RICHMOND, Va. -- Katie Ricard's two boys, Luke and Grant, are basically experts at logging into class from the dinner table.
“They were all virtual last year, so I find they have just kind of rolled right back into their routine," Ricard said.
Wednesday marked one week of virtual learning for Fox Elementary students after the school was destroyed in a massive fire. Ricard said Luke and Grant are handling it well so far.
“Their teachers are doing an amazing job of keeping them learning the whole four hours," she said. "We're making do."
However, Ricard said she doesn't want virtual school to last much longer. Before a school board meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent Jason Kamras said he doesn't know how long Fox students will be learning virtually, and the school board has not voted on a temporary in-person location yet.
“While it's not RPS's fault, I think my hope is that they just get in person soon," Ricard said. “I think the pandemic and with Covid, psychologists, doctors, educators, everyone was unanimous in that virtual learning is not helpful for our kids. It's not helpful for them emotionally, mentally, or socially.”
As Ricard waits for solid plans to be announced by school leadership, she's finding comfort in the support from the community that she experiences firsthand as the president of the Fox PTA.
“Emails will come in, and I will regularly cry, because it's just so overwhelming -- the support and the love," Ricard said.
She said even her young children notice the support and recalled a moment she shared with her third grader as they were sorting books donated through a supply drive.
“He actually said to me, 'You know, a lot of people care about us,'" she said.
To put it into numbers, Ty Toepke, the executive director of the Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation, said the official Fox Fire Response fundraiser has received more than $150,000 in donations from about 1,500 people.
“It has been a truly inspiring reaction," Toepke said. “When you think about the average gift with those numbers, it gives you a sense of really just how broad and universal the response has been.”
He added that some gifts have come as far as Texas and Oregon, and donations have still been pouring in daily. He said his team has been balancing two elements when it comes to distributing the money. The first involves who needs help the most.
"They're the people who can help us define the need, so that's leadership inside the school, the teaching inside of school, parents, staying in touch with the PTA, and then balancing that with the bigger picture," he said. "We need to have input from the administration and to make sure that we are filling gaps and not double funding."
Toepke said the second part is deciding when the money will start going out.
“If we had something today that was absolutely urgent and pressing, we would be able to take care of it," he said. "But right now, we're trying to be careful and thoughtful about how we do lay that out.”
When discussing the timeline of distribution, Toepke added his board has to consider that multiple milestones will be happening over the course of several weeks and months from the time students and staff move into a temporary location to when the building will be rebuilt.
He also announced an additional $115,000 has been raised by corporations that can be used across the whole district.
Ricard said all the community support points back to a prevailing message.
“There's a sign on the fence in front of Fox it says Fox is love, and I think that's it," she said.
