Community High may relocate to closing Chandler Middle School
Just weeks after announcing that Chandler Middle School on Brookland Park Boulevard will close, Richmond Public School officials say plans are in the works to move Community High School to the North Richmond school building. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Richmond school officials say today they’ll recommend moving Community High School from its West End campus to the Chandler Middle School building in North Richmond.
Community High Principal Thomas Beatty said families and students were informed yesterday.
Richmond Superintendent of Schools Yvonne Brandon said she will recommend the move at the School Board’s scheduled meeting Monday. The school system recently announced it was closing Chandler after years of poor performance. Brandon said officials would like for the move to be made in time for 2009-2010 school year.
Officials have been examining whether Community should be moved because the enrollment is too small for a building that needs expensive renovations to bring it in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Community High is different from Open High. You need to make this article more clear.
Thanks, Scott. I don’t know why I had Open on my mind. Corrections made!
We are very disappointed about the proposed move to the Highland Park Neighborhood which is dark, dangerous and full of blight! It seems to me that the Richmond Public School system does not really care about their best and brightest. These children have worked so hard and deserve better. The school board is willing to trade one big old unrenovated building for another. At least the Patterson Avenue location was convenient, welcomed diversity, had wonderful shops and stores in the area and felt safe. Don’t the children of Richmond deserve a School like the Maggie Walker Governors School. It is inconceivable to me that you would relocate Richmond Community School to such a location. That’s why people leave the city! Signed disappointed parents.
I have concerns about the school being moved to this proposed location. Criminal activity is a major concern for me. I actually live in the area. If the students stay on school grounds I am sure they will be safe but I believe that the offsite privalege that the students enjoy, may compromise their safety. I am positive the residents of the area warmly welcome these gifted and talented students and are committed to their success and safety as I am, however everyone that loiters here does not reside here. The school should have been relocated to a less conjested, safer area with more ammenities. Signed concerned parent.
Welcome to Richmond whitey.
I live in the area. I do welcome Community High School. I think it will force the police and other city agency to clean up the area. We have been trying to get this area cleaned up for YEARS. The parents that send their kids to Community High, will not put up with the lip service the city has been giving us as to why they can’t do this or that.
Mr. and Mrs Jones, This is exactly the problem. For 30 years and especially in the 70′s. “Well to do” folks like your- self abandoned the city, migrated to the county, and never looked back. The only thing you probably know about Highland Park is what you hear, read in a newspaper or maybe see on T.V. One of the reasons I say this is because the neighborhood in question is not Highland Park it is Barton Heights. You said “We feel very disappointed about the proposed move to the Highland Park Neighborhood which is dark, dangerous and full of blight! It seems to me that the Richmond Public School system does not really care about their best and brightest they deserve better.” You should think about what you are saying. Those same descriptive words were used to instill fear in people not so long ago. Highland Park is composed of some of the oldest eclectic and most beautiful homes in the city. In addition, some of the brightest in the city live there. They may be the next community activist turned Lawyer, Doctor or Maybe even the next President of the United States. Like many inner city neighborhoods it has its problems. We are all concerned about our safety, no matter what neighborhood you live in. The fact of the matter is, the world that we live in is not in a bubble. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we will start to recognize that a person should not defined by where they live but by who they are. Think about it.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones,
“Don’t the children of Richmond deserve a School like the Maggie Walker Governors School?” …You would be surprised at the similarities between the two schools.
Do you remember that particular section of Lombardy 10 years ago? Before the Starbuck’s, Lowe’s and Great Wraps? Before the Lombardy railroad overpass was filled in and people would hang out under it drinking 40′s on their “lunch” break from the Rehrig shopping cart factory (and the glass from the bottles in the street)? Before the Farmer Jack’s and Broadway Cafe were torn down?
The children are getting a school with very similar challenges. And just look how far both Maggie Walker’s and the community has come….
I live close to the school, and can say that the streets are incredibly well-lit, and the nearby homes are occupied (some by over the legal amount). I just can’t imagine what Mr. and Mrs. Jones must have meant by the area being dark and full of blight.