RICHMAND, Virginia (WRIC) – As investigators continue to investigate what led to the devastating fire at William Fox Elementary School, Richmond Public Schools Chief Jason Camras and Gov. Glen Yangkin are talking about what will happen next for the school and its students.
Fox Elementary School students will study virtually until they are transferred to another building, which the head believes will take about three weeks. Students will begin virtual classes on Wednesday.
Classes will be held from 8 a.m. to noon every weekday.
In the school district on Tuesday from 13:00 to 17:00 in the Clark Spring Primary School is an event for the removal of supplies. There, families can get the things their children need for virtual learning, including computers, chargers and food.
This school claims to be where Fox Elementary School students could study further.
“The leading contender at Clark Springs Primary School, which is a primary school, is in our portfolio that we use for storage,” Camras explained.
During a community meeting Monday night, the school district explained that students will not be divided between several buildings.
Governor Youngkin visited Fox Elementary on Monday, adding a valentine to a collection of hundreds of valentine cards on a fence near the school.
Governor Yangkin on Monday answered questions about how the state could help bring children back to their classes. “This is a big problem, so it will take a lot of people to unite, what resources will be in the city, and I know that the General Assembly will consider things,” he said.
Many are wondering how the fire happened after flames and smoke engulfed the school around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
The RPS manager was the first to whom Richmond Fire tried to call with the text to get into the building around 9:45 p.m., but the manager was asleep and missed the text.
“Unfortunately, this has led to some communication failures,” Kamras said in an interview with 8News on Monday.
Not only that, but the timeline shows that the Richmond Alarm Company was not notified the first time the alarm went off around 9:30 p.m., because the panel was not updated to include calls with an area code of 804.
Comras does not blame the employee who missed the texts. “It did not contribute to the fire,” he said.
Firefighters eventually manipulated the lock and entered the building, searching and finding nothing before calling them a second time for flames and smoke.
Kamras acknowledges that the district needs to take a vacancy in night security and work on communications.
“These are protocols that we need to tighten up and make sure we work and can be fully staffed,” he said.