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Richmond Free Press
VOL. 27 NO. 35
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RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
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Thousands of fans pay respects to Aretha B5
august 30-SEPTEMBER 1, 2018
Supplies surprise $200 shopping spree helps teachers get ready for school By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press
Huguenot High School teacher Catrina Cheeks happily fills her shopping cart with school supplies Wednesday at a Walmart store in South Side. She was among an estimated 200 teachers from Huguenot, Elkhardt-Thompson Middle and Westover Hills Elementary schools surprised with a $200 shopping spree at the Sheila Lane store.
UR symposium to celebrate life, legacy of Wyatt Tee Walker Civil rights giant Wyatt Tee Walker’s life and legacy will be celebrated at a University of Richmond symposium next month. Open to the public without charge, the symposium will be 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, in the Jepson Alumni Center’s
Robins Pavilion. The program will feature a panel discussion on the late Dr. Walker’s central role in the Civil Rights Movement as chief of staff to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and in creating a model for community development as a pastor in New York for nearly
Cheating scandal leads to more turnover at Carver By Ronald E. Carrington
Richmond Public Schools officials have begun the process to revoke the licenses of 10 administrators and teachers linked to a SOL testing cheating scandal at Carver Elementary School. Officials told the Free Press that RPS administrators have petitioned the Virginia Department of Education to pull the licenses of 10 of the 11 people named by state investigators as improperly helping students at the Leigh Street school to pass state Standards of Learning tests last May. RPS officials are seeking revocation of the licenses of former Carver Principal Kiwana Yates, former Vice Principal Fay Joyner and eight teachers, officials confirmed. In early August, the Richmond School Board accepted the resignations of Ms. Yates, Ms. Joyner and teachers Evette Cartwright, Kayiesha Golds, Chireda Cotman and Betty Alexis. The board also placed five more Carver teachers on administrative leave — Marlin Osborne, Troy Johnson, Stephanie Burgess, Nicole Lacy and Valencia Davis — and asked them to resign. Of that group, only Ms. Lacy has resigned, with her resigna-
tion accepted by the board at its Aug. 20 meeting. The board also accepted Ms. Davis’ retirement from the school system. Please turn to A4
four decades. The program is the first of a series that the university plans to host on “Contested Spaces: Race, Nation and Conflict.” The Walker symposium will feature Dr. Joseph Evans, dean of the Morehouse School of Religion. He is to deliver the keynote address on the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign of which Dr. Walker was a key, behind-the-scenes organizer. Dr. Evans is to speak at 6 p.m. The program is scheduled to begin with a 3 p.m. panel discussion on Dr. Walker’s multiple roles in fighting segregation, initially in Petersburg and later across the country, as well as his efforts to uplift Harlem through the creation of affordable housing, jobs and small business growth during
Wednesday was a big day for about 200 teachers from the three city public schools that sit along Forest Hill Avenue in the 4th Council District. Each teacher was awarded a surprise $200 shopping spree at the Walmart store on Sheila Lane, just off Forest Hill Avenue. The gift took place at a time when some city teachers are complaining in Facebook posts and on other social media sites about dipping into their own pockets to buy classroom supplies. Events like the one Wednesday and other school supply giveaways this month appear to be helping. And Richmond Public Schools’ 2,000 or so teachers can expect to have extra money — $150 apiece — from the school system to buy supplies when classes begin next Tuesday, Sept. 4. Mayor Levar M. Stoney and schools Superintendent Jason Kamras joined in breaking the news of Walmart’s surprise gift to educators from Westover Hills Elementary, Elkhardt-Thompson Middle and Huguenot High schools. The store teamed with Coca-Cola to provide $40,000 for the shopping sprees to help the teachers get their classrooms and themselves ready for the start of the school year, said 4th District School Board member Jonathan M. Young, who helped keep the secret. He said the teachers were only told to be at the store at 11 a.m. for a presentation. “The store manager follows the news and knows the challenges teachers are facing and how hard they work,” Mr. Young said. The manager “also is aware that many of the parents and students who shop at the store attend the nearby schools and wanted to give back to their teachers.” The Walmart event was a highlight in a month that also featured a variety of community events in which volunteers collected notebooks, paper, pencils and pens and handed them out to students, or in some cases, to specific schools to be disPlease turn to A4
Chief Durham refutes claims that smell of weed falsely being used for searches By Jeremy M. Lazarus
his tenure as the spiritual leader of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ. The panelists are to include Dr. Corey D.B. Walker, vice president and dean of the Virginia Union University School of Theology, and the Rev. Bernard “Chris” Dorsey, president of the Disciples of Christ Higher Education and
Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham said he has sought to hold his department to high standards and to impose discipline when he finds officers fail to uphold them. Since taking command of the 750-member force in February 2015, Chief Durham has fired, forced the resignation of or terminated 19 officers for serious infractions, including five officers this year. Those actions, he said, “I do not take lightly.” He said the number doesn’t include Chief Durham dozens of other police officers who quietly have been suspended, received reprimands or been required to undergo counseling or take refresher training for breaking departmental rules and regulations. In separate data, the department reported that 22 officers
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Dr. Walker
1, 2 … Jermoin’e Royster rising in the ring By Fred Jeter
If anyone was ever born to box, it’s 17-yearold Jermoin’e Royster, a George Wythe High School senior and member of Cobra Boxing Gym at the Southside Community Center. His father, Jerry Royster, insists Jermoin’e “was in the gym, in his carrier, the day after he was born.” Jermoin’e’s eight older brothers and four older sisters all boxed to some extent under the guidance of their doting father, who also serves as their coach. “Every single one of them boxed,” Mr. Royster said. “I taught my daughters how to box because you know how boys can be.” It’s now Jermoin’e’s turn to carry on a family pugilism tradition. His amateur ring credentials are so bright that welder’s glasses are needed to read them: Three National USA Boxing titles. Add to that eight Silver Gloves titles, eight Junior Olympics crowns and so many other awards that they are hard to keep track of. Jermoin’e’s overall record is 65-13, with many of those defeats avenged in rematches. He has left behind a string of bloody lips and swollen eyes all up and down the East Coast. Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Jermoin’e Royster practices his boxing moves at the Cobra Gym in South Richmond.
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