“The Rumor Mill is Real”: Why Kenya Gibson Tells Investigators Jason Kamras is “Sus”
Good morning, Board Watchers!
It’s Monday, January 22nd, and Emily and I are winding up for another Richmond School Board meeting. By all accounts (1, 2), there will be an aggressive attempt to fire Superintendent Jason Kamras over the discrepancies investigators found in the incident report he compiled for the Board in the days after the shooting.
We could have a whole conversation about how Dr. Harris-Muhammed promised us all that this report was NOT about assigning blame, or “evaluate[ing]” the superintendent’s negligence. And now that’s exactly what she’s doing.
But there’s really not much more to say about that now. It was obvious from the very start that she was lying, calling for heads-to-roll, and centering herself as the victim of this event:
“I deserve - not just as a school board member, but as someone’s wife and someone’s mother, as well as the hundreds of individuals who were present, to know what happened, why did it happen, and who will be held accountable… I am NOT on the school board to fight for my life.”
She only started to hide behind boring words like “internal operations” to convince her colleagues into passing her $25K witch hunt.
We could also have a conversation about the fact that they’re pulling this stunt now, and not back in November when they first got this report. If they thought Jason Kamras was negligent and endangering Richmond’s children, why didn’t they fire him then?
Remember: This report is only new to *us.* They have had months to act on it already. Doing so now feels… manufactured.
But that kind of post would be full of speculation about how some Board members are using the public outcry to launch their savior-campaign for reelection in the fall.
“This is not the first time I have talked about from my school board seat - and it’s an honor to serve - the dysfunctionality of our operations” Dr Harris-Muhammed
Instead, I think it will be more useful to take a step back and ask “why.” Not “Why do they hate Kamras and want him gone” - White, Gibson, and Dr HM all have different reasons for that. But, “Why does the RPS School Board think they’ve really got him this time?”
For that, we’ll look to the Board Member’s interviews with investigators.
A few housekeeping notes before we get started:
I finally figured out how to override the blog’s settings re:hyperlinks, so now they’ll all open in new windows. Yay! (I do know that’s been annoying for readers.)
Sands Anderson used the WORST transcription service known to man. Like, Siri’s talk-to-text quality bad. Sometimes you have to read it out loud to hear what it was they were actually saying. (Former Chief of Staff Michelle Huackso is, for example, “ML” “who, dasco.“) I have cleaned that up and removed 8,000 extra “um”s and “and”s that make reading these transcripts a total chore. I believe I have done this faithfully, but I know I have a whole subsect of rage-readers who wouldn’t be satisfied with me saying “trust me, bro.” So I’ve included page numbers for you to refer back to, and welcome accountability should you find my translations are lacking.
This is also at least the third time in 2 years that I’ve watched this Board hype up a fire-worthy offense that is not, in fact, fire-worthy. I am annoyed and devastated by the impact these constant circuses have on our students. You will encounter snark. You already have. I am a private citizen with a blog. I am under no obligation to hide my feelings about these things, nor will I patronize my readers with watered-down content when I know they are more than capable of clicking all the provided links, engaging with the source material, and forming their own conclusions. All this to say, if you’re one of my more sensitive readers from Reddit, this completely-optional reading material may not be right for you. Turn back now. The other 2,871 of you may proceed.
Now grab your popcorn, because, in the wise words of Gwen Stefani, this shit is bananas.
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
It’s October 23, 2023, and Sands Anderson is nearing the end of their investigation. They have already asked the “pointed questions to people who [they] know were in attendance” - aka “fact witnesses” - but investigators Pam and Kimberly are meeting with 3rd District’s Kenya Gibson anyway to “help [them] kind of understand RPS” processes better. Also, it reads like she’d barraged them with emails advising them “where else to look for other bits of information” that may help to “inform the [investigation] process.” This interview could maybe be worth their time, and even if it’s a bust, they got paid anywhere from $210-$450 (student) dollars per hour to do it, so, why not. (Pg 1023)
They have no prepared questions for her, and choose instead to let her freely share her concerns and advise them on where she’d like them to focus their efforts. She does not hold back. (Unless otherwise attributed, all the quotes below are hers.)
“Certain questions are ignored and, um, information is never provided.” (Pg 1024)
She describes herself as “frustrated” in the days and weeks after the shooting.
It either took forever (until October) for the Board to get answers, or they never received answers at all.
This sounds like very reasonable criticism. Even factoring in the chaos of the start of the school year and the drop-everything-and-remediate-mold events of early Fall, it should not take the school division 4 months to do what these investigators did in a couple of weeks.
But then she starts laying out the information she tasked the superintendent with finding...
“…there was… some incident - I believe at Huguenot - with a bus stop and a gun. Some type of shooting. I’ve asked for information about that event… is there any possibility that [Shawn] was involved with this event? And that’s never been answered… so, um, you know, it’s, it’s frustrating.” (Pg 1031)
The Board cannot receive answers about this bus stop shooting, because “Detectives have not yet released information related to suspects or a motive in this case.”
She continues.
”The administration has given no indication that they have any interest in confirming that the guns were not in the theater. They’ve given no indication that there’s any possibility that it happened.” (Pg 1032)
Officially, the Chief of Police has indicated that “no guns were brought inside Altria Theater during graduation;” but Gibson says this “defies some logic considering that this happened right after the event.” Besides, her partner-in-chaos, Dr.HM, saw the Police chief “telling the mayor that the deceased was a student and there was a weapon on him,” so the official story is giving off serious faux-4th-of-July-mass-shooting energy.
She resents that the Board has “been told with certainty that [Shawn’s shooter] did not have a gun inside the building,” and tells investigators that the Superintendent has shown “no interest to… make sure that no gun got into this building.” Instead, her questions have “been pushed off [by Kamras/RPS admin] while the RPD is looking into this.”
I don’t know about “brushed off” for asking questions - but Kamras definitely gave her a dressing-down for “repeatedly [saying] publicly that there is no evidence that a weapon did not enter the Altria theatre.”
“I would caution Board members to not put out into the public assertions which are not founded in evidence, and are only causing further concern - and frankly, trauma - for people who were there on that day.”
Setting aside that Gibson’s interprets this as Kamras “blaming people [for] asking questions,” the real friction at that August 14th meeting was:
Kamras says police have no evidence that there was a gun in the theatre; and
Gibson has no evidence that there wasn’t; and until she gets such evidence, “there is a possibility [guns] were in the theatre.”
But, ya’ll. Both of these things can be true. There may not be evidence either way. We do not know and will not know until next month’s trial.
Gibson describes exchanges like this one as “a real pushback to providing updates and providing information after the fact.” (Pg 1024) Especially since she knows exactly where to find the information she’s looking for:
“I have been told that if you were to have looked at Shawn Jackson entering the building, that it was clear that Shawn Jackson had a gun when he went into the side door.” (Pg 1032)
So…
“Can we see the footage from the security cameras leading into the Altria theater?” (Pg 1034)
She has repeatedly asked Kamras for this security footage. And he has consistently told her that RPD will not provide access to such evidence because it could jeopardize the criminal trial.
Gibson asks investigators a few different ways if they can pressure RPD to do it anyway. “Doesn’t the Police Department want us to keep people safe, too?”
She isn’t even sure that Kamras has relayed her request to the police. She asks the investigators to find out:
“Did [RPS Administration] try? Did they ask the police department?… there’s got to be some type of collaboration, right? I mean, we haven’t been given information as to how we’re collaborating with the police department.”
The investigator tells Gibson that “it would not be unheard of” for the police to consult with the School Board, and that it “can and should have happened.” But, “to the extent that it hasn’t, I don’t know what the reasons are for that.” (Gibson’s habit of leaking privileged information to the press may have something to do with that.)
As for the security footage and the lack of shared evidence, the investigator says:
“Um, I just… I’ve been a prosecutor before and been a judge before so I, I know the way these things happen and they do tend to lock down all of the information that’s available [before trial].”
Besides, the lawyer tells her, they were hired to interrogate the planning and implementation of Huguenot’s graduation - not the Chief of Police. Tracking down criminal evidence is well outside the scope of this investigation.
In that case, let’s talk about those side doors.
“I have attended events at the Altria theater - graduations in years prior…I had always gone through the side door just as the students go through the side door, and there’s never been any true - you know - security that happened there.”
She only ever remembers seeing “someone from RMC sitting at the door” to make sure people could “enter the facility.” She was “surprised” this was still the case this year, though. She’d expected heightened security because this graduation “came on the heels of these other events:”
A parking lot shooting at George Wythe High School
A loaded gun at George Wythe High School
And students at John Marshall are getting Door Dash (Pg 1025)
Each of these incidents include weak side door security.
“I would think that after we have a shooting where a student leaves the building through the side door and then goes into the parking lot, or behind the school, or wherever-it-was (because the details are muddy on that as well) and then is shot, then we would begin to take the side door seriously, right?”
This interview is happening in October. By this point in the year, the rest of her Board colleagues have authorized funding for cameras that take photos anytime a side door is opened, a system that alerts the front office immediately, and additional staff hired to patrol all school entry points. It was the first of two safety proposals the rest of the Board passed last year. She abstained from both. (1, 2)
“So then for the graduation to happen and I immediately… reached out to my colleagues that were there - I spoke to Dr. Harris-Muhammed, I spoke to Mr Young, and I said ‘I remember there was no such security at the side door anytime I’ve been there. Was there this year? And they both said no.”
Actually. When Jonathan met with investigators 5 days earlier, he told them he was impressed with the event security: “I saw a lot of security. I saw a pretty darn good hardening of a soft venue.” (Pg 570)
But Gibson - who, again, was not present at the event - has a different conviction.
“It seems like a very clear falsehood that was shared, you know, that there was some security at the side door that simply did not exist.”
Even if it was being patrolled by RMC staff, she tells investigators that they “didn’t know what they were doing” because “[RPS] didn’t provide them with any training. It wasn’t our staff.” (Pg 1026)
Per their website, RMC staff have “Previous law enforcement, military, and/or security experience” and are required to “obtain a VA DCJS 01-E Unarmed Security Officer License prior to beginning work.” You may have seen them at work at JMU, VCU, UVA, and W&M sport events, or at the State Fair, the Raceway, or nearby concert venues.
“[Kamras] says in [the incident report] that there was no RPS security at the side door, but that there was RMC security at the side door.”
This is true. RPS security staff - 19 Care and Safety Associates (CSAs) were supplemental support the division had arranged to “[assist] with ticket collection… [facilitate] crowd management” and “enhance security inside the venue.” Per the provided maps, (Exhibit 14) RPS staff were not assigned to doorways.
“And then he - and I believe this is simply untrue - he said that [RMC staff] were wanding people coming through the side door. Nobody knows of anybody being wanded through the side door.” (Pg 1027)
Staff told investigators that security wanded graduates at other graduations (like Community High School’s) but that stationary magnetometers (metal detectors) were used this time. There were some “differing narratives” (Report Pg 15) about that though:
2:00 PM: Staff did not see metal detectors.
2:45 PM: Staff saw metal detectors, but they were not working.
3:30 PM: Staff saw metal detectors, but most graduates had already entered the facility.
Jonathan Young and some other interviewed staff saw metal detectors, too.
But “Dr. Shonda Harris-Muhammed and Ms. Stephanie Rizzi also did not recall seeing magnetometers in place.” - and Dr HM reported using this side door many times.
Once again, though, all these things can be true.
“Nobody knows of anybody being wanded through the side door” because they weren’t using wands.
Some staff didn’t see metal detectors earlier in the afternoon because they weren’t set up yet.
Some staff did see metal detectors later in the afternoon because they were set up; and
Some Board members saw the metal detectors. Some just didn’t make note of them at all.
I asked Jonathan Young if he had any theories on why his Board colleagues didn’t see the metal detectors, but he did. He said: “Yes. I am INTJ. I see everything.”
Hey Jonathan! Me too! I tend to see everything but my car keys when I’m already running late.
What about the Superintendent’s statement? Why did he tell Gibson that staff were wanding students at the side door?
Because they were.
“In the morning, Richmond Community students were check with metal detector wands as they entered the building. To accommodate Huguenot’s larger class, a walk-through metal detector was added for the afternoon ceremony.” Kamras’ Incident Report, Pg 3
Looks to me like we’ve cracked this case of supposedly conflicting information. Great work, gumshoe!
“There are other kinds of subtle things that happened, you know, like these are just thing that are - as my son would say - sus” (Pg 1029)
Subtle things like…
The Board was going into closed session to discuss the shooting, but the media center the meet in was locked and “the key was missing.” Apparently this happened a few times - always “by chance, right?” - and having to go track down a custodian to let them in made these “meeting[s] go really late, and there’s less time, and people are more tired.” (I have other ideas why meetings go really late.)
One time they couldn’t find a custodian to let them into the media center at all, so they ended up “stuck in this big gym” and “it sucked” because there was an echo and she “couldn’t hear.” (Pg 1028-9)
Also Dr HM tried to attend a shooting-related closed session by zoom once and experienced technical difficulties. (That’s a frequent challenge in open meetings, by the way.)
Once, during a mid Atlantic tornado outbreak that produced giant hail and flash flooding, the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Watch for Richmond from 1:20PM - 9PM and prompted RPS to cancel an upcoming Board meeting. Gibson says everyone knew Dr HM wanted to make a motion to commission a 3rd party investigation (to hold the administration accountable) and it “just so happens that the meeting, our vote for hiring an auditor is delayed, right?” He obviously exaggerated the risks just to throw sand in their gears because “it was a beautiful day outside.” (Pg 1029)
Admin insists on calling the shooting that happened in Monroe Park the Monroe Park shooting “instead of talking about the shooting after the graduation… [They’re] trying to basically push ownership, right, as if it had nothing to do with the graduation, you know, I mean this is just trying to put a spin on it to take away accountability.” (Pg 1029)
Some of her (traumatized) colleagues “shut down and criticized” Young for “victim-blaming” when he was just “trying to get more clarification” about whether or not the dead graduate had received approval to be at the graduation, or even earned enough credits to graduate in the first place.
Taken all this together…
“It’s felt like there was a coverup, you know, or an active interest not to allow true information from being shared.” (Pg 1027)
She tells investigators this has “been a recurring theme,” and that Kamras did the same after the Fox fire. RFD only ever released a heavily-redacted investigation report - citing the cause of the fire as ‘undetermined’ - but the Superintendent was supposed to grab his trench coat and magnifying glass to solve that mystery too, I guess.
So what’s going on here? Kenya Gibson is a Yale graduate. She is not dumb. So why is she resorting to weak evidence to support her suspicions and insisting to investigators “the rumor mill is real”?
The short answer is: there isn’t any strong evidence she can point to instead. (Or, there might be, but she won’t have her evidence-or-no-evidence of a gun in Altria answer until the shooter’s trial at the end of February.)
The longer answer is: She’s desperate. She didn’t want to hire this superintendent in the first place - or extend his contract in 2021. She wants him gone-gone-gone and she is running out of time to do it. Proving that Jason Kamras has been grossly negligent is her only hope.
If Kamras is grossly negligent, the School Board can fire him with a “simple majority.” Which means that they need to find 5 votes. (The 9th District School Board seat is currently vacant.)
If we were working with the 2022 Board, Kamras may have been voted out while Nicole’s seat was still warm.
But we’re in 2024, and the Board dynamics are wildly different than they’ve been before. There is no 5:4 Board Majority/Board Minority anymore. No pro-/anti-Kamras alliances. That fractured at some point in the late Fall of 2022, which inspired Ms. White to nominate a “moderate” pairing (Rizzi/Burke) to lead the Board in 2023.
Ousted Board leaders (Harris-Muhammed/Gibson) were loath to relinquish the power they had wielded so destructively. They tried to maintain their influence and former anti-Kamras alliance, manipulating them with constant drama and gaslighting designed to stir up their colleagues’ predisposed suspicions.
Mercifully, these efforts failed. If anything, they had the opposite effect. This is when we started seeing Board Members reach for Robert’s Rules of Order to squash the rebellion: refusing to add last minute agenda items that would trigger needless conflict, “calling the question” to end debate, and generally. giving less and less oxygen to the obstructionists.
I suspect Gibson’s shrieking meltdowns this fall were more about her dwindling Board relevance than it ever was about the REA resolutions. Either way they were way too much for her colleagues to handle. Even Dr. HM started to distance herself and fall into a better pattern of Board governance with her other colleagues. (Sadly that didn’t last long.)
Anyway - it’s harder now more than ever for Dr HM and Gibson to win the support of their colleagues. Finding 5 votes is going to be a challenge.
Mariah White and Stephanie Rizzi have supported the fire-Kamras effort in the past. Could they again?
Rizzi has undergone perhaps the most dramatic transformation in recent Board memory. She has committed to seeing the best in all of her colleagues, including the superintendent. They have a relationship built on mutual respect that did not exist in 2021. She’s been trying very hard to keep the peace, and she’s indicated in recent interviews that her bigger concern coming out of this report is the damage it’s done to the trust between RPS staff and the Board. (Even though the Board took this report to court to keep it sealed.)
“My biggest regret is that the people who expected that their interviews would be confidential feel betrayed today” Chairwoman Rizzi
Voting to fire Kamras would seriously weaken Mariah White’s chances of relection this fall. The Fox community is neutral-to-supportive of the superintendent, and it would take an aggressive, sustained fear campaign to manipulate public opinion in order to give Mariah the kind of political cover she’d need to oust the superintendent and destabilize the entire school district in an election year. (Like, perhaps, mold that has been successfully remediated since the beginning of the school year, but keeps getting injected into news stories anyway?)
That means they need Jonathan Young: the swing vote. Tagging Kamras with gross negligence is their best shot at winning the support of this self-described fiscal conservative. He has “no tolerance for golden parachutes” and so would never agree to fire the superintendent if it meant committing tax dollars to a $125,000 severance.
Jonathan Young hasn’t just turned down the fire-Kamras-crusade, he took to the media to say “Hell no.” Just kidding. The man is never that concise. (Oh no. Is being long-winded an INTJ thing, too??) There’s a whole video on the RTD website, but this is the gist:
“ School Board member Jonathan Young, who represents the 4th District, which includes Huguenot High, said Thursday that two School Board members have approached him about the prospect of removing Kamras since first reading the report, but he “knocked down” the idea, which does not have the support of a majority of the board.
They don’t have the votes.
But they do still have influence via the local media, who too often provide shallow coverage of RPS matters. This means they can still wreak havoc on meeting discussions - putting others on the defensive against baseless attacks - even when 90% of the Board just want an evening of civil conversation and to get home in time to hang out with their families.
I will continue to grumble when the media fails to fact-check Board members statements , and publish RPS stories that are supported by nothing more than speculation.
But I understand they are duty-bound to publish these lies anyway - because they’re coming from our elected leaders.
This is on us.
They’re publishing lies because we elected liars.
And if we don’t want to be represented by people who will manipulate us and fill us with fear about the safety of our children to satisfy their own petty grievances and ambitions, we are going to have to go to the polls in November and vote accordingly. Which will only be an option if some of you, dear readers, run for office.