RPS News Details

Preparation at the Center: Expecting the Unexpected in Winter Weather

At Richmond Public Schools, our motto is to teach, lead, and serve with love every day. As we’ve learned over the last five years, those values matter most when the unexpected happens. Last week, as Richmond’s unprecedented water outage extended the winter break by a week, we saw those values in action daily: Teachers and principals called to check on their students and make sure that they had resources to get through the disruption. In partnership with Feed More, we mobilized to serve 4,276 meals to our families on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

And our Facilities team, knowing perhaps better than anyone else what the cold temperatures and lack of water could mean for our buildings, sprung into action.

Ahead of the January 5 winter weather, RPS’ Facilities team knew that they would need to be prepared for after-effects of the storm. By Sunday, they were ready to de-ice equipment, remove snow quickly, and coax a boiler or pipe back into action. But as soon as the boil-water advisory was announced, they knew they needed to expect the unexpected.  

While the situation changed daily, preventing most staff and students out of our buildings, the Facilities team swiftly headed in to ensure that our buildings’ systems were safely and fully restored — quickly.

Over an entire week, this dedicated group worked tirelessly to address heating, plumbing, and structural challenges. Facilities’ team leads Scott Hicks (Electrician), Harry Chargois, III (Plumber), Wayne “Bubba” Salmon (Structural Foreperson), Robert Trayer (Structural Supervisor), and Guster “Gus” Pryor (HVAC Technician), each brought decades of specialized expertise to the table, and worked collaboratively, resourcefully, and with an unwavering commitment to RPS students and staff.

‘Everyone’s communication and commitment were outstanding’

The loss of water required them to all work together, think through all possible scenarios, and collaborate around solutions. “Many of our school buildings are heated with boilers,” explained Mr. Trayer, who has worked at RPS for more than forty years, including through Hurricane Isabel. “Therefore, we were unable to run heat during some of the coldest temperatures we’ve experienced here in Virginia in quite some time.” To mitigate the impact of the cold, the team drained the pipes in all of our schools to ensure that they would not burst.

Once water was restored and testing commenced late last week, the team started re-flushing the pipes, testing the faucets, and replacing close to 400 water filters in schools’ hydration stations. “We secured as many filters as we could from local vendors, and the remaining filters were brought in on special delivery from Illinois,” Mr. Trayer said. “Despite delays, we installed 125 filters on Saturday and another 250 on Sunday.”

A small-but-mighty team, the crew stayed adaptable. “Everyone’s communication and commitment were outstanding,” said Bubba. “Everyone is willing to jump in and help,” Mr. Salmon noted. “Communication has improved significantly [the last few years], and leadership kept us on track with clear directions,” said Mr. Trayer.

By week’s end, nearly every facilities team member, from electricians to plumbers and HVAC technicians to structural workers, had contributed to the re-opening efforts. Outside contractors also provided support to ensure that we could open safely on Monday.

Despite the high-pressure situation, the team found motivation in their impact on the community. “Knowing our work directly affects students and staff returning to school is fulfilling,” Mr. Chargois said. “Plumbing isn’t just unclogging toilets — it’s ensuring clean drinking water and functional facilities.”

Mr. Hicks echoed this sentiment. “Every light switch and outlet involves intricate work,” he said. “Our goal is to provide safe, functional schools, even if the effort goes unnoticed.”

While the Facilities team often works behind the scenes, their contributions during this event were nothing short of heroic. “You don’t know facilities exist until something happens,” shared HVAC technician Gus Pryor. Thanks to their dedication, RPS schools reopened on time, allowing students to resume learning after a long break from school. As you wash your hands and fill up your water bottle this week, make sure to think of this team and their hard work/resilience.

This week, we’re celebrating Virginia Principal Appreciation Week and the incredible leaders who lead our schools with love every day. RPS principals work tirelessly to support students, staff, and families, fostering learning environments where everyone can thrive. Let’s show them some extra love!

Send your principal appreciations to shoutouts@rvaschools.net and we’ll feature them in this Friday’s RPS Direct. Thank you!

January 8, 2025 and January 13, 2025

Every Wednesday following a Richmond City School Board meeting, we include a brief recap of the meeting in Wednesday’s edition of RPS Direct. This recap includes student and staff celebrations, our monthly proclamations, and items that either were presented for Board vote or are now open for community input.

As always, please find full recordings of School Board meetings on our YouTube channel (available in English and Spanish). All materials are available for review on BoardDocs, as well.

Due to the water outage, the swearing-in for the new Richmond City School Board members was postponed from Monday, January 6, to Wednesday, January 8. At that meeting, the new School Board, surrounded by friends and family, was officially sworn in!

At the January 8 meeting, the Board elected Mrs. Shavonda Fernandez (9th District) as its chair for the year, and Mr. Matt Percival (1st District) as its vice-chair. They then, given the ongoing water challenges facing Richmond, voted to reconvene on Monday, January 13.

At the January 13 reconvened meeting, the Administration gave a presentation to the Board on the 2024-29 strategic plan, including updated language around the Top Ten Goals for the Division. Additionally, the Board received an update on the budget timeline and process, which will begin with the first Budget Working Session on Thursday, January 23. Budget work sessions will happen every other week through the end of January and February, with the expectation that the Administration will provide the Board with a final budget for approval on March 4.

The Board reviewed several proposals for their meeting calendar for the upcoming year. After considering a few different cadences and options, the Board voted to shift to a schedule of one work session on the first Monday of each month, followed the next day by a public meeting. All meetings will be livestreamed and open to the public, in City Hall.

Finally the Board reviewed several policies for a second read. Because it was the first read of said policies with the new Board, the Board voted to treat the January 13 meeting as a first read, and to review the policies again at a later date.