Parents still hopeful Fox Elementary will be rebuilt one year after devastating fire

RICHMOND, Va. -- Saturday will mark the one-year anniversary of a massive fire engulfing and destroying Fox Elementary School in Richmond.

The 364 days since the fire have been a whirlwind for everyone involved, from city and school leaders, to the displaced teachers, students and their parents.

"It feels like a friend that's hurt that you can't help," explained mom Allison Little, as she looked at the burned building.

Little and her two children, who attend Fox at Clark Springs, hung Christmas letters on the fence to their beloved school during the holiday season, similar to the Valentines seen now on the fence blocking the entrance to the burned school, which CBS 6 is told was a school-related project.

"We're like let's bring some joy to the building and so they all came up with a couple of their friends and they wrote their little love notes, and one of them was 'I hope that I'm here for my fifth grade year'," Little explained. "And it's like if we can make that happen, if the powers that be can make that happen, if we truly can do this, and we need to do this like it's just bottom line they don't have their school."

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IN-DEPTH COVERAGE: Fox Elementary School Fire

Since the fire that started the night of Feb. 11, students and teachers have had to make several transitions. They first moved to virtual learning, then they learned inside First Baptist Church on Monument Avenue, and finally, last May, they transitioned to the once vacant Clark Springs Elementary.

The hope for families this whole time has been that their children would be back inside their beloved school as soon as possible. But several roadblocks have come up over the past year — a big one being funding.

In September, CBS 6 learned insurance won’t fully cover the cost of repairs, and a House Bill that would have helped make up for the $10 million dollar shortfall was killed this week.

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But parents, like Fox PTA President Amelia Boschen, are trying to remain hopeful that the school system and city will come up with a plan to overcome the budget shortfall.

"Fox is a community that has, you know, over 40% of the students that are economically disadvantaged," Boschen explained. "They deserve a place that's dedicated to meeting their needs, as do all of our children. So I would just say it's so important not to lose sight of this. I know we have a lot of important issues in front of us, but Fox is one of those."

Friday night, in honor of the one year anniversary of the fire, the Fox community will gather at the school’s newly-reopened playground from 5 to 6 p.m.