🏞 Good morning, RVA: Executive Orders, a new parks superintendent, and a packed School Board agenda

Good morning, RVA! It’s 28 °F, and temperate weather continues! Today you should expect highs in the 40s and plenty of sunshine—brisk but doable. That vibe should continue into tomorrow, and then, watch out, because real cold weather moves in on Thursday!
 

Water cooler

After his inauguration, at which he yelled “THE SOUND OF FREEDOM” to overhead fighter jets reminding me very much of a bizarro Howard Dean, Governor Youngkin signed nine Executive Orders and two Executive Directives. Most, but not all, of these EOs are sort of like City Council resolutions—non-binding or unenforceable or sternly asking some other group to do a thing because you cannot. They let the Governor take a victory lap for “fulfilling” his day-one promises while not actually doing the hard work of changing laws or policies. Some of the EOs, though, will have an impact, but it’s hard to say exactly what. For example, Executive Order #2, “Reaffirming the Rights of Parents in The Upbringing, Education, and Care of Their Children,” has the potential to create a lot of chaos in local school districts across the Commonwealth this morning, as it upends the current mandate for masks within K–12 public schools. To quote from the EO: “The parents of any child enrolled in a elementary or secondary school or a school based early childcare and educational program may elect for their children not to be subject to any mask mandate in effect at the child’s school or educational program.” Locally, both Richmond Public School and Henrico County Public Schools have said, despite the EO, that they will continue with their mask mandate, following state-level legislation and CDC guidance. Executive Order #1, “Ending the Use of Inherently Divisive Concepts, Including Critical Race Theory, and Restoring Excellence in K-12 Public Education in the Commonwealth,” is mostly a nothingburger, but will, I’m sure, have an intentional chilling effect in classrooms across the Commonwealth. To quote from Superintendent Kamras’s email: “As for the far more nebulous prohibition against teaching divisive concepts, all I can say is this: At RPS, we will continue to honestly study the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia was literally created on the backs of enslaved Africans, and we will continue to help our students understand the connection between that history and the injustices that still grip our community today – in education, housing, healthcare, the legal system, and more.” Before you scoff too loudly at the failure of these flimsy Executive Orders to make a practical impact on the lives of Virginians, remember that the guiding principle for Republicans is not passing legislation but making liberals mad. These EOs did exactly that and, by that account, were a huge success.
 

The James River Parks System has a new Superintendent: Giles Garrison! JRPS is one of our best things, and, after reading Garrison’s love letter to the James, I feel like JRPS is in good hands. Check out her video, too, to learn more about what exactly a park superintendent is and does.
 

It’s 2022, and I feel newly focused on keeping track of local legislation—mostly because things feel less likely to spin chaotically out of control when compared to whatever’s going on at the General Assembly. With that in mind, I’ve resurrected the GMRVA Legislation Tracker Trello board and created a few tools on my end to make updating it easier. This morning, the board tells me that Council’s Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee will meet today and consider: the DOT resolution (RES. 2021-R086), adopting the City Center Small Area Plan as part of our official master plan (ORD. 2022–010), and the resolution about finally getting rid of the Confederate monuments (RES. 2022-R002). The latter two seem likely to pass without a hitch, but we’ll see how folks feel about asking the mayor to create an actual Department of Transportation. Also, if you’re still reading this paragraph, LUHT will hear a presentation on the Path to Equity, which you’re welcome to flip through, but I really recommend just reading the full document! It’s an easy and super informative read!
 

Richmond’s School Board will also meet tonight and has an absolutely packed agenda. They’ll look to adopt the 2022–23 school calendar (which is not year-round-school), chat about the ongoing process to replace George Wythe High School, deal with the Governor’s Executive Order #1 (see above), and, most exciting to me, kick off Richmond’s budget process with a first look at the Superintendent’s proposed RPS budget (full, 192-page document here). Here’s the budgetary gist from Superintendent Kamras in one of the aforelinked documents: “We are starting this budget cycle with a $7 million deficit, largely because of reduced State funding. Nonetheless, the Administration believes RPS needs, at a minimum, an additional $19 million for critical new investments (most notably, a teacher raise). To pay for these new investments AND cover our shortfall, we would need $26 million ($7 million for the shortfall and $19 million for the new investments). To meet the $26 million mark, the Administration proposes cutting $4 million from the Central Office and submitting a request to the City for $22 million.” And with that, it’s here! The most exciting time of the year—budget season—has arrived, and I fully intended to distract myself with it for the next several months. Expect more on this over the coming days, weeks, and months!
 

This morning’s longread

In the Future, You Won’t Own Any Gadgets

This clickbaity headline worked and got me to read through this interesting piece about the consequences of every company ever switching to a service-first revenue model.
 

This is the reality of a service-first world. The power has shifted so that companies set the parameters, and consumers have to make do with picking the lesser of several evils. Even then, users don’t really have a choice. The internet is now considered a utility, and it’s not like we can put connected devices back into Pandora’s box. You might be able to opt out now, but that’s going to be increasingly unviable. Really, you only have the illusion of choice. This isn’t new. As technology advances, we have fewer options to choose from even as companies tell us we have more choices than ever.
 

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Picture of the Day

Tour of Houseplants, Day 1.