February 26, 2008
Patrick Henry School Initiative
The Patrick Henry School Initiative has recently submitted an application to the City School Board for what could become the first elementary charter school in Virginia. The initiative is comprised of a passionate group of educators, professionals and parents who are committed to creating Richmond’s first ever Public Charter Elementary School to be housed in the vacant Patrick Henry School Building on Semmes Avenue. A charter school is an independently run, but public school, (i.e., tax supported, tuition free.) Charter Schools are required to offer an academic program not currently available in the existing school system. Charter schools often raise private money for special programs, and are, as such, private/public partnerships.
The Patrick Henry School Initiative’s mission is to establish a K-5 school based on meaningful parent, educator, and community involvement. The school intends to provide the children of our ethnically and socio-economically diverse Richmond community with an academically rigorous science and liberal arts curriculum that emphasizes environmental awareness and social responsibility. While the school will be located in the Southside, it will be open to any Richmond city child. The initiative hopes to have the school open by the summer of 2009.
To find out more about the initiative or to get involved, please visit the initiative’s website.
We need, more than ever, the Patrick Henry Charter School. I recommend reading the Style Weekly article, “In the Loop” at
http://styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=16513
Jewell-Sherman’s zero tolerance and over emphasis on test scores is a recipe for disaster. I’ve seen it and experienced it. For the sake of high scores, RPS system will crush the creative students and demonize normal childhood behaviors unless a school is lead and protected by a wise and well educated principal. Reliance on multiple choice test scores is a sign of laziness.
Jewell-Sherman needs to be held acountable for keeping bullying principals in place. And she needs to stop the practice of wasting money on expensive unnecessary child studies and behavorial assessments conducted on students guilty of acting like normal children. A first grader does not have a mental problem because he fidgets at a desk and becomes uninterested in learning while being taught to a test.
We need choices and wise leadership in public education now.