Mayor Wilder signals possible takeover of city schools
Mayor Wilder continued mercilessly bashing the school board in his bi-weekly email to the city. But this time, things got interesting, as Wilder talked about the successes in DC from their Mayor taking over the school system…
“I do not want a ‘mayoral takeover of the Schools,’ as was the case in the nation’s capital, yet some things are worthy of notice.”
The mere mentioning of what is going on DC is interesting for several reasons.
- Adrian M. Fenty’s take-over of DC’s schools shows that this type of action is truly possible. There are different legal hurdles that will affect Wilder, but it could happen.
- Second, Wilder is firing another shot across the bow of the school board. The school board’s response could be interesting.
- Third, the mayor is signaling that he’s keeping all of his options open.
- If this does develop, Wilder can now say “I warned you this would happen.” The first plank has been laid in the foundation and rationalization if Wilder does hypothetically go through with this.
Another interesting note: River City Rapids and author Jon Bailes are mentioned in the Mayor’s email. Kudos!!!
Only time will tell how this develops. WOTBN.net will continue to follow the story.
Looking at the amount of money spent per pupil in Richmond City as compared to the surrounding counties is mind-blowing. Richmond spends approx. $12,000 per kid while the other counties spend approx. $7,000? Where is the money going?
I’m not defending in any way a 47% graduation rate. That really is deplorable. There are some questions that *have* to be asked, though, when the money comparisons start being made:
How many children from public housing are educated in those counties? What about poverty comparable to the neighborhoods surrounding the housing projects? What is the effect on a community (and its schools) when poverty is so highly concentrated?
Think about the impact, on graduation rates and everything else, of entrenched generational poverty and low literacy, of higher parental incarceration rates, of higher unemployment, of teen pregnancy, and on and on and on. Yes, RPS probably does spend too much money on buildings, but the city schools also doing the heavy lifting for the entire region.
John’s points are all valid; I have never argued the per pupil figures because they are irrelevant in the other areas which the “leadership” of city schools has consistently failed. The list is long.
Just to set the record straight, the Mayor has NEVER sued the school system as you indicate in your blog.
The Mayor did appeal the case that the school system brought against the City, and the City prevailed.
[...] the July 10th piece “Mayor Wilder signals possible takeover of city schools,” it was erroneously reported that Mayor L. Douglas Wilder “already sued the school [...]