RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — More than 70 years after a student protested the conditions of her segregated school, Richmond Public Schools (RPS) Superintendent Jason Kamras said similar issues persist today, with the district facing a $680 million maintenance need.
While leaking roofs and failing air conditioners may seem like past concerns, Kamras pointed to a historic inequality in investment in RPS schools in a message to RPS families the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 22.
“To be clear, we have made enormous progress since Barbara Johns’ time,” Kamras wrote in Tuesday’s message to the school community. “But it’s hard to deny that the current state of our facilities is directly linked to the history of segregation and racial disparity that has gripped Richmond and the Commonwealth for centuries.”…