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Bedden out at the end of June
04/22/2017 5:48 PM by John M
Bedden arrived to a district where only 11 schools had achieved the full state measure of success. Now there are 17, a fact Bedden has said is unacceptable but also does not adequately reflect the progress taking place across the division.
[…]
In that time the other issues afflicting the largely minority communities that feed into Richmond Public Schools have not budged. About three in four of the division’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a rough gauge of poverty.
“To think a superintendent or a school alone is going to be able to overcome all of a community’s challenges is unrealistic,” Ramming said.
PHOTO Ribbon cutting at the new MLK Middle School (1/6/2014)
Wow.
What’s the reason? Is the School Board going to keep us in the dark regarding their reasons for this action? Is this just a repeat of when Dwight Jones made people sign non-disclosure documents so citizens would not know why he fired Byron Marshall?
The ELECTED School Board has an obligation to tell us why they took this action. No more backroom dealings that leave the public in the dark. The School Board needs to be open and transparent with the citizens of Richmond on this termination.
The school board needs to transparent on this decision. Why all the secrecy?
I’ve contacted both the 6th and 7th district reps for comment, will share back if/what I hear.
Bedden, the unanimous choice of Richmond’s school board, came to RPS “With over 20 years of experience in educational leadership, Dr. Bedden has developed…positive school and work environment.”
(https://www.rvaschools.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=2057&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=1234&PageID=1250)
For RPS “failures” to increase from 11 to 17 during his tenure begs the issue of well-spent taxpayer funds. Bedden’s annual salary was $225,000 in 2014 (http://www.kltv.com/story/25495541/nbc12-investigation-top-city-salaries-add-up-to-almost-1m), a salary that surpassed that of school superintendents in Washington, D.C. of $162,776 (http://www1.salary.com/DC/Washington/School-Superintendent-Salary.html).
Even if the rumor is true that’s the cause is “personal indiscretion”, it should be made public. I don’t care who was involved.
I think there has been an increase from 11 to 17 success stories, not an increase in failures (though wording could be clearer). I agree that the School Board should be required to tell the taxpayers the reason.
Yes. What’s going on? Does board member Marsh-Carter have no comment?
And could someone clarify the relationship of the 11 and the 17 schools?
Please contact the School Board to express your opinions. https://www.rvaschools.net/Page/1229
If you supported Bedden, they need to know they did not follow the will of the people. It takes a LONG time to undo decades of neglect, bad management and underfunding. We all want it to be faster for the sake of our kids, and he was really trying to do that.
RICHMOND CITY SCHOOLS: THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE SILENT OR PETTY [OPEN THREAD]
http://thecheatsmovement.com/2017/04/24/richmond-city-schools-this-is-not-the-time-to-be-silent-or-petty-open-thread/
Mayor Stoney says he supports the decision to fire Bedden so he obviously knows the reasons for it.
He campaigned for Mayor on a platform of openness and transparency. Shouldn’t it also be on his shoulders to tell the public that elected him why Bedden was fired? Isn’t he complicit in keeping this hidden from the Richmond citizens? Why all the secrecy?
i called Marsh-Carter(929-6894 who asked me to vote for her, the school board chair,Dawn Page(929-7158) and vice chair-Patrick Sapini(929-6930 , no word back. interesting that all their phones have generic answering messages it doesn’t confirm who you have reached.
EDITORIAL: The Richmond School Board just fired Superintendent Dana Bedden with no explanation. What in God’s name is it up to?
http://www.richmond.com/opinion/our-opinion/editorial-the-richmond-school-board-just-fired-superintendent-dana-bedden/article_028aac59-03d1-579d-a2aa-469c36985627.html
I read that the number of accredited schools went down during his two years.
Amateur Hour at Richmond School Board
http://www.rvapol.com/blog/2017/4/24/amateur-hour-at-richmond-school-board
John please keep us up to date on this. I was very glad to see him stay in Richmond. We had a good run the last few years of decent school board members and a good superintendent. Without more information this does not look good. There are so many secrets in Richmond politics it seems.
@Dave – Our 7th District representative has promised a statement, hope to have that tomorrow? Have not heard back from 6th District rep (covers MLK Middle School).
Per RTD “people” are talking about this guy…maybe coming in, maybe as a replacement, maybe?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-co-superintendent-search-20170422-story.html
@15, can someone please confirm or debunk this?
Special Edition Podcast: We’re Talking RPS & Dr. Bedden
https://soundcloud.com/the-cheats-movement/speical-edition-podcast-were-talking-rps-dr-bedden
@20 – the linked RTD article, quoted at the top, says that RPS went from 11 fully accredited schools to 17.
http://wric.com/2017/04/27/exclusive-dr-dana-bedden-addresses-abrupt-departure-plagiarism-allegations/