Richmond Community High School
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Richmond Community High School (RCHS) is an alternative high school operated by the Richmond City Public Schools in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded in 1977 as the nation's first full-time, four year, public high school for academically talented students primarily from minority and low-income families.
The school was begun with a grant from Richmond businessman-philanthropist Andrew J. Asch, Jr., perhaps best known as the 1970s developer of downtown Richmond's Shockoe Slip area, a collection of tobacco warehouses in which are located shops, restaurants, and offices.
Mr. Asch's original grant was made to the Virginia State University Foundation, which assisted Richmond Public Schools with a demonstration program. The schools' history on its website records that "Mr. Asch thought bright students from minority and low-income families should have the cultural and educational opportunities his own children had enjoyed. He remained active in the affairs of the school until his death in 1991."
After years of moving to various locations around the city, in 1991, RCHS moved into the former Westhampton Elementary School building, located on a large wooded site at 5800 Patterson Avenue (State Route 6) in The West End of Richmond.
