Is Time on Patrick Henry's Side?

Keen on her March Madness metaphors, Carol A.O. Wolf has suggested a hoops strategy may be in use by the Richmond School Board in a political game to decide the fate of a charter elementary school focused on nature studies and the arts.

In characterizing the delays the founders of Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts have been experiencing in their dealings with the School Board, Wolf said, "In basketball parlance, it appears RPS is playing a game of ‘stall ball.’"

Wolf was referring to a pre-shot clock, slow-down strategy infamously used by the North Carolina Tar Heels decades ago. Since she served on the school board from 2002 through 2008, Wolf, a former full-time journalist, also might know an intriguing story about public schools when she sees one.

"But, this isn’t a basketball game," Wolf added. "This is about working together as a community for the betterment of all."

The group of parents who have developed the concept for Richmond’s first charter school says it still needs a formal lease from the school board. The construction work to bring the 90-year-old building up to current standards, to be compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, apparently can’t begin without a lease.

The blueprint calls for classes to begin at 3411 Semmes Ave. in late July. "We’re making plans," said Kristen Larson, a PHSSA spokesperson. "We need to start construction on April 15."

"Since the school board received the PHSSA charter application in April of 2008," said Kimberly Bridges, chairwoman of the Richmond School Board, "PHSSA and RPS have undertaken a tremendous amount of work to do something that very few school districts in Virginia have done—approve a charter school and work to ensure its operational capabilities and sustainability."

Some of the agendas in play in this story are professional; others are obviously passion-driven, very much in the moment. Some seem connected to remnants of the decades-long feud between Sen. Henry Marsh and former Gov. Doug Wilder. Still other feelings might stem from old battles between the education establishment and its most determined detractors.

As one who invested years in fighting Civil Rights battles, many having to do with education, it’s understandable that Marsh, a Democrat, would oppose moves he perceives as going backwards. 

Marsh’s opposition on this issue suggests he is trapped in his glory days, re-fighting old battles won long ago.

On Mar. 16, Patrick Henry’s CEO, Antione Green stepped down as President of the Richmond Crusade for Voters. Because to some the charter school movement is more of a political issue than it is an educational alternative, Green found that he had to choose between the two jobs.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s No. 1 Republican, Gov. Bob McDonnell, is joining with two members of the House of Delegates, John M. O’Bannon (R-Henrico) and Joe Morrissey (D-Henrico), to host a fundraiser for PHSSA on March 30.

Is the school board withholding the PHSSA lease as a stalling maneuver—slowing the game down, to run out the clock?

"No," said Bridges. "I understand the frustrations of those focused on the current phase of this process, but it takes time—even in the simplest of charter concepts—to implement a new program. This one is far from simple because of how it is tied to the reopening of an old building with lots of infrastructure needs and a school system bound by legal commitments related to that building."

Does Bridges expect the lease issues to be resolved, one way or the other, before Larson’s aforementioned mid-April deadline?

"Yes … I hope so," said Bridges. "Reopening this facility makes it very tricky."

In 2009 Wolf started a blog devoted to local education issues—Save Our Schools. Because she was not a proponent of the charter school movement when she was elected to the school board in 2002, Wolf said she is surprised that she is has become a backer of the PHSSA cause. But, given the state of public education in Richmond, which Wolf believes should be improved dramatically; she now sees this plan for an experimental public school as worthwhile.

Marty Jewell, the 5th District’s representative on City Council, has done a similar turnaround. After originally opposing the PHHSA concept, he now supports it. The Patrick Henry building is in his district.

After citing some of her disappointments to do with the performance of Richmond Public Schools, Wolf said, "I can’t deny the possibility of hope to families."

Concerning hope, Wolf points to the startling success of the Urban Prep Academy for Young Men. Urban Prep is a charter school in a troubled Chicago neighborhood that used a lottery process similar to PHSSA’s to enroll its students. Only four percent of today’s senior class at Urban Prep could read at their grade level as freshmen. Now all 107 seniors have been accepted to college. 

Can Richmond's public school system afford to ignore whatever other-than-traditional methods were used to produce such eye-popping results at Urban Prep?

The clock is ticking on the bold experiment Larson and her colleagues want to launch in four months. Can the PHSSA founders navigate through the backroom politics and bureaucratic red tape to find a way to score the deciding points with the game on the line?

Bridges said the School Board’s Mar. 29 meeting will be devoted to resolving the outstanding issues. Then, no doubt, Wolf at Save Our Schools will be watching which way the ball bounces in April.