There will be a community forum at Armstrong High School tonight at 6PM to address recent turmoil at the school [1][2].
12 comments
Prescott10/23/2008 at 5:55 PM
I have a deeper concern with the school system. If you were to do a poll with all of the teachers, principals and students, they will tell you that the Central Administration personal never visits the schools to see what is going on. I have been involved in the school system and never once heard of the superintendent or members of the cabinet coming into the schools and seeing what is going on. I have even been on the board and we invited the superintendent and she never responded to our request. On the other side, city council, mayors are always saying what the schools needs and they are never in the schools. I know we are always on the teachers and principals, but what are our leaders that run things doing to assist our schools.
After an hour of speeches, choir performances and computer presentations by school officials, mayoral candidate Del. Dwight Clinton Jones opened the public comment part of the night by pledging to join the school’s Citizen Advisory Group.
For the next hour, dozens of people took turns at the microphone, intoning on the need for more parental involvement and ways the community can pitch in. One man used his two minutes of floor time to argue that eliminating the death penalty would help solve the school’s problems.
While the forum appeared light on solutions, moderator Sylvester Turner, the director of the Hope in the Cities program, called it a success.
“Sometimes people have to dump stuff that’s heavy on their hearts,” he said. “Then you can work on more substantive issues.”
Standing with a stack of completed Promise forms, Roseboro said he was happy with the turnout at the forum. “It had persons stepping up and wanting to get involved.”
Jones, during his brief appearance, pledged his involvement.
So, too, did Kevin Chung, pastor at the Tabernacle of Praise.
After decrying the lack of male leadership in society, he said he would personally mentor 10 Armstrong students.
“And not just any 10,” he said. “Send me your 10 most difficult males.”
How did this issue go from 168 comments to only 2? Wasn’t the turnout overwhelming? What issues were brought up? What was the resolution? What got glossed over? Were any administrators held accountable? C’mon citizen media.
Did the Superintendent attend this forum? Which SB members were present? By definition the Superintendent is responsible for everything that occurs in the public schools citywide. Check out the duties of SB members, post #4 /2008/10/21/a-last-round-of-politicking/ .
What would be the first specific action to take to stop the violence and gang activity and make it where those scared students wanting to learn can return?
Re:post #3- You’re on to something. I suspect a lot of laptop bitching doesn’t turn into actual community action. I hope I’m wrong, but my guess is that few of those who commented on “Art Burton calls for action.” made it to this forum.
I was really disappointed with the principle’s statement. He claimed there are no gangs, which is absolutely untrue.
We have to clean up the neighborhood. This Saturday at my son’s football game at Oakwood, the game was broken up by a shooting. These warring gangs of teens of destroying our neighborhood. Nothing can change until we acknowledge that there are there, they do exist, and we need to stop any more children from following that path.
The game was between Chimborazo (Church Hill) and Powahatan (Fulton). The rivalry between the gangs in these two neighborhoods is well-known. Ask the police. The kids that were involved were 15 – 19 years old.
Question for anyone who attended the community forum at Armstrong , did I hear Councilwomen Robinson say that Richmond poverty rate was so high that people had no other chose but to committee crime to survive ?
You know I am outraged. I have 2 brothers attending Armstrong. They unfortunately left the county and returned to Richmond due to economic status. I teach in the county but I am very familiar with Richmond. I taught briefly in Richmond and Henrico.
We need to put the pressure on the school board to assist administrators in cleaning up the situation. Some students just need to “go” until alternative programs can be developed. The school board needs to stop sitting back allowing the troublemakers to wreak havoc in the schools. Someone needs to take a stand. I am fed up. As a result, I have made the decision to remove my brothers from the school before next school year and send them to the county where I now teach because I have tremendous support!
I am a retired teacher from Harlem. New York and I have seen the same type of moral destruction go on there. If they destroy our children then we have no future. It seems like no one cares that these children are allowed to destroy their opportunities for an education and a better future. Why can this be turned around? How can we best sserve these children? It seems like they ( the children) have a right to be angry but we need to offer them a way out of all of these mess. They are important to our tomorrow and it starts today.
12 comments
I have a deeper concern with the school system. If you were to do a poll with all of the teachers, principals and students, they will tell you that the Central Administration personal never visits the schools to see what is going on. I have been involved in the school system and never once heard of the superintendent or members of the cabinet coming into the schools and seeing what is going on. I have even been on the board and we invited the superintendent and she never responded to our request. On the other side, city council, mayors are always saying what the schools needs and they are never in the schools. I know we are always on the teachers and principals, but what are our leaders that run things doing to assist our schools.
Community vows to lend support to Armstrong High School (10/24/08)
How did this issue go from 168 comments to only 2? Wasn’t the turnout overwhelming? What issues were brought up? What was the resolution? What got glossed over? Were any administrators held accountable? C’mon citizen media.
It didn’t. All the comments are under the “Art Burton calls for action” thread (see link #2 in brackets above).
Did the Superintendent attend this forum? Which SB members were present? By definition the Superintendent is responsible for everything that occurs in the public schools citywide. Check out the duties of SB members, post #4 /2008/10/21/a-last-round-of-politicking/ .
What would be the first specific action to take to stop the violence and gang activity and make it where those scared students wanting to learn can return?
Re:post #3-
You’re on to something. I suspect a lot of laptop bitching doesn’t turn into actual community action. I hope I’m wrong, but my guess is that few of those who commented on “Art Burton calls for action.” made it to this forum.
Please tell me I’m wrong and give us an update!
I was really disappointed with the principle’s statement. He claimed there are no gangs, which is absolutely untrue.
We have to clean up the neighborhood. This Saturday at my son’s football game at Oakwood, the game was broken up by a shooting. These warring gangs of teens of destroying our neighborhood. Nothing can change until we acknowledge that there are there, they do exist, and we need to stop any more children from following that path.
Yet again the way RPS handles problems, act like they don’t exist. So much for building trust in the schools.
The game was between Chimborazo (Church Hill) and Powahatan (Fulton). The rivalry between the gangs in these two neighborhoods is well-known. Ask the police. The kids that were involved were 15 – 19 years old.
Question for anyone who attended the community forum at Armstrong , did I hear Councilwomen Robinson say that Richmond poverty rate was so high that people had no other chose but to committee crime to survive ?
You know I am outraged. I have 2 brothers attending Armstrong. They unfortunately left the county and returned to Richmond due to economic status. I teach in the county but I am very familiar with Richmond. I taught briefly in Richmond and Henrico.
We need to put the pressure on the school board to assist administrators in cleaning up the situation. Some students just need to “go” until alternative programs can be developed. The school board needs to stop sitting back allowing the troublemakers to wreak havoc in the schools. Someone needs to take a stand. I am fed up. As a result, I have made the decision to remove my brothers from the school before next school year and send them to the county where I now teach because I have tremendous support!
I am a retired teacher from Harlem. New York and I have seen the same type of moral destruction go on there. If they destroy our children then we have no future. It seems like no one cares that these children are allowed to destroy their opportunities for an education and a better future. Why can this be turned around? How can we best sserve these children? It seems like they ( the children) have a right to be angry but we need to offer them a way out of all of these mess. They are important to our tomorrow and it starts today.