RICHMOND, Va. -- For many years, Micah Francis could not pass an SOL test. But then he got into Richmond Public Schools' Franklin Military Academy and suddenly the test clicked.
"There wasn't really any order, as opposed to Franklin there is a lot of order and discipline," Micah Francis said.
Micah, who is a rising junior at Franklin, said he hates to see other kids in RPS not get the chance that he got to excel.
"A lot of people in this community don't get enough opportunities or chances. So I feel like if they just get that chance or that moment to do, they will do fine," Micah Francis said.
Micah's mom, Tanya Francis, said she got teary-eyed when she saw the most recent round of Richmond SOL results that reflect a majority of kids failing to pass in all subjects.
"A lot of our kids in RPS have hard backgrounds, hard homes, anyway. Then the pandemic kind of toppled on top of that, kids had to be in environments they can normally escape from with school," Tanya Francis said.
While she doesn't blame Superintendent Jason Kamras for the scores, she wants him to be more mindful of who he puts in administrative positions.
"When he was getting comfortable, he was thrown in a pandemic and so now he has to figure out how to operate post-pandemic," Tanya Francis said.
RPS parent Scott Garnett, whose daughter attends Open High School, sees things differently.
"I mean it's disgusting. We are failing the kids," Garnett said.
He said he has been fighting for improvements in RPS for years, but he hasn't seen much change under Kamras, so he would like to see a change at the top.
"For the past five years we haven't succeeded in the SOLs, we're not advancing the education for these kids, and it's just not right," Garnett said.
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