Jackie’s Vision for a better RPS
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Our public schools have improved in the past several years, much of this is due to the teachers’ and staffs’ ability to collectively bargain — this has helped Richmond keep highly qualified teachers and staff.
Our current education system is deeply unequal. Corporate education reform has privatized services, resulting in profits for them and less for students.
Test scores should be used to evaluate students, but should not be used to punish teachers and schools.
The best intervention for student success is a highly qualified teacher who has the expertise to adapt their teaching to student needs. Rigid curriculum does not help the district.
I want to see teachers, staff, parents, community leaders and the Board come together to find innovative solutions.
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We’ve seen the impact of mismanagement with the disaster of school closures this year.
In 2024, almost every school that was tested for mold, had visible mold in the building. Almost all of our buildings are over 40 years old, and one dates back a century. Keeping our facilities in shape is no simple endeavor, but we have no excuse not to do the work well.
Educators, students, and families need to be at the table during the planning and design process during school construction.
In order for us to know our needs as a district, RPS should maintain a public record of facility repair requests and district responses.
The School Board should adopt board policies establishing safe workplace conditions that include specific criteria around maximum and minimum indoor temperature criteria and air quality standards.
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Our teachers and staff’s working conditions are our students' learning conditions.
The right to bargain collectively over working conditions means that we have agency over our own lives. When our industry suffers, workers have the power to right the ship. When corporate interests erode the well being of public schools, unionized workers sound the alarm and make a plan to do something about it.
Our education unions are not 3rd parties, they are made up of our teachers and staff and should be respected as stakeholders in our decisions as a board.
It is not the school board versus unions, it is our unions and our board versus the problem: a lack of school funding and reforms that have negatively impacted our students.
I would like to reopen the collective bargaining resolution with our unions and amend it to allow our unions to have more flexibility and say in our collective bargaining process, particularly because we do not know what the General Assembly and Governor will do about collective bargaining in the Commonwealth.
If we understand solidarity as an action verb, school board members have to work with unions like the Teamsters and REA as partners, not adversaries or inconveniences. I support our unions’ calls for an audit of RPS’s finances.
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No ICE or masked federal agents should be in our schools. The governor needs to sign into law legislation that prevents their entrance and protects our communities and schools from these disruptions.
Provide adequate mental health support by meeting professional recommendations of ratios for school social workers, school psychologists, and school guidance counselors.
Lower the staffing ratios for SPED, LIEP, counselors, social workers, and school psychologists to meet national professional recommendations. For SPED and LIEP, these ratios should also reflect the nuance in the diverse needs of our students, such as a lower ratio for newcomer EL students than those with a higher proficiency level.
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No new charters in the district.
Dr. McDonnough wants to ensure our students and families can stay in the City of Richmond, and that every student regardless of background, race, or zip code has access to high quality education.
She aims to ensure that:
Every school is staffed with highly qualified staff and teachers that are well paid, respected and are able to join a union.
Our School Board is transparent and accountable to our students, teachers, staff, parents and communities.
We can come together as a community, bringing together newcomers and longtime residents, to find solutions to the issues facing our public schools.