Kenya Gibson begs RPS Board to act quickly to curtail violence among students

By George Copeland Jr.

Emotions ran high during Monday’s Richmond School Board meeting, as members discussed and argued over the proper path to improve school safety, following multiple security failures, shootings and deaths this year.

The meeting at Thomas Jefferson High School was the first since the June 6 shooting in Monroe Park following a graduation ceremony that ended with the deaths of Huguenot High School graduate Shawn D. Jackson and his stepfather, Renzo Smith.

For board member Kenya Gibson the current situation for RPS called for an immediate response and solutions from the board.

“As a parent, I’m scared,” Ms. Gibson said. “As a district, we are falling short, and failure at this point looks like loss of life.”

Ms. Gibson referenced not just the graduation shooting, but other instances of gun violence RPS has seen this year, including the discovery of loaded guns in schools, shootings at Westover Hills Elementary and George Wythe High, and more. She suggested the board hire an auditor focused on safety and security, and encouraged thoughts from other board members.

“They are the district’s checks and balances, and it is glaringly obvious that there are things that are not getting checked,” Ms. Gibson said. “We’re only going to make a difference if we are honest that there are problems that need to be addressed.”

Board members Jonathan Young and Mariah White had their own ideas about improving school safety, including directly tackling the impact of gangs and increasing school security officers.

Others members cautioned not to placing the burden for solving what they saw as a community problem solely on the trips by cars and trucks that would cause traffic congestion and air pollution.

While this suit remains active, it is a second suit that was filed against the Hanover County Board of Supervisors that came before the state Supreme Court.

That lawsuit, Morgan v. Hanover County Board of Supervisors, is based on the contention that county officials violated multiple state laws and local ordinances by granting a special exemption and making modifications to the site’s zoning designation in May

Joy and jubilation

Brian Palmer

A child enjoys the musical group WanMor during the second annual June Jubilation, Richmond’s Juneteeth celebration on June 18 at the James River. More photos on B2.

Approval looms for city’s revamped budget Plan includes retiree bonuses, overtime pay for firefighters

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

Thousands of City Hall retirees will receive a one-time 5 percent bonus.

And the city is setting up a fund to buy property for development.

Both items are included in the $18.2 million in adjustments Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration has proposed for the 2022-23 fiscal year that will end June 30 and that City Council has put on its consent agenda for quick approval at the Monday, June 26 meeting.

Pegged to cost about $3.5 million, the bonus will benefit those who have been retired for at least one year and will be paid in the new 2023-24 fiscal year that will begin July 1, the ordinance states.

The payment would average about $831 for the approximately 4,200 eligible retirees, though the specific payment to any individual could be larger or smaller depending on the pension.

Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer, promised 7th District Councilwoman Cynthia I. Newbille during budget discussions in April that sufficient funds would be found to cover the cost.

The bonus is a one-time payment to avoid impacting revenues of the Richmond Retirement System by turning it into a continuing cost, like a cost-of-living increase.

Retirees in the Richmond system have received only one small cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase in the past decade, and the city’s retirement system said that any future COLA’s would depend on the fund reaching 80 percent funding.

The retirement system com- pleted the 2022 calendar year with funding 64.5 percent of the city’s full pension liability of more than $900 million, a rollback from 2021 when the city’s pension liability was 71 percent funded.

The adjustment plan also includes creation of a $1.75 million reserve, with the money used buy land primarily for major developments, according to the explanatory information included with the ordinance. A first for the city, the plan is to buy and then resell the