Williams: Who is in charge of Richmond’s schools?

No one anticipates a fleet of moving vans rolling up again on City Hall at nightfall.

Still, the relationship between Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the Richmond School Board has taken a turn for the Wilder.

Jones recently unveiled an aggressive school-construc tion plan that calls for an $81 million replacement for Huguenot High School, as well as money for two elementary schools and a middle school.

His $173.6 million proposal butts heads with a $149.5 million school-system plan that calls four elementary schools and a middle school, but no high school.

Jones' gambit does not come with the confrontational posture that marked L. Douglas Wilder's schools power grab. But clearly, both men share a desire to shape public education -- hardly an uncommon trait among U.S. mayors. And Jones is seeking to impose his will on a board more pliant than the one Wilder sparred with as mayor from 2005 to 2009.

It's not as if the mayor's objective is outlandish. South Richmond may be Jones' political base, and his children attended Huguenot. But few people would argue that the annexed-area school doesn't need replacement -- least of all students and faculty abuzz over the prospects for an upgrade.

"We want a new school," senior Olivia Harrison said yesterday. "We need a new school."

Still, at 48 years old, Huguenot is middle-aged in a city where the average age for a public school building is 60 and seven schools will be a century old by 2015.

Jones' impatience is understandable. It was under another assertive mayor, Tim Kaine, that Richmond had its most recent round of school construction a decade ago.

Given the limited resources at the school system's disposal, we've got to get this right. And that means sticking with an orderly process that includes public participation in the decision-making, says School Board Vice Chairwoman Kimberly B. Gray.

"I think that's the most important piece. And I think the decision should be data-driven," she said. "And the data I've seen supports the original plan that elementary schools be built first, where the greatest impact will be, given our limited resources."

Gray noted that the school system arrived at its plan as part of a process that included a facilities assessment by a consultant. Gray says she's not arguing that Huguenot isn't in need of replacement. But the enrollment battle is lost by high school. Parents tend to decide whether to stick with the school system while their children are in the fourth and fifth grades.

A decision on Huguenot should come after extensive public dialogue, but Gray wonders if a board suffering from post-Wilder trauma is up to challenging Jones. "I think there is an overwhelming willingness to get along and not have conflict. And I think to some degree, it's to our detriment," she said.

Indeed Jones, unlike the School Board members, has a citywide mandate and a bully pulpit, not to mention a hand on the purse strings. Ultimately, this question of process vs. political power comes down to this: Who charts the course of the schools?

If the answer is the mayor, we should ask, Why does Richmond even have a School Board?

Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or .