I have long argued that the Richmond Public School system needs to close buildings before they build new ones.
 
That has been painfully evident, particularly in view of dwindling enrollment throughout the school system in recent years.
 
A recent story in the newspaper even called such proposals “a fallacy.”
 
That just depends on your point of view.
 
For example, in the third paragraph, the article tells us:

Critics of Richmond's high per-pupil spending say there is too much empty space in city schools -- that has been at the heart of Mayor L. Douglas Wilder's continuing clashes with the School Board. Wilder says the board needs to close and consolidate schools.
 
If you read the entire article, the only "critic" the article specifically names is me! No one else is named, although there are many out there who share my point of view.
 
For example, BCWH Architects and DeJong & Associates presented the Richmond City Public Schools Facility Master Plan in October 2002. It concluded that "many of the buildings have more square footage than needed for the enrollment in their schools and this plan needs to address efficiencies of school sizes as well as condition of facilities."
 
This quote is on Page 3 of the original 2002 report, which you can view in its entirety here. 
 
Furthermore, The Mayor's Education Advisory Committee concluded in its June 2006 report that "Richmond Public Schools should identify each school that should be closed due to inadequate facilities or declining enrollments and create a plan for closings to include attendance zones and timelines.
 
These recommendations should be included in the 2007-08 budgetary submission."
You can view The Education Advisory Committee's report here.

Moreover, School Board member Keith West has pushed for additional school consolidation. As noted in the School Board's minutes for March 5, 2007:

Mr. West amended the item to include the following written recommendations submitted by him:

* Close Maymont Elementary School. Recommended in 2002 Facility Master Plan and June 2006 Update Presentation.

* Close Binford Middle School –or- Thompson Middle School. Binford closing was recommended in a 1995 Virginia Department of Education Study (which was noted in the 2002 Facility Master Plan). Thompson closing was recommended in the 2002 Facility Master Plan.
 
You can read the minutes of this meeting here.  

If you continue in the article, it goes on to tells us:

To keep that kind of overcrowding from happening again, school officials say Richmond needs to build new schools before closing old ones. Wilder disagrees. He says school officials need to close schools before he opens his "City of the Future" program's funds to build new ones.

The result: two years after announcing that a $300 million, five-year City of the Future plan would include funding to build or renovate 15 schools, not one shovelful of dirt as been turned or one blueprint drafted.

What the article does not mention is that Richmond's City Council ultimately controls the Capital Improvement Plan, which it has demonstrated time and time again. In fact, City Council recently approved $140 million for building new schools without much debate, and concluding that the meetings the School Board held with the public were good enough to sign off on the new plans.

Had City Council felt strongly that new schools should be swiftly built, there would be construction happening as I write this, just as there is at the Performing Arts Center site.

Personalizing the school consolidation issue simply perpetuates the "squabbling" theme we continue to read about, and trivializes the efforts others have made towards improving Richmond's school system.

It is important that the public know that there is often more to the story than what they read in the paper.