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Richmond is a segregated city, with stark economic inequality, and a failing school system. The city population is about 50% Black people and 40% white people. but few if any neighborhoods reflect that balance. Instead most of the city is characterized by fairly stark segregation as this dot map shows. (Here is a blog post on residential segregation in the city if you want to read more about it.) In addition, Richmond has “one of the highest levels of income inequality in the country” which is also expressed spatially. Poverty is often concentrated. This means that schools are racially segregated and that some schools serve very high percentages of poor students. Schools that have high concentrations of poor students struggle with all the challenges of poverty: children might be hungry, not have stable living situations, face violence in their neighborhoods. These children are less likely to have parents who went to college (since college generally decreases the likelihood that you will be poor) and that can mean that students are less “ready” for school. All of these factors mean that schools that have high rates of poor students face a harder job than schools that have lower rates of poor students. In addition, Richmond Public Schools are largely underfunded, many buildings have structural problems like leaky roofs. Thus the physical space of the schools is another burden borne by the children. The academic results are not impressive in the aggregate. You can explore the most recent SOL scores and other official school data here. Under 40% of schools are fully accredited
Below is a table of basic demographic data for Richmond Public Schools’ elementary schools, we can see that in some schools Black students comprise about thirteen percent of the total school population, while in other schools ninety-five percent of the students are Black. In other words, some specific schools are examples of “racially isolated” schools, while others are more racially mixed.
| School Name | Total Students | Total Black Students | Percent Black | Total White, Non-Hispanic Students | Percent White, Non-Hispanic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellevue Elementary | 271 | 244 | 90% | 9 | 3% |
| Blackwell Elementary | 679 | 576 | 85% | 7 | 1% |
| Broad Rock Elementary | 874 | 512 | 59% | 21 | 2% |
| Chimborazo Elementary | 474 | 441 | 93% | 25 | 5% |
| E.S.H. Greene Elementary | 640 | 83 | 13% | 12 | 2% |
| Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary | 442 | 293 | 66% | 12 | 3% |
| Fairfield Court Elementary | 491 | 472 | 96% | 2 | 0% |
| G.H. Reid Elementary | 686 | 355 | 52% | 7 | 1% |
| George Mason Elementary | 1046 | 527 | 50% | 416 | 40% |
| George W. Carver Elementary | 485 | 448 | 92% | 5 | 1% |
| Ginter Park Elementary | 511 | 492 | 96% | 7 | 1% |
| J.B. Fisher Elementary | 348 | 210 | 60% | 45 | 13% |
| J.E.B. Stuart Elementary | 353 | 323 | 92% | 5 | 1% |
| J.L. Francis Elementary | 551 | 330 | 60% | 19 | 3% |
| John B. Cary Elementary | 260 | 215 | 83% | 21 | 8% |
| Linwood Holton Elementary | 593 | 342 | 58% | 198 | 33% |
| Mary Munford Elementary | 485 | 62 | 13% | 356 | 73% |
| Miles Jones Elementary | 635 | 449 | 71% | 19 | 3% |
| Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary | 680 | 517 | 76% | 14 | 2% |
| Overby-Sheppard Elementary | 376 | 351 | 93% | 3 | 1% |
| Patrick Henry School Of Science And Arts | 315 | 181 | 57% | 99 | 31% |
| Southampton Elementary | 402 | 342 | 85% | 19 | 5% |
| Swansboro Elementary | 262 | 232 | 89% | 8 | 3% |
| Westover Hills Elementary | 420 | 359 | 85% | 26 | 6% |
| William Fox Elementary | 554 | 101 | 18% | 354 | 64% |
| Woodville Elementary | 477 | 454 | 95% | 3 | 1% |
Patrick Henry is the one of the seventeen fully accredited schools in the city.