Richmond School Attendance Improved, but Concerns Remain
School board members heard a presentation on student attendance data during a Tuesday meeting. (Source: Screenshot from Facebook)
The Richmond School Board reviewed updated attendance rates during a meeting last night. While rates have improved from earlier in the virtual school year, the board voiced disappointment and confusion.
Harry Hughes, RPS Chief Schools Officer, presented the attendance data for the first half of the 2020-2021 school year.
As of the 20th day of classes, in October, 21.2% of RPS students were on track to become chronically absent. That number has slightly decreased to 17.4% as of the 90th day of school this year. The current chronic absenteeism rate is about the same as this time last year, which was 16.9%.
Spotlight on board chair of Dancing Classrooms Greater Richmond 12/31/2020, 6 p.m.
Education always has been a focus for Victoria S.âVickieâ Oakley.
A retired chief academic officer with Richmond Public Schools who now serves as senior adviser for University Instructors consulting group, she has aided the academic experience for years.
Ms. Oakley also aids younger generations of students through a less conventional educational method â dance.
She is chair of the board of Dancing Classrooms Greater Richmond, which helps youngsters in fifth and eighth grades cultivate life skills through tango, waltz, polka, swing and other dances.
Started in Richmond in 2012 by Maria Vysotskay, Dancing Classrooms Greater Richmond is the local network of the national nonprofit created in 1994 by Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau for the American Ballroom Theater Company in New York City. The Greater Richmond program is one of 25 networks in the United States and around the worl