Helping parents reconsider Richmond Public Schools
Would you move out of the city to keep your kids out of Richmond Public Schools? Here’s Bryce Lyle on why he didn’t and why he hopes others don’t.
What’s so great about Fox Elementary?
That’s the question Bryce Lyle used to ask fellow parents on the playground of Westover Hills Elementary School on the Southside.
To non-breeders, Fox Elementary, located in The Fan, is just one of many public schools in the city. But to many local parents, it’s the city’s best elementary school, one parents would do almost anything to get their kids into.
Lyle would often visit his local elementary school’s playground with his one-year-old daughter and speak to parents about why they preferred Fox to their local school. During one conversation with a Southside parent that had successfully sent his child to Fox instead of Westover Hills, Lyle asked: what made Fox so much better?
“They said, ‘Oh, well the parent involvement is amazing at Fox,” Lyle recalled. The man’s wife was on the PTA board and said the overall involvement from him and other parents at the school made Fox superior.
“The thing that’s obvious to me when you hear that is, wait a minute, your wife and you are doing that, and you could be doing that at our own school, and then our school would be getting all the benefit,” Lyle said. “What our neighborhood sees as a positive at Fox are the resources that we’re providing to Fox.”
Lyle isn’t picking on Fox Elementary. He likes Fox just as much as he likes Westover Hills, just as much as he likes every school, for that matter. Because Lyle is a teacher in Chesterfield County Schools, and he doesn’t think of schools as being good or bad. He thinks schools are a vital component of their communities, and communities should be a vital component of their schools.
That’s why he and others are galvanizing would-be Westover Hills parents to not send their kids elsewhere, but to keep them in their community. He’s also encouraging parents to reconsider how they look at the city’s public schools.
In the minority
Bryce Lyle knows what it’s like to attend Westover Hills Elementary School. He began attending the school in the 1980s, staying in the area’s public schools up through his high school graduation.
“I was definitely in a minority at the school,” Lyle said. “It was an ever-present thing that it was a majority African-American school.”
Lyle wasn’t bullied or taunted because he was one of few white kids at the school. He did what all other kids did: learned. “I remember that it was a great school, and it was the only [elementary] school I ever went to.”
The strange part about Lyle attending Westover Hills Elementary School had nothing to do with the school itself, but with the lack of neighborhood friends attending with him.
“I was the only kid from right in my neighborhood…that went to my school,” Lyle said. Instead of tagging along with Lyle on the walk to Westover Hills, neighborhood kids went to other schools. “There was a little bit of a disconnect for me that the kids I went to the pool with…didn’t go to school with me. I had school friends and out-of-school friends.”
“And that’s one of the things we’re really trying to address here with what we’re doing in Westover: to make this a neighborhood school where lots of kids from the neighborhood will go to school together.”
Ratcheting things up
After completing college, Lyle married and returned to Westover Hills. Soon after, he and his wife had a daughter. When his daughter was about 1-year-old, Lyle routinely took her to the playground at Westover Hills. He often heard parents discussing schools while there.
“Schools are on the tips of everyone’s tongue. It’s the easiest conversation in the world to have,” Lyle said. “Before I started talking about it, I heard other people talking about it.”
Some parents said Westover Hills Elementary wasn’t good enough for their kids, unlike Fox or Mary Munford. Most parents with kids near or at elementary school age seemed committed to avoiding Westover Hills entirely.
But not all of them.
Early last year, Lyle took a phone call from his School Board representative, Kristen Larson. Larson said another Westover resident, Paige Holbert, was thinking of sending her child to Westover Hills Elementary. Larson thought the two should meet.
“[Holbert] wanted to send her kid to Westover [Hills], and she wanted to get some other people to do it with her,” Lyle said. This was big because parents often supported the idea of sending their kids to the local schools where they would be in the racial or economic minority, but ultimately parents didn’t want their children to be the guinea pigs.
After Paige Holbert and her husband moved to Westover about three years ago, the couple began asking parents (just as Lyle did) why they didn’t send their kids to Westover Hills.
“It’s a wreck. It’s just a terrible school,” Holbert said, recalling what she and her husband were told. Holbert didn’t believe things were so bleak, and so after Holbert and Lyle met, the pair decided to rally other young parents in the neighborhood to do the same.
“Once there was Paige saying, ‘We’ll be the first ones, we’re going to do it, come with us,’ it really changed the conversation,” Lyle said.
The conversation amped up when the two arranged a meeting with Westover Hills principal Virginia Loving. What Lyle and Holbert had discovered was that parents who openly denigrated the school had no first-hand experience with it.
“I didn’t know anyone who had ever been in the school,” Lyle said. “It seemed that was sort of intimidating, people were uncomfortable, or people weren’t doing it. For whatever reason, people were not walking across the street to see the school.”
So Lyle and Holbert brought the school to the parents. The pair arranged a meeting between Principal Loving and other school officials inside Taza, a local coffee shop. Lyle told the coffee shop he expected 20 people to attend the meeting, 30 at the most. About 70 showed up.
“That really kind of ratcheted things up,” Lyle said. “Following that meeting, there was clear interest from so many people to learn more, and so [Westover Hills Elementary School] took over and had a couple of open houses with school tours during the day.” Lyle also created a Facebook group and email list for parents to stay connected.
Lyle discussed his experience and efforts during a talk at last year’s TEDxGraceStreet:
Westover parents recently joined together for another meeting. “We had parents from our neighborhood who have students at the school this year sit in a panel and answer questions,” Lyle said. “They all said that their kids are happy there, they’re making friends, and they’re progressing.” With luck, the testimonials of those parents will encourage others to send their children to Westover Hills in the coming years.
The approach Lyle and Holbert have taken has inspired similar parent groups in Byrd Park, Church Hill, and others. Lyle hopes it continues to expand.
“What we’re doing in Westover is not unique to Westover,” Lyle said. “It’s nothing that can only happen at this one spot in this one neighborhood. This is absolutely something that can be replicated in neighborhoods all around the city.”
Getting plugged in, getting comfortable
Lyle recommends that parents of four and five-year-olds and parents of children who are not quite school-aged contact the principal of their local school. It’s an important step before parents make any decision about where their children will attend school.
“The principal is such a key figure in an elementary school and knows everything that’s going on,” Lyle said. “That’s a great way to get plugged in and get comfortable.”
Lyle understands the pressure that parents face when deciding where their children will attend school. But he thinks most of it’s unnecessary.
“There’s so much stress, I think kind of self-imposed stress, that City of Richmond families take on themselves by belaboring the school decision,” Lyle said. “If we just said, ‘Hey, we’re going to go to our school, we’re going to invest our time there, [and] we’re going to make it the school we want it to be’–that that’s easier.”
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photo courtesy of Karen Allen Photography
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Nathan Cushing
Nathan Cushing is a writer, journalist, and RVANews Editor.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
This needs to happen for middle schools. I am sure the City loses a large number of families to the counties after their child finishes 5th grade.
It is happening at the middle schools, parents have been coming, and are committed to Albert Hill, and have been for some time. We lost the standout principal Mr. Kite a few years ago, but our new principal is amazing, she is responsive, forward thinking, understanding, engaged- all you could want for a middle school principal, and with the outstanding staff it is a shame it isn’t getting more attention.
This is such an amazing article. My husband and I live in Westover Hills and we hope to have children in the near term. We’ve often talked about the schools and worry we’d have to move from our favorite home and amazing community. We jokingly say that by the time our kids are ready for school, the public school system will be better assuming our community invests in our public schools and send children there. I never want to move and I want to see the school system get stronger. This is a great article and I’ve seen the Westover School posters in the neighborhood that encourage parents to learn more and talk. What an exciting time, and while we don’t have children yet, doesn’t mean we can’t help this movement. Thanks for all you do Bryce!
Lots of like-minded parents in Church Hill, too. I’m hoping that by the time my daughter is old enough to attend RPS, her classmates are a true mix of her neighbors. Also relevant: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/april/school-choice.html
This is such an awesome movement happening. I was lucky enough to have Mr.Lyle as a teacher when I was in high school & it’s great to see him continue to make a difference! Rock on Mr.Lyle!
Largely unimpressive. The elementary schools may have some stigmas but its middle and high school where “certain” families are truly dropping off and not letting the city educate their kids.
But it’s *something*, Jase. Thanks for sharing your story, Bryce.
Jase: How is it not impressive to see more parents stay in the city for at least an extra six years while their children attend their local elementary school. Their presence contributes valuable stability to the neighborhood and more diverse learning and socialization for both the kids and the parents. What’s unimpressive is that it would take Richmond so many decades to show any signs of breaking from the pro-segregation practice that began as ‘massive resistance’ and is now called ‘white flight.’ But it has to start somewhere. Thank you, Bryce and every other parent who’s decided to invest in their community through their local school.
To consider your neighborhood school is a good thing and I’m happy about city residents interest in attending Richmond Public Schools. But for many, the recent rezoning is a crushing blow. Some schools lost any or all potential of creating an economical or racially diverse environment. With the focus last spring on the closing of Clark Springs and redrawing the Museum district out of Cary and into Fox, little attention was given to the rezoning lines drawn south of the river. A must read and review the map and charts. The numbers tell the story. http://wp.vcu.edu/policyresearch/files/2013/11/MEMORPSRezoning.pdf
Ditto what robbin said. I wish this was possible for all of our city schools. Same goes for the north side i.e. Linwood Holton vs Ginter Park
I volunteered at Westover Hills before my child was old enough for elementary school, and what I saw were a lot of worksheets and unnecessary testing. The teachers didn’t foster creativity or critical thinking, which is why I ultimately decided to enroll my child in private school. My decision had nothing to do with race; rather, neither the teachers nor the curriculum at Westover Hills were particurly impressive.
The recent reasoning is a great thing, and the VCU piece of advocacy for destructive theories is best ignored. If it had a shred of credibility, Richmond schools would be excellent by now. They aren’t. We need change, not apologists for things the way they were.
Huge props to Mr. Lyle for absolutely everything he is doing in support of RPS! Love it! Mr. Lyle does indeed rock!
Charles, it is hard to ignore when your new zoned school is nearly one hundred percent poverty and the schools you apply to through open enrollment by lottery is a crapshoot or worse, full.
The Chesterfield County School System is about the most corrupt political fiefdom in the State of Virginia. Absolutely unaccountable to any of Chesterfield County’s citizens, blatant violations of the Virginia Code with impunity.
Our child ran for SCA Treasurer at Tomahawk Creek Middle School, only one opponent who is the son of the PTA head. Tomahawk’s staff allowed the child to re-record his campaign video while editing out portions of our child’s video, then made the announcement that the PTA mom’s kid had one the Treasurer position.
Filed a Virginia Freedom of Information Act as well as public records retention notification on the afternoon of the election results related to the student ballots and the SCA videos that were recorded; both were served on Tomahawk Creek’s Principal, with courtesy carbon copies served on the Chesterfield County School Board.
Three days after the VFOIA and records retention notification were filed, the Tomahawk Principal directs the SCA staff to destroy every single student ballot and all records specific to the VFOIA Request, radio silence from the Chesterfield County School Board.
The following week the head of security for CCPS sends me a letter stating that they are going to file an injunction with the Chesterfield County sheriff’s office to prevent me from communicating with any of our children’s teachers, as well as to enjoin me from ever entering onto any Chesterfield County school property. The Tomahawk Creek Sheriff Deputy pulls our child out of class one day to ask about my parenting prowess, and pays a visit to my house to see why our children are not in school one day when they stayed home sick (none of our children had missed a single day of school prior).
CCPS and the Chesterfield County School Board are thugs that disregard the Virginia Code and do what they want with impunity. No accountability whatsoever.