RICHMOND, Va. -- The Richmond School Board voted at a meeting on Friday night to move forward with plans to repair Fox Elementary.
The school was destroyed in a fire last month.
While plans for repairing the former school will move forward, Fox students are set to start school in person at First Baptist Church, the temporary location, on Monday.
Teachers began to move in and get their classrooms set up on Friday.
On Thursday, RPS Zoomed with Fox families to show them the space. There was plenty of excitement to get students back to in-person learning.
"Next week is going to really be just about getting everybody back in the swing of things, getting people accustomed. Also, luckily, you know, a lot of our kids when to the facilitated learning center here, so they are already familiar with the space," Sarah Abubaker, a spokesperson for RPS, said.
As this next chapter unfolds, preparations are still underway for Fox families to move to Clark Springs Elementary.
Abubaker said renovations there are on track to be finished by late April.
She said once renovations are finished, RPS will once again engage Fox Families on whether they want to move into Clark Springs when it's ready or finish out the year at First Baptist and move into Clark Springs in the fall.
During the school board meeting on Friday, board member Jonathan Young said he's confident that students can be back at Fox Elementary by August 2024. This estimate is in line with a proposal by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to work with the city on the project.
That proposal is set to be discussed by the board and city council during a joint meeting on Tuesday.
