Jason Kamras: Protecting Our Most Precious Resource
By Charles McGuigan 04.2020
Even before the Richmond Public Schools closed their doors for the year, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras was already planning what to do during this unprecedented pandemic. Shortly after the shutdown, Jason considered some of our most vulnerable students who lack one of the most basic tools for online learning. Jason, who has a third grader and a fifth grader at Holton Elementary School, explains.
“Many of the families living in Gilpin Court, for instance, can’t afford a computer so that’s one of the reasons we’re doing a laptop distribution,” he says.
It’s a massive effort currently underway, and it took time to assess the needs of the students.
“We started with a survey to find out who needs laptops,” says Jason. “That was several weeks ago, and we had 10,000 students, or families, sign up. And about a week and a half ago we started with our seniors, and we are working down the grades. So as of tomorrow (April 24), we will have distributed laptops to every high school student who has requested it. Next week we’ll do middle school, and the week after that we’ll do elementary school.”
The school district already owned a large number of laptops, but many more brand new ones have since been purchased. “So we’re redeploying laptops that we had in our schools,” Jason explains. “But we’ve also purchased several thousand new ones as well. There have been a number of budget reallocations from our current budget to meet this need. We’re now in the multiple millions of dollars that we’ve spent on laptops. I would say over two million dollars.”
Without internet access, laptops for online learning are worthless as an education tool.
“In addition to giving out laptops, we’re giving out Wi-Fi hotspots,” says Jason. “We’ve purchased about 5000 hotspots. So when you sign up for a computer, if you need internet access, you can also sign up for a hotspot.”
There had been concerns expressed by at least two School Board members that laptop computers and online learning might be used to deemphasize the importance of teachers in physical classrooms.
In response to those concerns, Jason is explicit in his continued support of both teachers and classrooms.
“There is nothing, nothing,” he says. “That will ever replace a great, caring, skilled, loving, flesh and blood teacher. Period. Full stop. And nothing about that has changed at RPS.”
“By using online services, RPS is simply pursuing one of our deepest values, which is equity,” Jason continues. “And there are lots of families who literally cannot access the online learning that we have produced, and that so many extraordinary organizations around the globe have produced, because they don’t have a computer and they don’t have internet access. So I think it would be a violation of our deepest value to not try to level the playing field by getting kids those very basic tools in the year 2020.”
Fact is, Jason’s extremely supportive of Richmond’s public school teachers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty by even offering curbside instruction.
“Every day since we’ve closed I have a section in my daily email of shout outs to our teachers,” says Jason. “I now have a Microsoft word document that is over sixty pages long of these shout outs, talking about what our teachers are doing every day. From Facetime with their kids, to driving by and teaching a lesson on the curb with their kids, to dropping off books for their kids. Our teachers have been nothing short of extraordinary.”
Jason mentions the online programs offered by RPS, something both his third grader and fifth grader use every day.
“If you haven’t seen our online learning platform, you should check it out,” he says. “It’s call RPS at Home. You can get there from our website. It’s a daily set of prepackaged online lessons for every grade and subject. So, for example, my fifth grader goes on, he goes to the elementary section, fifth grade, clicks on April 22, and boom you have a math lesson, an English lesson, science, history with videos from our own RPS teachers. “
RPS’s online learning platform has been praised by other municipal school systems, some close to home, and others half way across the country.
“I’ve had folks from other counties say, ‘Hey, my kids go to Henrico or Chesterfield schools, and we saw what you’re doing, and it’s really helpful,” according to Jason. “We’ve had folks even as far away from Chicago say, ‘Hey, we saw this on the news, and we’re using it.’ I’m just really proud of our teachers and our academic team for putting that together.”
Richmond Public School also offers any student hard copy for their school assignments.
“We have, at all of our fifty-five distribution sites, paper work for anybody who wants to go that route,” says Jason. “We have literally thousands of packets distributed all across the city.”
In addition to all of these efforts, RPS is also tending to the needs of children suffering economic hardships.
“We have food at ten school sites, and then we load up buses from those ten school sites and we go out to the community to forty-five neighborhood places,” Jason says. “So altogether, there are fifty-five places where people can get food.”
At those same sites, people can get more than food, if they need it. “They can get diapers and toiletries,” says Jason. “There are all kinds of things that we’re distributing.”
The number of meals RPS supplies daily is staggering, and it won’t end with the school year.
“We are distributing about thirteen thousand meals a day,” Jason says. “We have crossed the quarter million mark since the closure. You get the lunch and the breakfast together in one bag. And we’ll continue to do that through the summer until we reopen. Where we see a need, we provide the toiletries as well.”
None of this would be possible without an army of volunteers who have donated money, and a lot of valuable time.
“Individuals, foundations, not just for toiletries, but for additional food assistance and technology, have donated,” says Jason Kamras. “It’s been incredible, and we’ve had literally hundreds of volunteers sign up to help. You can do that on our website. So the outpouring of support has been really, really moving to see.
To donate time or money to the RPS effort visit rvaschools.net .
