RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A proposed resolution to address the growing issue of mold in Richmond Public Schools (RPS) buildings was shot down for the second time by the district’s school board Monday.
A fiery debate took place at Monday’s school board meeting, as the Richmond Education Association (REA) once again urged the board to adopt two resolutions they drafted to address fire safety and mold in schools.
“We really just want is some clear procedures, policies, as well as like a process for establishing safe criteria, which we really believe the union should have a handle on and be a part of,” said Anne Forrester, the association’s vice president.
The resolutions were first introduced to the board on Oct. 16 and school board member Kenya Gibson made a motion to approve the resolutions and share the details of them with the public.
That motion was rejected by other board members, who were concerned with language in the original documents. REA said it went back and made changes to the documents based on the feedback from the board before they were brought back Monday and rejected again.
The vote caused upset REA members to storm leave the meeting. RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said he planned to meet with REA to discuss possible solutions last week but got sick. He now says they plan to meet at a later date.
“I am looking forward to having that meeting, I think, this week or next week to talk through how we can collaborate on solutions,” said Kamras. “I think we all want the exact same thing. I think the issue is how do we get there as quickly as possible.”
RPS is still having full mold testing conducted in several of its facilities.
