RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond's Fox Elementary School is set to reopen Wednesday, marking the end of a three-and-a-half-year journey since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the historic building in February 2022.
Workers are putting the finishing touches on the school, applying paint and realigning fencing as the long-awaited reopening approaches.
"I think that it's really pretty, but it's just like, not as it used to be. I just like, kind of miss the old school, but I think it's pretty nice. I'm excited to see how it is tomorrow," said Lizzie Miller, a 7th grader who attended Fox when the fire occurred.
Miller and her friend Harper Ritt are now middle schoolers, so they won't be returning to the rebuilt school as students.
"I think it's okay that we're not going back, but it's nice to see it," Ritt said.
The pair's third-grade year at Fox was interrupted by the late-night fire in February 2022. After the blaze, students were relocated to nearby First Baptist Church before finishing elementary school at Clark Springs, a Richmond Public School building that was no longer in use.
For fifth-grade teacher Tracee Candia, who is returning to the classroom she called home for nearly 25 years, the reopening brings "so much high emotions."
"A big Fox family reunion, and then to be able to see the children that come in, and then just to think some of those kids and parents haven't even been in this building," Candia said.
CBS 6 first spoke to Candia just days after the fire, when despite the trauma, she spoke of a community rising up to support one another.
"You're not alone. The support that you have and the love. Like I can feel the love just standing here and looking at these hearts," she said at the time.
For Candia, that love and support has made these nomadic years manageable, but now the Fan neighborhood around this historic building needs to be made whole again.
"The excitement and the hype of this building being here, even the people that may have moved here that weren't connected or didn't know anything about it, I think it's one that sparked some curiosity, and it's like, 'What's the big deal about this building? And now that it's back, let me come in and be a part of what's going on,'" Candia said.
While it does feel a little like starting over, Candia says it won't take long to adjust.
"It's going to be exciting. I think it's going to be a little overwhelming at first. It might take me some time, like I've been thinking about what I want to put in my room and how I want to do it," Candia said.
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