With Fox reopening, the district offered 5 options for Clark Springs

As construction for William Fox Elementary School draws to a close and doors begin to open for students to return in the upcoming school year, Richmond Public School Board members are contemplating what to do with the Clark Springs Elementary School building. 

At a school board meeting on Monday, school administrators presented five different repurposing options for the 5.8 acre property to the board:

• Use the building as a flex space for additional offices for staff.
• Relocate Open High School to the Clark Springs building.
• Relocate Richard Success Academy to the Clark Springs building.
• Create a wellness and engagement center and one-stop shop for resources for RPS families and students.
• A public-private partnership to create senior living, affordable housing, recreation spaces and small businesses at the property.

The repurposing of Clark Springs comes after Fox Elementary students have been temporarily schooling at the building located on Dance St. for the last three years. In February 2022, a devastating fire consumed most of the Fox Elementary School building, resulting in a rebuilding project. The ribbon cutting for Fox Elementary is scheduled to take place on Aug. 6. 

“Whatever we do, I just want us to use the space – just not have it closed down,” said Cheryl Burke (7th District), whose first job was at Clark Springs. “If you’re not there, you’re not going to take care of it.”

The relocation of Open High or Richmond Success Academy received a strong reception from Board Chair Shavonda Fernandez (9th District), Shonda Harris-Muhammed (6th District) and Stephanie Rizzi (5th District). The members said the students at Open High specifically had outgrown the current building and needed a better facility to learn in. 

“They do deserve a school that is updated and modern-century like,” Fernandez said. 

Superintendent Jason Kamras said moving Open High to the school would allow the high school to have more seats for enrollment, as the Clark Springs building is bigger.

Questions were raised around the possibility of the building becoming a public-private entity, which Kamras said would be the first time the division engaged in such an endeavor that he’s aware of. Vice Chair Matthew Percival (1st District) asked if the division could generate revenue from school properties, in light of this year’s tight budget. Kamras responded that it is something he’s looking into. 

“I do think [the option] is worth us exploring and getting additional detail for the board to consider,” Kamras said.

While it would be the first time the initiative would be done if selected, Rizzi pointed out that the board is considering public-private partnerships with the division’s property near Carver Elementary School. 

Rizzi also reminded the board that the Clark Springs building itself is also an old building that needs work done, including a new HVAC system. 

“We need to think about that and how much that's going to cost and then balance that against what our needs are,” she said.   

Also at this week's school board meeting...

RPS budget adopted following debate on junior auditor position

The school board unanimously voted to pass the fiscal year 2026 budget Tuesday, which included a salary for a junior auditor. That was after deliberations about whether or not to keep the position. Rizzi was particularly vocal about her desire to not lose it.

“I do think it’s important to have a very robust auditing department,” she said. “I can’t imagine downsizing auditing at this point especially because of some of the gaps we’ve experienced in recent times,” she said.

Kamras said the position was contracted to an external auditor for a reduced amount of $100,000. The salary of the auditor in the budget is for $125,000. Burke suggested eliminating the contract for a hired position and making the salary the same amount listed in the contract. 

The board voted twice Monday night on whether or not to keep the position. Percival abstained, requesting more information before making a decision, which resulted in a tie vote. After discussion, board members voted again with a 6-3 decision to keep the position – Percival and Ali Faruk (3rd District) changed their decisions to yes. 

The budget eliminated other vacancies including a crossing guard, occupational therapist, senior psychologist and 27 teacher and instructional assistant positions. The decision saved the division over $3 million.

The budget includes $16.5 million for collective bargaining agreements with the division’s union and $5.5 million to hire an additional 55 multilingual learner teachers, the two largest expenditures. Kamras said the administration has so far filled 42 of the 55 multilingual teacher positions. 

Chronic absenteeism went down 

The division experienced a decrease in chronic absenteeism by 4.15% over the last school year, a win that the school board celebrated. 

The data includes students who engage in flexible instruction time (FIT), which allows students to regain days they were absent by participating in after school and weekend instruction. School administrators attribute some success to FIT. The data also include attendance rates up to day 162 of the school year.

Black students and students with disabilities had the highest chronic absenteeism decreases among the demographics of students – 2.21% and 4.37% respectively. Among schools, Henry Marsh III Elementary School, Martin Luther King Middle School and John Marshall High School had some of the steepest declines – 10.81%, 5.14% and 10.89% respectively. 

Katie Ricard (2nd District) noted that while Richmond Success Academy did well in reducing its chronic absenteeism (a 25.56% decrease), it still had a high number of students that missed 10% or more of the academic year, which was 61% of students. She also pointed out Dogwood Middle School’s jump in chronic absenteeism, 12%. Administrators responded saying they’re working with leadership in schools for better engagement with parents and students.

Union representing RPS Five says it will pursue legal action if RPS denies drivers’ appeal

In a Tuesday press release before the meeting, LiUNA, the union representing the drivers, claimed that documents it recently acquired through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that RPS didn’t follow its protocol to replace the five drivers on the evening they called out.

According to the union, RPS didn’t conduct an “all-call” to contact all bus drivers in its system and hadn’t worked to find replacement drivers before canceling after-school activities. 

The Richmonder requested the documents, which contained an email chain showing that the division’s transportation director would send out an “all-call” at 2:30 p.m. on Apr. 8, after drivers “called out on the after school transportation to go to the school board meeting.” It is unclear if that call actually went out.

The drivers have since filed grievances with RPS, appealing their termination. Brian Petruska, LiUNA’s Mid-Atlantic general counsel, said that RPS hasn’t responded to the appeals. If they are denied, LiUNA is “prepared to seek a court remedy.”

Petruska, who spoke at the school board meeting, dubbed the meeting “a pivotal night” — LiUNA expressed its intentions to the board, and it’s RPS’s turn to respond.

Virginia code says that if a public employee is terminated, their employer has 90 days to reverse the decision. That time is running out — it’ll end July 9.

New board members for Richmond Ed Fund

The school board also voted to accept new board members to the Richmond Ed Fund. The members include JK Davenport, Dr. Gregory Hutchings, Jr., Martin P. Klein, and Delegate Delores McQuinn.

Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at vifatusin@richmonder.org. Eleanor Shaw contributed to this report.