RECENT COMMENTS
Gray announces for School Board contest
Eric Schindler Gallery owner and lifetime neighborhood resident Kirsten Gray is running for the 7th District School Board seat:
I’ve got the petitions, collecting signatures to run for School Board, 7th district,City of Richmond, starting today!
I’ve been sitting on a decade of advocacy for public education and Richmond Public Schools and now is the time for me to take my knowledge and experience to School Board. If you are a registered voter in the 7th district, I welcome your signature -I”m excited about this! Deadline is June 14th.
I look forward to meeting you. Thank you! And a huge thank you to all who have encouraged me to do this.
Community activist Rick Tatnall is an announced candidate for the position, and JJ Minor has expresses interest as well but not officially stated that he is running.
I cannot imagine anyone, in any district, more qualified to take this on than Kirsten.
She is a horrible choice. She is arrogant and refuses to listen to reason. She doesn’t even send her kids to their neighborhood schools while extolling the virtues of neighborhood schools! Hypocrisy at its worse!
This is not an endorsement, but I feel like the fact that she has children in the public schools at all is valid. A tremendous number of parents navigate the open enrollment system for any number of reasons.
John – fair until you consider which parents navigate that system and to what effect…
Don’t blame the parents who use the process, it’s there to be used. I know of a few parents from perhaps unexpected areas of the neighborhood who have used it, parents who didn’t have the option to move or to consider private school.
Fact is, she kept her kids in the public school system. There’s value in her experience.
The process often leads to further segregation by race and class. The system is flawed as is the zoning. It was created by a school board trying to placate and retain an upper/middle class clientele but instead created more segregation. I don’t blame her for using it. I blame a school board pandering to white and affluent parents instead of creating systems to actually address the abject poverty and trauma that plagues the city.
Critical anonymous posts hold little value. Kudos to Kirsten for putting herself out there to make a difference. It’s not easy to do!
Just a neighbor, if you knew me you would know that at one time my children did attend our neighborhood school.
Regarding using open enrollment or attending application schools from the east end, 7th district, you need to know that the students aren’t white. I know because my one child is the only white kid on the bus. None of us using this process are affluent, not even close. And the school they all attend is still high poverty.
I’m in the process of gathering signatures. After that is completed, I’ll write a platform. In the meantime, I welcome your input but I won’t debate an anon person. Please feel free to call me or set a time to see me. I will tell you our history. I hear your passion. I understand. Like you, I want to move against socio economic segregation and isolation. All research shows it sets children behind in education by a year or several years, whereas integration is good for all and in RPS we do have pockets of that model and they are a huge success but it didn’t happen overnight -it takes great leadership and community and family involvement.