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Dear #RPSStrong Family,
Tonight's updates:
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| Student Recognition and Awards Ceremony – Congratulations to the nearly 100 students honored this past weekend at our 2023 Student Recognition and Awards Ceremony! We celebrated our Valedictorians, Salutatorians, and recipients of the Scholastic Standout Award (one per school) and Maggie L. Walker Award (one per school). Enormous gratitude to the students' families and teachers for guiding and supporting these exceptional young people. To the awardees, we are SO proud of you and can't wait to see what you'll accomplish next!
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| Summer School Registration – Registration for our high school "Pathway to the Stars" summer school program is now open. The program will run from June 20 through July 20 at Huguenot HS and the Richmond Technical Center. Transportation will be provided. Please contact your student's home school or email summerschool@rvaschools.net if you have any questions.
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| Community Walk – Over the weekend, staff from the Engagement Office visited families on the Southside with School Board Members Nicole Jones and Jonathan Young to share information about the importance of daily attendance, provide tips for taking SOLs, highlight end-of-year activities, and pass out goody bags for students!
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| New Teacher Bright Spot – Tonight, we're highlighting Mackenzie Anderson, literacy teacher at Overby-Sheppard ES. "Ms. Anderson has been a breath of fresh air at Overby-Sheppard. She designs engaging whole group and small group lessons to support student learning. Students are always reading, writing, and collaborating in her class in some form. She has focused on building relationships with her parents, students, and staff. You can catch her in her classroom during lunch celebrating students and getting to know them better. We are super proud that Ms. Anderson chose Overby-Sheppard to start her career." ~ Principal Shayla Holeman
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| With great appreciation,
Jason
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- I’d like to send out a massive shout-out to everyone who helped make Southampton Elementary’s Spring Fest such a huge success! Our school community is so lucky to have amazing teachers, administrators, essential staff, volunteers and parents/guardians help make events like this possible. Special thanks to the yummy food trucks that helped keep everyone fed. There is nothing better than a Friday night filled with laughter, dancing and epic face painting to help lift up spirits at school! Thanks, everyone!
- Kuddos to the amazing SAST team at River City Middle School! Thank you for always leading with love, putting students first and celebrating them! Thank you, Mrs Lee, Ms. C. Smith, Mr. Gammon, Ms. Vanderbeek, Ms. Rivero, Ms. Lizardo, and Ms. Blue! Attend today, achieve tomorrow, attendance matters! We love you here! Thank you to the best counseling team in all of RPS...the River City Counseling team: Diane Lee, Carolyn Woodson, Jacarla Hines, and Sharon McClendon. You all are the movers and the supportive shoulders, always willing to jump in to help whether it’s testing, supporting students, or holding parent conferences!
- Ms. Jamison, our amazing 8th grade assistant principal at River City Middle School, thank you for your leadership, mentorship, coaching. Thank you for your grace, consistency, and equity when working with staff, students, or families. The 8th grade team is lucky to have you. Class of 2027 taking flight!
- I would like to shout-out Courtney Williams and Charlotte Flannagan at PHSSA for their hard work, resilience, and dedication. All of third grade has prospered because of their quality of teaching. Thank you!
- Congratulations to Jasmine Pitts on completing her doctorate at Virginia State University last Saturday. George Washington Carver Elementary School is so proud of you, Dr. Jasmine Pitts.
- Shout-out to Cassondra Hamlette, family liaison, for all you do at Richmond Alternative School. Ms. Hamlett always has a smile on her face, and helps ensure that every child at RAS attends school.
- A special shout-out to the Family Fun Day committee – Kim Campbell, Chantay Wynn, Shonell Scott, and Ida Jones-Belton at Mary Scott Preschool – for a spectacular day! A hearty thanks to the preschool encore team – David Hunt, Richard Barnett, Coach Kaye, Sarah Baird, and Tiana Addai-Mensah – for your hard work and for making sure we had everything we needed. Thank you to the floaters – Kelli Hicks, Iesha White, Dalillah Thompson, Rashawnda Barksdale, and Kellie Lorish – for doing all of the last-minute items on our to-do list. And a big hug to Ernestine Mills for doing all of our shopping. We had over 100 parents and guardians along with other family members who made our Family Fun Day extra special. What a team! Thank you, all!
- I want to give a shout-out to Ms. Almazo, the bilingual parent liaison at Elizabeth Redd Elementary School. She is an all-hands-on-deck type of person and always willing to help wherever needed. Her positive attitude and helpful demeanor have been an awesome addition to the office at Redd!
- I would like to shout-out two great media specialists, Dr. V. Evans of Henderson Middle School and Dr. C. Bannister of Franklin Military Academy. They were instrumental in helping me resolve a technology issue. Thanks again!
- A huge congratulations and thank you to all involved with the Minds in Motion project. The performance was over the top wonderful. I knew it would be good, but I didn't expect to be sobbing from start to finish. The kids were just so focused and graceful and radiated pride in their work. The script was thoughtful, celebratory, and inclusive – and also aligned so well with the history the kids are studying in class. Everyone involved – from their classroom teacher, Mrs. Radick, to the Minds in Motion instructors, Katherine Smothers, Joe Lubman, and DeShon Rollins, to the school administration (loved seeing the cheer line as the kids departed yesterday) and support from Principal Samuels, to all at the Richmond Ballet, to the financial sponsors – deserves kudos for a job well done. Thank you for bringing the arts to our schools in such a meaningful way. What a spectacular program.
- Hundreds of RPS fourth grade students involved in Richmond Ballet's Minds In Motion program performed with hundreds of other students from around the city on the stage of the Dominion Energy Center. It was a joyous celebration of community, strength and love with all of them dancing their hearts out to an audience full of thousands of families and friends who experienced the power dance has to bring us together. Our theme this year, Voices of Virginia - Heroes to Discover, highlighted not only inspirational voices of the past, but also focused on how we all have a special and unique voice, deserving to be heard, and that we can use our voice to inspire, uplift and unify each other.
- I would like to shout-out the Cary kindergarten team – Ms. Miller, Ms. McEwan, and Ms. Freeze – for working so hard to keep the magic of kindergarten. Today they held an Arbor Day ceremony and gallery walk to show all their work on trees and butterflies and it was truly delightful. Additionally, Ms. Henderson co-wrote a song with these classes called "Plant A Tree." Everyone did a wonderful job!
- I would like to thank Lucille M. Brown's CIS coordinator, Darrin Thomas, for always being a team player. She steps in without anyone asking her to assist. You are greatly appreciated!
- I would like to thank Mr. Smith, assistant principal at Lucille M. Brown, for his professionalism and support. You are greatly appreciated!
- I want to give a shout-out to Principal Murphy-Braxton for being supportive of our staff and students during SOL testing season, and for holding each and every Red Tail to high standards. Together, we soar! Shout-out to Ms. Liggins, Mrs. Wyche, Mr. Park, and everyone else working hard to coordinate, test, proctor, hall monitor, teach, and supervise students during an intense testing period at a huge middle school. A special shout-out to science and history, electives, LIEP, and exceptional education teachers at River City for everything they are doing to keep us soaring during testing season. A big shout-out to all of the students for making it to the middle of SOLs, especially our 400+ EL students who are rising to the challenge.
- A huge Miles Jones ES shout-out to Chele Miller, our incredible testing coordinator, for being so professional, organized, and thoughtful! Mrs. Miller is not only extremely competent at her job, but she also has a great relationship with our students. I know many of our kiddos love math thanks to her inspiration! Way to go, Mrs. Miller!
- Shout-out to Ms. Linda Wood and Ms. D. Boldin for blessing the teachers and staff at Blackwell Preschool Center during Teacher Appreciation Week. Also shout-out to the Career Day and Field Day committees for their awesome job! The food was delectable and the tokens will be used with love!
- I want to shout-out Candace Veney-Chaplin for planning and organizing Saturday's valedictorian and salutatorian celebration! It takes a lot to bring an event like that together, and she did such an amazing job!
- Huge shout-out to my teachers at Binford MS, Ms. Foster and Ms. Harr.
- I want to give a huge shout-out to Christie-Jo Adams and the incredible principals, assistant principals, administrators, support staff, and especially the hard-working, self-sacrificing and supportive fourth grade teachers and the hundreds of fabulous fourth graders from the RPS schools involved in Minds In Motion: Bellevue Elementary, Linwood Holton Elementary, John B. Cary Elementary, J.B. Fisher Elementary, Mary Munford Elementary, Westover Hills Elementary, William Fox Elementary and Woodville Elementary.
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| Teach With Love at RPS – If you know of a great teacher who might like to join the RPS team, please tell them to apply now! We're now offering bonuses of up to $12,000 for new hires who sign their commitment letters by Thursday, June 1.
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| Decision Day Announcements – Class of 2023, please keep sharing your Decision Day news with us at outreach@rvaschools.net. Thank you!
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| 2023-24 Preschool & Kindergarten Enrollment Events – Join us for our upcoming preschool and kindergarten enrollment events. For more information, please email enrollrps@rvaschools.net. All children enrolled while at the event will be entered into a raffle to win a bike!
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Important Links – Last updated on April 14, 2023.
RPS Links
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