When she ran unopposed for the Richmond School Board in November, Shonda Harris-Muhammed touted her credentials.
As an educator for 16 years with an administrative and instructional background, she knows what it takes to make the district stronger, she said.
“We must be able to effectively communicate to our teachers, our parents and our students on a daily basis any changes within the system; transparency is a must.”
Six months later, Harris-Muhammed’s transparency is being called into question.
According to reports by WTVR-Channel 6, Walden University says Harris-Muhammed did not earn a doctoral degree from the school, as she claimed. The university did confirm she received a master’s degree from there.
Her School Board colleagues have addressed Harris-Muhammed as “Dr.” The title precedes her name on the Richmond Public Schools website and on her School Board nameplate.
Both may be subject to change soon.
School Board Chairman Jeff Bourne said he has spoken with Harris-Muhammed about the degree matter, and he clearly is not satisfied with her answers.
“She has not produced anything from the university,” he said hours before the board raised the issue at a scheduled work session Monday.
Harris-Muhammed’s 6th District contains some of Richmond’s most impoverished neighborhoods but only two schools: Overby-Sheppard Elementary and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle. No other district has so few school buildings.
The district’s constituents need help; its children, a shining example. What no one needed — least of all the shoo-in candidate — are allegations of an embellished résumé and the distraction of a pointless controversy.
Bourne said the board’s response to the degree issue would reflect its “commitment to integrity and honesty and not allowing anything to call into question the public’s trust in the School Board and diminish our credibility to move Richmond Public Schools forward.”
The board has no choice but to address the issue. Fair or not, the school district does not get the benefit of the doubt. But any minute not spent on shoring up instruction or the district’s finances is time wasted.
“We have so much to do, and we need to be transparent and honest,” said Kristen Larson, the 4th District representative on the School Board.
Having a Ph.D. is not a prerequisite for school board service. And obviously, Harris-Muhammed did not need to exaggerate postgraduate achievement to defeat a nonexistent challenger.
But that’s all beside the point.
“It’s an unspoken rule that you should tell the truth all the time in public service,” said Kimberly Gray, the board’s 2nd District representative. “And that’s the biggest issue.”
The district has a student code of conduct, Gray said, and “at the very minimum, we have to meet our own honor code” and should exceed it.
Instead, Harris-Muhammed, who did not return phone calls Monday, has been unconvincing in response to questions about her education.
Ultimately, she answers only to the voters. If her district couldn’t produce an opponent against her, will its voters muster outrage over a missing advanced degree?
Which brings us to another problem: How effective is democracy without competition? Harris-Muhammed was among three Richmond School Board members who gained office without opposition in November. Three seats also were unopposed in 2008.
Richmond voters habitually squander a privilege some Hanover County residents covet. The group Friends of Hanover Schools is pondering a petition drive for a referendum on whether to switch from an appointed School Board to an elected one.
Of course, Hanover’s supervisors and School Board favor the appointed system. Why wouldn’t they? The setup gives the supervisors and their appointed proxies control over the schools.
The system worked fine when Hanover’s real estate revenues were flush. But now that the schools have endured cuts in teaching positions and thrust an additional instruction period on high school teachers, the old way is showing cracks. Some Hanoverians are wondering why theirs is one of only 24 appointed boards out of 134 school boards in Virginia.
Hanover residents deserve a greater say in their schools. But the résumé debacle in Richmond makes it clear that an elected board, in itself, does not ensure transparency.
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