Mayoral Candidates Speak About MLWGS

Four of Richmond's 2008 Mayoral Candidates* Spoke with Danny Yates During a Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce Forum on October 7.

The Candidates Spoke On the Question of Diversity and the MLWGS Admissions/Hiring Process.

Question: Currently the number of African American Governor’s School students from Richmond is disproportional to the percentage of African American students in RPS.

This past June, the Maggie Walker Regional School Board voted to spend $70,000 to hire a consulting firm to assess the level of diversity in the school and to propose methods for increasing minority representation.

The question is this - would you support a race-based affirmative action program in the school’s admissions and hiring procedures to increase minority students and faculty?

Their responses are listed below (in the order which they spoke)

Councilman William Pantele, Local Attorney and Richmond City Council President:

“...in that case there would certainly be something that would merit review and study, of course, I think it also illustrates one of the issues with charter schools...one of the risks is, charter schools tend to gravitate towards cherry-picking students … The Governor’s School is a great facility it has to be accessible to all of our students who qualify where there is a slot available. I’m glad the school is looking into the diversity. issue and I will be interested, in fact, I will insist on a copy of the results. “

Lawrence Williams, Local Architect and Richmond Public Schools Parent:

“I don’t think you need to waste money on a consultant. Many of these things, people of good common sense work out over time … Robert and I are from John Marshall when it was being integrated and because of that we had some major opportunities. I was able to go to the University of Virginia and Harvard University from there….Very frankly, once you have those opportunities, you have a different perspective and you care about where you came from. Pantele will not go to Fairfield court and fight to the death to make sure that that community changes. I will, and that is just a fact of life.”

Robert Grey, Local Attorney and Former President of the American Bar Association:

“I don’t think you have to hire anybody for $70,000 to figure this out. This is a community that has always had difficulty with race, and we have got to start getting a handle on this by making sure that we provide equal opportunity to all students to attend whatever school we have, and I mean that throughout the city. ...There is no perfect system to do any of this. It requires people of good will, good conscience, and it requires people of commitment to a city that will grow through the strong diversity of its neighborhoods…”

Delegate Dwight Jones, Local Pastor and Member of the Virginia House of Representatives:

“I didn’t know that there was a 70,000 dollar contract out there to just bring diversity to the Maggie Walker high school. If I had known, I would have put a bid in. That’s an easy job. And I probably would have done it for 35 (thousand). The question is easily answered. We have got to have the leadership that requires that there is diversity in all places, and that requires intentionality, somebody who is going to push the envelope and have these conversations that are somewhat difficult to have.”

Four Richmond mayoral candidates spoke at a recent forum. From left they are Bill Pantele, Robert Grey, Lawrence Williams, and Dwight Jones. Photo by Danny Yates

*Candidate Paul Goldman did not attend the forum due to a religious commitment. On repeated attempts for contact, Goldman was unavailable for comment.