“Students and families will be affected,” Cropper told the gathering of parents and students before inviting them to hold their comments and instead to retire to the school’s cafeteria to review.

Indeed, current proposals recommend closure of two of Richmond’s most successful schools: Both John B. Cary and Fisher elementaries are popular among parents who use the district’s out-of-zone option to apply to send their kids to higher-achieving schools outside their district.

Although last night’s meeting was cordial — parents circulated in groups around the room, scanning the maps and talking among themselves — there also were some deeply held concerns among many of them over the four proposals that a 40-person citizen group has so far produced with the consultant’s help.

And many of those concerns mirrored issues that have long plagued Richmond Public Schools as it attempts to lure affluent families — both white and black — back to the district. Parents crowded around placards showing proposed districts for the elementary schools, while a smaller but no less enthusiastic group gathered around the middle-school maps. The high-school maps received far less scrutiny, offering a parent’s-eye view of the point when families tend to abandon city schools.

One man, who gave his name only as John and identified himself as a city employee with kids currently enrolled in a Richmond elementary school, expressed exasperation at the planned closure of Cary and Fisher.

Most of the parents attending appeared to represent Fox, Fisher and Cary elementaries. Many openly voiced their concern that shifting populations that would mix their children with students from lower-performing schools — those drawing students from low-income neighborhoods — might dilute achievement. And that such a change might warrant abandoning city schools for the counties.

“We might move,” John said, indicating that his commitment to city schools ended if it might affect the quality of education his kids receive. He acknowledged that his departure might help further erode middle-class parent participation in the district, “but for parents who want their kids going to a high-performing school, they’re not going to accept a middle-performing school. That’s what’s going to happen with a lot of these [newly drawn district boundaries].”

Such a decision by parents would be disappointing, if understandable, says Dr. John Moeser, a professor emeritus at the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement and an expert on city issues of social justice and socioeconomic equity, who spoke by phone about the challenges RPS faces.

“Being a parent myself, I can say that the foremost concern of parents is their children,” he said, speculating that while any parent who sends their child to Richmond schools clearly has taken a big step in committing to help revive the city’s flagging school district, there is always a balance — and a tipping point — for the level of commitment any person is willing to make.

“There is a small group of parents who have really two commitments — first and foremost is their children, but then also they’re committed to integration and social justice,” he said, calling the redistricting committee’s job “a tall order” when it comes to balancing diversity with enrollment and transportation needs that have necessitated discussions of school closures.

Not all of the parent complaints over the proposed districts came down to issues of class and perceived effects on achievement. Heidi Thompson, the parent of a toddler who is zoned to Clark Springs Elementary, said she hopes the process will work harder to keep neighborhoods together. In her case, she lives on a block that is divided in such a way that nearly every other house in the area attends either Cary or Munford elementaries.

“I was really disappointed when these maps came out, and in three of the four maps, our neighborhood is not unified,” Thompson said. “I felt this was an opportunity to unify a neighborhood that’s been split for 20 years.”  

In spite of whatever issues remain to be overcome in the redistricting process, School Board member Donald Coleman, who primarily represents Church Hill in the largely economically challenged East End, said he was pleased to see so many parents attend the meeting.

“RPS parents are alive,” he said, as he and at least three other Richmond School Board members circulated through the crowd. Also in attendance were Norma Murdoch-Kitt, Kimberly Gray and Chairwoman Dawn Page. A number of RPS central office staff also were on hand.

To comment on proposed redistricting proposals, fill out this questionnaire from the RPS website.

A second public forum on the redistricting process is scheduled for March 27. 

“I’m still in the exploratory phase of the whole thing,” says the younger Schapiro, who has yet to declare his major or his platform, though the latter likely will aim to build on progress he’s seen in relations between students and townies. “There are issues I have in mind, but I’m not intending to go into areas of policy until when and if I formally declare a campaign.”

Schapiro’s father, a respected political reporter and columnist at Richmond’s stalwart daily paper, has been a familiar face to Virginia General Assembly watchers for more than 30 years, easily identifiable by his trademark professorial spectacles, bow tie and rakishly Fitzgerald-esque hair worn longish and swept back over his ears.  

Local public-radio listeners know Schapiro by his refined anglophile’s diction and grandiloquently insightful Friday-morning reports on state and local politics on WCVE.

And Felix, with his carefully measured manner of speech and a keen, lifelong interest in politics, appears set to prove he’s a chip off the old block.

“Boy, what a neat kid,” gushes Gary Shelly, a Williamsburg resident and longtime proponent of students at the 300-year-old state university. Shelly calls Felix’s potential bid “a big deal here in Williamsburg.”

Not because he’s Schapiro’s scion, but because Felix represents the latest in a line of college students who’ve chosen to engage in the process in a town where students — despite all they bring to the local economy — often receive short shrift.

“The last election, we actually had a student get elected,” Shelly says, referring to City Councilman Scott Foster, who was the first student elected after a spate of student candidates dating back to 2004, when political tensions flared over whether students had the right to register to vote locally since many left town during the summer months to return home.

"What would be different should Felix win, Shelly says, is that he’d be the first student elected who'd be likely to serve the majority of his first term while still an undergrad. Foster, who's still serving, graduated shortly after he won office in 2010. (He's now attending law school at William & Mary.)

“Felix is the real embodiment of a student,” Shelly says. “He’s just another student living in the dormitory.”

Despite his youth, Felix strikes Shelly as particularly prepared to serve.

“I’m very impressed with his understanding of how politics work,” says Shelly, who was equally impressed with how unassuming the young man was about how he came by this understanding. “I asked him, 'Do your folks have an interest in politics?' And he said, 'Yeah, they keep up with it a little bit.' ”

Even after providing more details about his father’s knowledge, Shelly says, it remains clear that for Felix, “this is his effort.”

In fact, Felix demurs when asked about how his father feels about his son's possible council bid. 

“I’d like to not speak to that, just out of regards to my dad’s profession and protecting his professional integrity,” says the younger Schapiro. “I’m very proud of my dad and all that he does.”

As for dad, the elder Schapiro has this to say about his son's political interest: "I fully expect my son Felix is learning as much outside the classroom as he is inside."

Felix does acknowledge that growing up in the Schapiro fold means that an understanding and appreciation for politics came early in life. “I’ve always had a very strong interest in ideas, and as I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize that politics is one of many ways that someone can enact real and substantive change on the world around them.”

NOTE: This blog post has been corrected since publication.

“I’m exploring my options,” confirms Terone Green, a former president of the Richmond Crusade for Voters and a longtime commentator on city politics, who says that while he currently doesn’t live in the 9th District, either, he’s willing to move. And in the meantime, he notes, he has at least not been disingenuous about his current whereabouts.

“I would move,” Green says, indicating his willingness to sever ties with the suburbs of western Henrico County. “You will see a for-sale sign in my yard.”

Green, who grew up in the 3rd District and remains active in city political spheres despite his relocation to the county a few years back, says his interest in the 9th District seat has in part been fanned by calls he’s received from people in the district interested in mounting a challenge to the politically weakened Conner.  

Conner’s legitimacy to represent the district has come into question after WTVR Channel 6 reported on what may well be among the worst-kept secrets in Richmond politics. Similar rumors have simmered around other current and former Council members, including former 8th District Councilwoman Jackie Jackson. Conner has since admitted that his part-time residency in Chesterfield County may have been ill-advised.

The school’s Parent Teacher Association has invited members of the Richmond School Board, as well as Superintendent Yvonne Brandon, to attend its regular PTA meeting tonight. The intent of the gathering is to foster dialogue between parents and their elected representatives that might help normalize relations, says PHSSA PTA President Joy Simpson.

The PTA extended its invitation through a letter sent to Brandon and the School Board on Jan. 27. The letter was a follow-up to an in-person invite extended during the RPS board’s regular meeting on Jan. 17.

The only response from Brandon so far has been an indirect message sent through the Patrick Henry board that sought to have the PTA postpone or cancel its meeting, says Simpson, who notes that they have heard nothing from School Board Chairwoman Dawn Page.

A call to School Board Chairwoman Dawn Page was not returned. Richmond Public Schools spokeswoman Felicia Cosby was asked whether Brandon would attend the meeting, but the superintendent was unavailable to answer, and no response was received by press time.

Simpson says the PTA chose to disregard Brandon's requests: “We felt like our momentum, our energy and our position of what we feel like right now is a position of strength.”

She says the PTA plans to have nine chairs reserved at the meeting to accommodate the Richmond School Board. And while it appears that the PTA’s invitation will not be acted on officially, she says it may be accepted by individual members of the School Board.

“We heard through our [Patrick Henry] board that Mr. Donald Coleman would be there and that there may be one or two others,” says Simpson. She says that message was conveyed to Patrick Henry's board after a recent mediated meeting between PHSSA and the Richmond School Board called for by the Virginia Department of Education. “I’m very proud of him because he was probably told not to come. I guess he’s the only one who fully supports us.”

Coleman says his decision to attend is in the hopes that the RPS board and the families at Patrick Henry can start to overcome some of the missteps, miscommunications and mistrust that strain their relationship. "Hopefully I can help keep moving us in the right direction — that it doesn’t have to be us against them," he says. "I appreciate the invitation, so I’ll be there."

And he suggests that some of his fellow board members may attend as well, indicating that they are "in the valley of indecision" in part because of a prior commitment, the annual legislative reception at City Hall.

"This is why I believe it was asked that it could be postponed," Coleman says, defending his fellow board members. "I feel like my colleagues are doing the best that they can to professionally serve the charter school, but the reality is, it’s something being developed."

And he notes that the fact that he, a very public supporter of school choice, remains in good standing with the rest of the RPS board is proof that there's not so much distance to cover to arrive at understanding.

"I’m on the board and I’m coming tonight — at some point, you have to say, ‘They haven’t killed him, and obviously he’s an ally,' " he says. "I love to say it all the time: Patrick Henry is a public charter school. It's our hope that this will be a beginning."

The decision to invite RPS leaders to the PTA meeting is in part a response to a strongly worded letter sent on Dec. 14 by then-RPS Board Chairwoman Kimberly Bridges that implied the school was on shaky ground and possibly in violation of its charter agreement. But the invite also is intended to ease escalating tensions that resulted after January allegations that Brandon had participated in an ongoing, clandestine exchange of information with former Patrick Henry board member Reggie Malone.

The Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts PTA will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the school's building on Semmes Avenue.