UPDATE: Richmond Alternative School renamed to Richmond Success Academy

The Richmond School Board unanimously agreed to rename the Richmond Alternative School the Richmond Success Academy after a survey showed the greatest number of students there preferred that choice.

Solomon Jefferson, Richmond Public Schools’ chief academic officer for secondary education, said the division “will make sure that the branding is everywhere in the building.”

Mariah White, who represents the 2nd District where the Richmond Alternative School is located, told Jefferson that “since you have done the survey and this is what I asked, I guess this will be the school name.”

The board had previously balked at the recommendation from Superintendent Jason Kamras’ administration that the school be renamed the Richmond Success Academy because of the late introduction of the proposal into the renaming process and some debates about whether it was better to prioritize “success” or “education” in the rebranding.

After the board asked the administration to have students weigh in on the choice, a survey was conducted of 50 students currently enrolled there. (RAS students, who are sent to the Leigh Street school because of behavioral and academic problems, cycle in and out during the school year; the goal, say administrators, is to get kids back on track to return to their districted school.)

Of 50 students surveyed, 21 preferred Richmond Success Academy, followed by 18 in favor of Richmond Preparatory Academy and 11 in favor of Richmond Academy of Excellence.

School staff had the opposite preference: Of 10 surveyed, 5 wanted Richmond Academy of Excellence, 3 Richmond Preparatory Academy and 2 Richmond Success Academy.

White said she had heard some concerns from staff that there could be confusion between the new name and the division’s Secondary Success Center, a program geared toward helping students who have dropped out of school earn a diploma.

Original story:

Tonight, the Richmond School Board will take up its latest school renaming — one that has sparked debate but, unlike most of the high-profile controversies of recent years in Virginia, has nothing to do with Confederate names. 

This August, a renaming committee proposed rebranding Richmond Alternative School, the Leigh Street facility where the division sends middle and high school students with significant behavioral and academic problems, the “Richmond Success Academy.” 

But some members of the School Board balked over concerns the name had been added to a list of recommendations reviewed by the public too late and ought to emphasize excellence rather than success.

“This was not one of the things that we even talked about,” said 2nd District member Mariah White at the board’s Aug. 20 meeting. 

The renaming is part of a broader effort by Richmond Public Schools to “change the narrative” about RAS as the division takes over control of the school’s programming from private provider Specialized Education Services Incorporated (SESI). While the Virginia Department of Education broadly uses the term “alternative education,” Superintendent Jason Kamras’ administration has pointed to research finding certain program names can be “damaging” to students because of stigmatization. 

 “The purpose for the renaming is to change the image and to motivate scholars,” Solomon Jefferson, the division’s chief academic officer for secondary education, has told the board. 

The School Board authorized the beginning of the renaming process in April, which kicked off a series of surveys and meetings and convened a renaming committee to narrow down the list. Ninety-two names were suggested, running the gamut from “New Directions Academy” to “Duke’s Mayo Alternative School” and “Rizz Academy.” 

The problem for some School Board members came with the late addition of “Richmond Success Academy”: The moniker was not among the five names the renaming committee put forward for sparsely attended public hearings this July but was inserted into the final three. The committee then chose it over “Richmond Academy of Excellence” and “Richmond Prep Academy” even though the former had gotten the most support among the small pool of hearing attendees. 

Jefferson told the board this August that the renaming committee considered “success” “a little more simplistic versus excellence.” 

But White argued success and excellence are “two different things.”

“Excellence is about maximizing your personal and your organization’s potential. Success is about achieving outcomes,” she said. “First we’ve got to get started to see the outcomes.”

Fifth District member Stephanie Rizzi, though, threw in a note of caution, observing that Virginia Commonwealth University’s Division of Inclusive Excellence, where she works, is currently reevaluating its name. While “it’s not the same type of situation,” she said, people in the division have raised concerns that “‘excellence’ has kind of lost its meaning. … It’s kind of a word that’s been overused in a lot of contexts.” 

Others worried that by choosing “Richmond Success Academy,” the division would be sending the message that public input wasn’t important. 

“We need to move away from ignoring a process that we asked for our young people to be involved in and then we ignore their contributions,” said 6th District member Shonda Harris-Muhammed. 

On Aug. 20, the board delayed its pick, asking the administration to survey RAS students on what they want. Those results will be presented to the School Board tonight, with a final decision anticipated.