State grant will enable Richmond (Va.) district to open career/tech high school and rebuild fire-damaged elementary

A $27.6 million grant from the state of Virginia will enable the Richmond district to establish a career/technical high school and rebuild a historic elementary school that fire destroyed over a year ago.

WRIC-TV reports that the grants have been earmarked for four projects:

• $20 million will be used to convert a former tobacco warehouse. a new career/technical education high school.
• $5.6 million will help pay for rebuilding Fox Elementary School, which opened in 1911. The school was destroyed in a February 2022 fire. The district also has received $15 million from the Richmond City Council, as well as insurance proceeds. "We're now all set for the Fox rebuild," Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras said in an update on the district's website.
• $1 million to convert Henderson Middle School from an open floor plan to a more traditional setup with walls.
• $1 million to carry out a similar conversion at J.L. Francis Elementary School.
  Students and staff displaced by the Fox Elementary fire have been attending classes at the Clark Springs school campus.