8 E Canal St
Richmond, VA 23219

Current student here, this place is a horrid place to send your child. First of all, four of my teachers have left due to the conditions at the school. These conditions are terrible, and here's why:1: The leadership is terrible, principal, and especially the assistant principal love to boss around the students for no reason. The assistant principal will randomly stop kids from leaving the school when it's time to leave for absolutely no reason. Another time was when he yelled at everyone in the lunch room to be quiet, called on one random kid who wasn't doing anything wrong, and ordered him to sit at a different table away from his friend. This is clearly a horrible overstep of their power.2: The school building itself is genuinley falling apart, there are floor tiles that are completely broken, the roof is sometimes leaking, bugs have infested classrooms on multible occasions, there is a notorious rat infestation, and on top of that, the bathrooms almost never work. There are tons of sinks that are broken, 50% of the time the soap is not even there, and they know this because we have told the people at the office about this, yet they decide to do absolutely nothing.3: The excuse they give when we ask them if they can fix up the school is "oh, we don't have any money." They very obviously do though, however. They bought over 400+ Yondr Pouches (Pouches designed to keep our phones locked up during the school day) and we calculated that all 400+ Yondr Pouches are worth over 10K. The Yondr Pouches themselves are a bad idea, but I don't want to go offtopic in this.4: The school is very unsafe, as there are usually multible fights per week, students are jumped regularly (I've heard about a student being jumped twice in the time span of a month.) The measures they have put in place are inadequate to combat this issue. It is better than it was last year, but it's still an extreme issue. 5: Most of the teachers are great people, and a lot of them try very hard to teach us, but there are some that barely try, or even make it harder to learn in the classroom. One of the teachers litteraly just assigns us stuff that we have barely been taught about while watching instagram reels in the corner, one of them threatened to decapitate a kid a few years back, and one that we currently have calls the school security team on kids for the smallest reasons.In short, do NOT send your kid to this school. You will regret it, I have barely learned anything.

At William Fox Elementary, there appears to be a troubling pattern of discrimination against children of color and those with disabilities, which undermines the school’s commitment to equity and inclusion. Multiple reports from parents and students highlight instances of disproportionate disciplinary actions, lack of tailored support for students with special needs, and a curriculum that fails to represent diverse cultures and histories. This systemic bias not only affects academic performance but also damages the self-esteem and overall well-being of these children, contributing to a school environment where they feel marginalized and undervalued. Urgent remedial actions are needed to ensure that all students receive the equitable education and support they deserve

The community here is incredible. TJ is an amazing school. There are problems to be addressed, sure, but if a student needs something, they will get it. If a parent needs something, they will get it. Scores do not communicate the entire story of a school and should be reviewed VERY carefully.