan was Third District Representative Kenya Gibson, who said it was because it doesn’t have a budget yet.

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