The Richmond School Board gave the approval Monday for the city's first charter school, but it was not without controversy.
The Patrick Henry Charter School is planned for the now closed Patrick Henry building just south of the river in Woodland Heights.
The mission, according to the Patrick Henry Initiative, is to establish a K-5 school based on meaningful parent, educator and community involvement. The school intends to provide the children of our ethnically and socio-economically diverse Richmond community with an academically rigorous science and liberal arts curriculum that emphasizes environmental awareness and social responsibility.
Scheduled to open in July 2009, the school would be open to any student who wanted to apply, but it would be run independently from the city. It would be funded by both city and state funds as well as private donations and grants.
The School Board's decision went against a recommendation from an administration committee and the advice of the board's lawyers, according to news reports.
Committee members have concerns that there are still issues that need to be resolved and the lawyers said that once the application is approved, it becomes the contract and would no longer be open to negotiation, according to news reports.
The NAACP has publicly spoken out against the charter school, stating that they oppose "any scheme that creates a private school in a public setting."