It will take at least two more years to reopen historic William Fox Elementary School in The Fan — but only if nearly $26 million is available to make it happen.

A report from Chesapeake-based RRMM Architecture indicates students could return to the now fire-ruined building at 2300 Hanover Ave. for the start of the 2025-26 school year — when current third-graders will be fifth-graders, if all goes well on the financial front.

The information was provided to the Richmond School Board and Mayor Levar M. Stoney in mid-January just a few weeks before the one-year anniversary of the roaring fire that turned the 112-year-old building into a burned-out hulk on Feb. 11, 2022.

In the aftermath of the fire, First Baptist Church on Arthur Ashe Boulevard initially provided temporary space so school could resume for the more than 450 students. Three months after the fire, students, teachers and staff moved into their current temporary home, the former Clark Springs Elementary School, located about a mile south in the Randolph Community.

As students, parents, teachers and staff attempted to adjust to rezoning and a post-COVID world when schools reopened last year, the trauma of the Fox fire was an added burden that made adjusting a challenge for all involved, said Fox Principal Daniela Jacobs. She has been principal of the school for 17 years

“We were desperate to find a location to move to and the District was amazing about prepping this building for us to move in,” she said. The school system spent more than $800,000 to fix the roof and make other improvements to make the previously vacant Clark Springs to usable.

Rezoning resulted in a larger student population for Fox, as it inherited students from the Randolph Community. The Clark Springs building is smaller than Fox, and adjustments were made to accommodate the student population.

Classrooms are divided into three pods, and each pod includes classrooms surrounding a common space. In each of these areas, the common space had

to be made into a classroom. There are also trailers on the property to accom- modate art and other classes.

Meanwhile at Fox, the playground and recreation space outside have reopened as planning for rebuilding proceeded.

Despite these perks, Mrs. Jacobs said that this period of transition has resulted in the highest teacher turnover at Fox that she’s ever seen in her career. In addition to teacher turnover, like many other RPS students, Fox students have had to adjust to parents losing their jobs, and the aftermath of family members dying from COVID.

“There’s been a shift in how parents interact with us,” she said. “They remain dedicated, but they are anxious and impatient about the rebuild.”

Shannon Heady, the legislative chair for the Fox PTA Board, is one of those parents, and said she is seeing parents’ struggles up close. “People are really resilient but they are absolutely exhausted,” she said. “The fire is layered trauma; the mental health crisis is real and we can see it in our kids. Their level of anxiety has skyrocketed.”

Walking through the school, teachers have taken over the space to make it their own. While replicating the culture that existed at Fox is not easy, Mrs. Jacobs said creating a warm and inviting atmosphere that encourages children to learn and inspires teachers to teach is essential.

“It’s a culture of responsibility,” she said. “Many of our teachers live in the Fox district, so they have children who go here too, and what we create here is an investment in our kids’ futures.”

The next steps, according to RRMM, which is preparing the blueprints, will involve stabilizing the remaining skeleton of the building, doing some selective demolition and installing a permanent roof at a total cost of $4.2 million.

RRMM, which also is handling design for a new high school to replace George Wythe, expects to select the Fox contractor by June 1 and issue a notice to proceed by mid-July, with the renovation to be complete within 26 months.

However, the firm noted that city permit reviews, supply chain issues and other unknown circumstances could create delays.

One of those circumstances is ensuring that the $25.7 million to undertake the work is in place, according to RRMM.

RRMM stated that the amount that the insurer, Roanoke-based VAcorp, will provide is still being negotiated.

According to insiders, though, the most that VAcorp is currently prepared to offer is $10 million to rebuild, and $1 million for furniture and fixtures that were destroyed. The original offer was $13 million for rebuilding, but VAcorp is now offering less after determining that there was contributory negligence on the part of the school system, including a failure to fix the building’s alarm system months after the school staff and the city Fire Department first notified the school system of the problem.