RICHMOND, Va. -- In its first meeting since the public release of the third-party investigation report into the Huguenot High School graduation day shooting, the Richmond School Board did not openly discuss the actual findings of the report and did not take any further action to address safety concerns that some members said were highlighted through the probe.
On Monday night, board member Kenya Gibson moved to amend the meeting agenda to include a discussion surrounding "next steps" in the wake of Richmond Public Schools being forced to release the investigation findings.
While the recently released documents contained new information for members of the public, they were not new to the school board. Board members had already received the findings on November 6, but were not allowed to individually possess their own copies of the materials, and voted on November 20 to keep the report private.
It wasn't until CBS 6 and the Richmond Times-Dispatch sued the board for violating the Freedom of Information Act that it was ordered by a judge to allow the public access to the report.
Before engaging in a public discussion Monday night, the board went into closed session so its attorney could advise members on how to shape their open conversation about the report. The school board cited "potential litigation" as its reason for going behind closed doors at the beginning of the meeting.
Sources said the attorney advised members to keep the dialogue centered around moving forward and next steps – and not to introduce new facts during the discussion.
During public discussion, Gibson moved that the school board hire an auditor solely to focus on inspecting the district's safety protocols and report to a newly hired chief auditor. It was the second time since the June 6th tragedy that Gibson had made this motion.
She introduced the same proposal during the school board's June 20 meeting – the first time the body met following the shooting.
"What definitely rises to the surface is a need for ongoing oversight that unfortunately has come up before. As a district, we have seen emerging issues that, from my perspective, have escalated in terms of severity," Gibson said. She proceeded to list the Fox Elementary fire, the bus depot fire, the blood-covered hallways at Richmond Community, and shooting incidents in the previous school year as examples.
However, Gibson only drew support from two board members, Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed and Jonathan Young, who could be considered two of Gibson's usual allies.
“Ms. Gibson is correct to point out that as awful and tragic as the event on June 6th at the Altria Theater relevant to the Huguenot shooting, it in no way constituted an anomaly or an aberration for Richmond Public Schools," Young said. "At the risk of pointing out the elephant in the room, we have a lot of work to do. Ms. Gibson is correct to recommend this position."
"We have to inspect what we must expect, and we have not, as a division, done that well," Harris-Muhammed said. "When we continue to do the same things the same way, I was raised to understand that it was insanity... And so I pray fervently and without ceasing that we would have a respectful conversation about how to move Richmond City Public Schools forward."
However, the five other members did not support the measure including Liz Doerr, Cheryl Burke, Dawn Page, Stephanie Rizzi, and Mariah White.
White criticized the idea after referring to herself as the "safety guru."
“If anyone that is really into safety, that probably would be me. I am the safety guru," White said. "We have a safety director. We have a wellness director, and I believe that you have to have someone who is applicable to the regulations here in Richmond Public Schools. I think that we can get the job done if we can get the training that is necessary, and we have talked about that there are some missing things in our safety."
Others, including Burke and Page, agreed with the notion that there are already staff in the administration who make safety-related recommendations.
Furthermore, Doerr said the board hadn't done its homework since the last time Gibson introduced the same motion in June to include researching the budgetary impacts of hiring a safety auditor.
"I'm not interested in adding a position without some additional insight from the administration and information on the salary add. But if we do that research and come back, I'm happy to support this in the future," Doerr said.
After Gibson's first attempt to advance the measure failed Monday, she made another motion that would've tasked a school board committee with vetting the position and defining its scope of responsibilities, per a suggestion made by Doerr.
However, that too did not gain enough support to move forward.
Only Doerr switched her vote to "yes," while White, Rizzi, Burke, and Page maintained a "no" vote.
“What is the difference of discussing this in a committee... If the board has already said no to it, then what would the committee actually do? Please help me Ms. Gibson," Board Chair Stephanie Rizzi asked in response to Gibson's follow-up motion.
Gibson shook her head, seemingly in disbelief, and did not answer the question.
In her public remarks, Rizzi said she believed addressing community violence required a multi-faceted approach, including soliciting help from city and state policymakers on combating gang violence.
“I don't think placing blame is effective. It divides us, and so I just ask that everyone consider how it is we can all work together to take care of our babies," Rizzi said.
In meetings to come, Harris-Muhammed said she plans to introduce policies that would set clear guidance for when staff are required to conduct threat assessments and define consequences for when staff fail to complete a mandated threat assessment.
The findings from the third-party investigation report revealed Huguenot school staff authorized Shawn Jackson, the graduate who was shot and killed following the ceremony, to attend graduation without any consideration for known safety concerns and failed to complete threat assessments despite having knowledge of security issues.
Jackson was a homebound student due to "threats of neighborhood violence" and his mother gave numerous warnings to school staff about safety concerns including how students tried to kill him and shot up their home.
Despite this, Jackson's counselor said she would "squeeze him in" the day of the graduation, in response to an inquiry from Jackon's mother, after acknowledging his participation at a graduation rehearsal could be "dangerous."
Superintendent Jason Kamras did not engage in the school board's discussion Monday night, except to tell the board that his administration plans to launch a threat data dashboard in the coming weeks.
Kamras had previously recommended, in an internal report of the shooting that he presented to the school board in July, that the board adopt a policy to set clearer expectations for graduation approvals, which the board did months ago.
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