After the story broke here on The Schilling Show blog last week, and later was+ picked up by The Hook and NBC 29, Charlottesville City has relented on its discriminatory two-tiered pricing policy for pool passes.
The City’s policy, as originally confirmed by Ric Barrick,+ previously prohibited private school families from receiving the discounted “sale” rate. Charlottesville’s web site has changed and now states that the price is available to all students:
Charlottesville City Student – valid for any student (excluding college students)+that has residency within the City of Charlottesville
So, private school kids, splash away. The elitist policies of Charlottesville City Hall have been drowned out by the cries of reason, at least until the next time they think nobody’s watching.
See Rob Schilling’s NBC 29 interview on City-sponsored discrimination:
Great investigative reporting, Rob, bringing this exclusionary policy to the community’s attention. While I don’t agree with you that the policy was specifically designed to punish private school students, you should be proud that you helped effect the change to a fairer pricing structure. I think the “mistake” was a result of a government that is too insular and that doesn’t look past its own nose when making policy rather than a deliberate snub to private school families because they don’t attend public schools.It surely was a stupid policy but not surprising coming from the echo chamber that is Charlottesville City Hall.
Great Job. Keep the pressure on…
Unless the city asks, how would it know if the student was enrolled in private school anyway. Were they preparing to send the list of applicants to the schools to verify that the applicant was enrolled? Was the applicant considered on the honor system and his word would be taken in declaring his status? In order to determine if a student is either enrolled or is home schooled, it seems the city would have to go through a lot of trouble. Sounds intentional to me.