The Richmond Alternative School is located on Leigh Street in Jackson Ward.
2017, DANIEL SANGJIB MIN / TIMES-DISPATCH
The Richmond School Board will sign a new $ 1.68 million contract with a for-profit service provider at the Richmond Alternative School known as the Spartan Academy.
On Monday, the board voted 7-2 to continue serving FullBloom, formerly Camelot Education, with board members Liz Doerr and Kenya Gibson disagreeing.
The original contract with Camelot expires later this year, so RPS published a tender for contract services in April. The Texas-based for-profit company was founded in the 2016-17 school year to work with middle and high school students struggling with discipline.
The reason for the administration to keep contracting out services with the company instead of bringing the program in-house was an increase in academic results and positive school climate indicators, according to a presentation on Monday evening.
Mariah White, who represents the Spartan Academy as the representative of the 2nd District School Council, was impressed by the progress made by the alternative school. She voted to continue the partnership, a diversion from her 2nd Ward predecessor Scott Barlow, who refused to agree to the contract last year.
“That shows me positive results,” White told Lamont Trotter, the director of the Spartan Academy, during the meeting. “You can’t put a figure on that. You can’t tell a parent that $ 1.6 million, $ 2 million makes a difference if their older child walks that stage or their first child walks that stage. I am impressed, I support this, and I will continue to support this as long as you complete it. “