RPS celebrates successes, charts journey ahead at 'State of the Schools' event

Members of the Richmond School Board, Superintendent Jason Kamras, city officials including Mayor Danny Avula, and members of the Richmond Ed Fund, gathered together Thursday night to celebrate some district wide student achievements at a State of the Schools meeting.

“Our SOL scores, and no, those aren't the be all end all, but they are important, are on the rise,” said Superintendent Kamras. “Over the last two years, reading is up six points, math is up five points, science is up 12 points, and history is up seven points. That is not easy to do.”

Kamras highlighted a rise of 10 points from 2023 to 2025 in reading scores for economically disadvantaged students, noting “while their peers across the state are up two points, and what that means is our economically disadvantaged students are growing in reading five times faster than their peers across the state.”

Later in his speech, Kamras reminded the audience that back in the mid-1800s, the General Assembly passed an act that made it illegal for freed Africans to gather for the purpose of learning to read. 

“And if you actually look at the text of the law, it says, quote, ‘either in the day or the night,’ they didn't want any loopholes. And why did they do this? Because reading is power,” said Kamras. “We owe it to them to ensure that every last one of our students develops that power. Shame on us if we fail to do so.”

He also added that multilingual learners, formerly known as English as a second language students, are outperforming their peers across the state and in the neighboring counties of Henrico and Chesterfield.

“I'm going to say that again, outperforming the state and their peers in the neighboring counties. No shade on the counties, I love them and my peers, but it's been a long time since you were able to say that RPS was ahead of them,” Kamras said.

Rounding out the highlights, Kamras told the audience that graduation rates were also on the rise.

“We hit 80% for the first time in nearly a decade with the class of 2025,” he said. “And the rates for Black students and economically disadvantaged students reached the highest on record. We can't find data back 50 years, we went back as far as we could, and these are the highest rates that we have on record, an absolutely incredible achievement, and John Marshall High School reached 100%.”

Transitioning to his strategic plan for how to continue the rise in student statistics, Kamras said the district will continue pushing a five pillar plan that he said was developed after 190 meetings with stakeholders.

“I refer to them as our passion projects,” Kamras said. “Passion for reading, passion for learning, and passion for teaching. Passion for reading is our moonshot effort to ensure 100% of our students learn to read proficiently and joyfully by the end of third grade.”

Theme-based high schools

Kamras said the district wants to make the high schools revolve around theme-based programming as a way to make sure when students graduate they have choices of careers. 

“Right now, about half of our graduates have a plan for higher education, which is amazing, but that means half don't. We need to confront that head-on,” he said. “And those who go straight to the workforce are not by and large entering high-wage, high-growth jobs. In fact, the number one employer of recent graduates is McDonald's. No shade on McDonald's, but I know our students are capable of so much more.”

To combat that, Kamras said high schools will focus on six different themes, which came to fruition through community meetings. 

• Visual performing and digital arts at Richmond High School for the Arts
• Engineering, construction, energy and sustainability at the soon-to-be-constructed Technical Center
• Global business and international affairs at Huguenot
• Health, human services and education at Armstrong
• Computer science and emerging technologies at John Marshall
• Law and government at Thomas Jefferson

Challenges

Noting that Richmond Public Schools still has a long way to go in terms of keeping the momentum of student achievements, Kamras also remarked on the outside challenges facing students and the district. 

“I want to be clear that we remain a school division that values diversity of students and staff, that believes in equity, that believes in equity, which after all simply means giving the students who need the most, the most. And that aims to include everyone. There's nothing un-American about these ideas,” he said. “In fact, I'd argue they are the essence of what being American is all about.”

Speaking to The Richmonder, Kamras said the message coming from the federal level is clear. 

“There's, I think, a very explicit message now that not everybody is valued in our country, and whether that's because you come from another country or you speak a different language, whatever the case may be,” he said. “And it is really important for me that our kids and our families know at RPS that not only is everybody welcome, but I actually do believe one of our greatest strengths comes from the diversity.”

And while there has been no direct involvement with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on school grounds, he said there is a lot of unease about what’s going on. 

“There's a lot of anxiety about being at the bus stop by yourself. There's a lot of anxiety about coming to school and then you go home and mom or dad may not be there,” Kamras said. “We have had some families that have moved back to Guatemala, Honduras, just for fear that they'll be taken away and their kids will be left here all by themselves. And many of these folks are U.S. citizens, but they are fearful of it nonetheless.”

Kamras said the district is prepared if ICE does try to enter school grounds. 

“We have a very rigorous protocol if ICE were ever to come to one of our schools,” he said. “My office has to be contacted before anything else happens. We will ensure that all the appropriate warrants are produced before anything happens. Fortunately, we have not had to experience that as of yet.”

School Board Chair Shavonda Fernandez, who represents the 9th District, said every RPS student will have some type of challenge outside of the classroom. 

“Maybe the bully that they see down the street. They may not have food on the table to eat. They may not have a warm jacket for the winter times,” she said. “But whatever that situation is, I believe that we're able to rise to the challenge, to achieve greater things. It is our goal and our mission to make sure every challenge is met with an opportunity for them to soar higher than their circumstances.”