And if you missed the stories over the weekend recognizing the anniversary of the fire, a community gathering to draw support and advocacy, and the current financial limbo regarding rebuilding, here's a quick overview. We need advocates pushing our elected officials from the local to the state level to work together and find the funds to rebuild in this year's budget: https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/one-year-after-tragic-fire-community-gathers-to-discuss-future-of-fox-elementary/

what are these "donations" going to? it doesn't mention that on the fundraising page.

fuck george wythe

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edit; they will build the elementary school that burned down years after they started rebuilding wythe and it will be done before wythe. it will not conform to the codes and standard that will be thrust on wythe. they will start construnction asap and let the costs balloon out of control and say "oopsie who couldve known rebuliding a historic building that was burned to pieces and left rotting would be hard".

Looks like fundraising for the PTA fund.

Let me take a few minutes to list out all of the things that a public school in the City of Richmond needs for its students, teachers, and staff that aren't provided by the city's funding. Just kidding, it's a long list. Ticket sales are going to the PTA's fund like every event they run (Strawberry Street Festival, Christmas Tree sales, etc.). Did you buy tickets and plan to support the school? Happy to discuss all of it in more detail in person if you'll be there, and introduce you to the board volunteers.

In short, the PTA is a registered non-profit whose board votes on allocating funds to programs that have been prioritized by the teachers, the parents, and the students. All financial reporting by law is public, as are the meetings where allocation decisions are voted on by the board. PTAs take a lot of time and energy to effectively run, and Fox has managed to keep its PTA efforts going despite the pandemic and a year of virtual school, and then the fire. It's pretty remarkable that the people volunteering for the board this year have the energy. They, like the PTA of any public school, need more support and more funding and more volunteers, and less critics that assume there must be something amiss. There's never enough money to fund everything that's requested, never enough volunteers for the events, and the board has to work hard to get parents engaged and raise funds creatively every year. It's a full-time job, in addition to the full-time job that most parents already have.

Is that your whole thought? Wythe is going to be built.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume this was an off-the-cuff hot take where you thought it would be cool to trash one school because another is also in need. But I will take a few minutes to reply because this is an important issue to highlight.

The Fox PTA has used every media encounter to highlight needs across the City and the state, that a similarly tragic situation could have happened anywhere, and that we have massive school infrastructure needs that have been habitually underfunded and led to disastrous outcomes such as the fire.

The media has tried to follow the story and report on the underlying issues. Here's a recent story from this weekend where we used the anniversary to draw attention, not to take from Wythe, but to help continue to highlight the needs that are unmet across the city. We have city council members with their experiences and perspectives on how budgets should work, we have school board members with their own perspectives and varied backgrounds, and we have the mayor. Then you add in the General Assembly. There's a lot to navigate between all of these bodies, and I won't get into specifics about personalities and political dynamics but I will say it takes some thought.

https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/fox-rebuild-funding-update-feb-10-2022

We have consistently said the rebuilding of Fox should not come at the expensive of Wythe or Woodville, or any other needs, and we have corrected City Council members who have said RPS "has the money" in its general fund.

Here are the actual talking points the PTA has shared regarding the rebuilding. They are yours for the taking--I encourage everyone to write their elected officials.

Rebuild William Fox School Talking Points

About William Fox Elementary School

 William Fox Elementary School has served the students of Richmond for over 110

Years.

 William Fox Elementary School is a Title I school that serves a diverse student body: 

o 47% White

o 37% Black

o 6% Hispanic

o 3% Asian

o 6% Other/Unspecified

o 44% Economically Disadvantaged.

 Per the VDOE, Covid and Fire Instability have negatively impacted Fox enrollment

numbers:

o Enrollment dropped by 112 students between 2019 (438) and today (326). 

o Enrollment dropped by 32 students since the fire.

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Current State of the Building

 William Fox Elementary School sat for 5 months (February through June 2022) with

multiple feet of standing water, and heavy, water-logged debris stressing the building’s

instructional integrity while RFD and Insurance inspections prevented RPS from building

access and action. This period added to the structure’s damage, and increased

reconstruction costs.

 Since July 2022, the exterior has been stabilized, and debris has been removed.

 SBCox is currently preparing the site for a permanent roof, but construction teams are

waiting for insurance approval to fund the roof itself.

 Once the roof is installed, the windows will be boarded up, and the building will sit

dormant until there are sufficient funds for a rebuild. 

 Further decay and damage may occur while this building sits in limbo, increasing

construction costs.

Funding Shortfall

 The full cost to rebuild Fox is about $27M (outside party estimate).

 RPS insurance policy covers the full rebuild of any accidental damage. Current offer

 $13M (structure + furnishings, this is what the policy values the property for;

approximately $15M short of the “full rebuild” cost).

 School Board Rep Jonathan Young told the media it will be hard to challenge VACORP

in court because maintenance issues like faulty fire alarms weaken the RPS’s claim. 

 Delegate Jeff Bourne asked the House of Delegates for $15M for Fox reconstruction.

This bill failed. The financial burden now falls to the City.

Next Steps

 The William Fox Community asks the City of Richmond to fund the restoration of this

school in their upcoming FY24 budget. 

​

 This City budget is drafted by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Lincoln Sanders, in March and presented to City Council by Mayor Levar Stoney.

 Community members should write to the Mayor and CAO with this request, and write all of City Council to support it.

 Possible Funding Source: 

o The City’s $52.7M “unassigned” capital projects fund.

o The City’s $107.8M “unassigned” general funds

 School Construction is the source of infighting between the Richmond School Board and City leadership. Community members should ask these bodies to work cooperatively to meet the needs of William Fox Elementary School.

the cognitive dissonance of the argument of "we are highlighting the issues across all the schools" while fundraising to help one school in a system of many that lack resources is not surprising, but still disappointing.

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If your recommendation is to do nothing when the school has burned down because another school is past due for replacement, both situations where many are to blame, I guess we’ll disagree.

fighting for what benefits you and yours is not noble and not reflecting on the deficiencies of the system, or knowing them and fighting not to fix them but to insulate yourself from them is disgusting, jim crow, and segregationist.

It’s Woodville that needs replacing and is at risk for not getting what it needs.

Wherever the parents decide.

It’s a way to prop up schools with wealthy kids without having to fix root issues of systemic failure or god forbid letting too many poors in.

Fox actively participated in the last rezoning, which is reflected in the school's current population. Check the effects in the rest of the city. There is no effort by the Fox community to insulate, and certainly no segregational effort.

By this logic, every school's individual PTA efforts should not take place because they are inequitable. Well, we are advocating for equity in the system while also fundraising for activities to support our school population. It's a "yes and" situation, not an either/or.

I agree that PTAs are inequitable and that the fox pta is putting its mouth one place and it’s money the other.

Eh. I work for the district and had the same question.

What have you done lately to help the causes you support? Guessing nothing, except maybe a few Reddit comments and tweets.

Posts are not praxis

Jesus Christ dude, you're willing to throw away a school with a 44% economically disadvantaged student body because your ideology says it's not ok to help rich white people too. This is a bullshit take and a big part of the reason RPS and Richmond as a whole struggle to make progress.

You just jumped the shark on that one. Are you really saying that parents should focus on every single child before putting more focus on their own? I am going to take it you don't have kids

Also, the FOX PTA has many Black and Hispanic parents, I guess they are also practicing Jim Crow. Just wow.

I wish I could upvote this more than once.

Fox isn’t going to be rebuilt. Called it

I'm painfully aware of the shortcomings of public education budgets. I have friends who work at schools in RPS far worse off than Fox ever was. frankly, everyone SHOULD wonder where donations go. transparency is vital in crowdfunding efforts. no need to get shitty with someone asking for transparency.

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A system where the rich are able to help themselves over others in a system that is deficient is not equitable.

When the politicians couldn’t use the n word anymore they moved on to negro. When they became untenable they transitioned to “walkable schools”. The rationale for having a fundraiser for one school in a system that is failing is the same that justifies keeping the Richmond schools poor and the county ones rich and I had to call it as I see it in this thread.

You should be the one to explain to the economically disadvantaged families at Fox that their school shouldn't be allowed to fundraise for itself because some of other families are too wealthy.

You point to the disparity between city and county schools, and then propose actions that would only widen those divides.

Thanks for raising the question. It’s been a year of fundraising and I gave at first, but we need some accountability.

get rid of municipal school boards and de segregate the schools across all lines including cities and counties.

Sorry, I was a bit cranky after getting attacked yesterday. It is always thankless work, which I've come to expect, but to be called racist for trying to support a school that's been through a lot is a bit overboard. Didn't mean to take it out on you personally.

There does seem to be some assumption that PTA funds are misused, as I've seen skeptical comments before. Maybe it can happen in some places, but my experience is that things are very buttoned up. Anyone can request funds for a project, which the board reviews and votes. The budget meeting is public and anyone can attend, just like anyone can join the board or volunteer. The principal is part of the PTA and there is a teacher advocate as well. Those that have the passion among the parents make the time for the commitment.

As with many things, it's layered and to some degree can be political. I can say that last year after the fire there was a lot of interest in PTA funds across the board. Requests for "wellness" for teachers such as paid lunches or massages or other things that felt to many parents as going overboard and not appropriate for PTA funding (there was a real dearth of wellness for students and parents). But, they were discussed and voted on as part of the process. But every year they review all requests and judge priorities based on the budget available, which is a direct outcome of the fundraising efforts put on by the PTA. So, no events like this parents' night out or the Strawberry Street Festival, then no money for student programs that everyone is used to having and wants to see continue.

I also wish the system was different, but I'm forced to live in reality.

If you want to DM me, happy to discuss further. I encourage teachers and staff to take an interest in the PTA at your schools.

Your point is so far beyond the scope of this conversation.

What have you personally done to effect any change?

I'm so worn out with critics. "The school should do this, the school should do that, I don't know why we can't just do X." Well, they have a limited budget and limited staff, if you have an idea you can propose it and help with fundraising and volunteering. It's not ideal, and maybe it's not right, but it's the reality we are living in and it's better than sitting on your laptop writing critiques wishing for a better system.

I have advocated for addressing the LCI funding which is the underlying issue for much of the inequity in Richmond. But I do not expect the General Assembly in our current administration to take the big political leap of doing anything to actually change it--especially when we all recognize we are about $2B behind on school updates.

You don't get to dictate the scope of the conversation.

What I have or have not done has no baring on the legitimacy on my opinion. I have not worked to uphold the inequitable status quo while also claiming to be battling it as you have in here and as this fundraise seeks.

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You accuse me of what about ism but in this same post refuse to answer simple questions like "where does the funding go".

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I agree that "addressing LCI" funding will be innefective and that the current governmental structure is built to maintain the status quo and to minimize the will of the people.