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May 9 Newsletter: Richmond charter school proposal gets state committee blessing

Weather: Colder, stormy and rainy before a beautiful Mother's Day weekend. (You didn't forget, right?)

On this date in 1963, Petersburg schools ban the use of the “duck waddle” exercise in physical education classes, part of a nationwide trend reevaluating the effectiveness of various workout maneuvers.

A charter middle school wants to open in Richmond, but the path to approval is far from certain

Officials from The Harbor School, a charter school that wants to open in Richmond, received approval from a state committee on Thursday to continue the exploratory process.

  • There hasn't been a new charter school application in Virginia in 10 years.
  • The state only has 7 charter schools, with 2 located in Richmond. Neither is a middle school.

The group must get the blessing of the Richmond School Board. At a pre-election forum, only one of the nine currently seated board members expressed an interest in opening new charter schools.

Read more on the proposed school here.

Southside nonprofit has $350k federal grant canceled as turbulent funding environment continues

Saturday afternoon, Virginia Community Voice held a block party-style event, surveying residents about what they want as they work with the city to build out Broad Rock Creek park in Southside.

Tuesday afternoon, the group learned it would no longer receive a $350,000 grant from the EPA-supported Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, the second funding loss this year for the nonprofit.

“This is money that was already allocated,” said the group's founder. “To see that taken away without a lot of thought or intention or careful understanding of what it’s doing, it feels scary, and it feels intentional, and it feels very cruel.”

Read more on the group, and the funding uncertainty Richmond's nonprofits feel, here.

Parks department retools urban ranger role in light of January shooting

Parks and Rec is revamping its urban park ranger role to move it further away from an enforcement role and back toward a more educational and visitor services focus. 

  • The reevaluation came after the Jan. 19 shooting of a ranger on Belle Isle.
  • Park rangers will now focus on visitor engagement and youth programs, instead of enforcing park rules.
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Belle Isle handles a summer crowd almost equivalent to the population of Richmond, a park official said.

Read more here.

In other news

The editor's desk

We do an occasional mailbag series where we answer questions from donors about our work, the city, or whatever else is on their minds. This month, Graham Moomaw was asked how he chooses who to quote in articles about City Council meetings. I thought his answer was illuminating, and you can read it here.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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